August 4 – Amidst the wave of reaction emanating from Neymar’s blockbuster transfer from Barcelona to Paris, the international players’ union FIFPro has called on the European Commission to do something to stop the game rapidly being destabilised by the deep pockets of a select few clubs.
FIFPro General-Secretary Theo van Seggelen, whose organization has long called for an overhaul of the transfer system, wants the Commission to investigate the flow of money within the EU to restore some kind of competitive balance.
Pulling no punches van Seggelen states that the transfer of Neymar for €222 million is simply “the latest example of how football is ever more the domain of a select group of rich, mostly European-based clubs.”
“FIFPro is asking the European Commission to launch of thorough investigation of the transfer rules it approved in 2001 and which are now in need of urgent review.”
“Football’s enormous wealth is trapped, research shows, within a few leagues and clubs when it could be redistributed more efficiently and fairly to help protect competitive balance, which is one of the fundamental objectives of the transfer system.
“FIFPro claims an inflated and distorted market, with escalating transfer fees at the heart of it, has helped to destroy competitive balance. The transfer rules governed by FIFA are anti-competitive, unjustified and illegal.”
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