„The Fédération Internationale de Football Association“ (FIFA) and International Federation of Professional Footballers (FIFPRO) have made an agreement to establish the FIFA Fund for Football Players (FIFA FFP) and the goal of this fund is to provide financial support to those players who have not been paid and have no chance of duly receiving the wages agreed with their clubs.
„FIFA has set aside USD 16m for the fund up to 2022, with this allocation to be divided as follows: USD 3m in 2020, USD 4m in 2021 and USD 4m in 2022, plus a further USD 5m set aside for the retroactive protection of players’ salaries for the period between July 2015 and June 2020.“ – reports the official website of FIFA.
FIFA have recognized the players as a very important factor and that’s why they decided to cooperate with FIFPro and to find a way to protect the players from unexpected situations when they are staying empty-handed in some clubs.
Since many clubs have been shut down in football in the last five years, which is also the case in volleyball but not the same number as in football, FIFA have considered this fund as a useful way to save many players from uncertainty and hardship.
This is also a huge win of FIFPro since they’ve been working hard in the name of the professional football players. Their work has been praised by this agreement and probably the best organization in the world FIFA sees FIFPro as an important part of a football family.
It’s important to mention that the FIFA Fund will not cover the full amount of salaries owed to players, but will provide an important safety net.
This is something that every sport needs, especially volleyball. CEV also should consider this option since many players in volleyball are staying empty-handed and they can’t find the way to take earned money because the clubs in volleyball are also changing their legal names.
Volleyball players need protection and maybe it’s time to follow FIFA’s path and make something similar in volleyball. Isn’t it?
