September 9 – The head of the European Club Association (ECA) has urged football’s world players’ union FIFPro not to carry out its threat to go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in its bid to rip up the existing transfer system.
FIFpro has a number of grievances including non-payment of salaries, breach of contract by clubs and restricting players from finding new clubs outside the window but ECA chairman but Karl-Heinz Rummenigge says it would be hugely detrimental to the game if FIFpro goes to court, potentially creating another Bosman scenario 20 years after it first struck.
“We are in talks with FIFPro and I hope we will find solutions which can be accepted by both,” Rummenigge said. “I would like to call on FIFPro..because it can’t be for the good of football that we find solutions through legal claims.”
Rummenigge, speaking after this week’s ECA annual assembly, said the Bosman case showed “sometimes decisions made by a court are not for the good of football. The Bosman case is a good example where the outcome has been paid by the smaller countries and the mid-sized countries.”
“When I played professional football, clubs like Ajax and Anderlecht won European competition and this is nearly impossible in today’s times and the problem is based on the Bosman case. We have to try to find a solution within the football family that is good for the game and not just for one body.”
Rummennigge and his ECA colleagues are all concerned about the consequences of FIFPro’s proposed complaint. In January the European division of FIFPro voted unanimously for the “pursuit of all legal avenues available, including legal complaints to the European Commission” to challenge “football’s fundamentally flawed player transfer system.”
The Bayern chairman’s thoughts were echoed by AC Milan’s Umberto Gandini, ECA first vice-president. “The transfer system serves its purpose because it’s working well,” he said.
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