Fuz applauds PSL Mr Kennedy Ndebele
Kenny Ndebele

Kenny Ndebele

Ricky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
THE Footballers Union of Zimbabwe (Fuz) has applauded the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League’s call for early registration saying it affords unsuccessful players ample time to look for clubs elsewhere.The PSL will start accepting registration forms on February 13, with the early registration meant to give the league ample time to verify documents submitted by clubs so that if there are any irregularities they are attended to before the season kicks off in March.

In the past, Fuz has been on clubs’ backs, taking a swipe on them for selfishly holding on to players only to release them when the transfer window is about to close.

The soccer players’ body has been irked by this continued tendency by clubs which deprived footballers an opportunity to seek employment  elsewhere.

Praising PSL for opening registration early, Fuz secretary-general Paul Gundani said players who were discarded on the 11th hour should approach their office so that they could help them get compensation from their previous employers.

“From our previous experience, players were being given transfer letters towards close of registration deadline while having running contracts meaning that it becomes difficult for them to seek employment elsewhere. We welcome the move by PSL to announce opening of registration early, meaning clubs get to decide on their squads early and set free other players who they’re not interested in so that they can look for employment elsewhere,” said Gundani.

Some examples of players dumped on the last minute attended to by Fuz included FC Platinum’s trio of Benjamin Marere, Menard Mupera and Simon Njeleza who had to wait for the mid-season window to open so that they could move to How Mine in 2012.

Gundani challenged Zifa to punish clubs that deliberately hold on to players and release them when the transfer window is about to close.

“Such developments of dumping players on the 11th hour are unfortunate and show that clubs don’t consider the welfare of their employees. Where do you expect them to get employment at short notice? Our plea to Zifa is that they should have a policy to protect players and have stiff penalties to punish clubs who give false hope to players only to dump them on the last days.”

The PSL has said they will abide by the rules and regulations of the game meaning that players with contracts who would not have secured jobs or dumped towards deadline day will have to wait for the mid-season transfer window.

“The only players that we can register after deadline day are free agents and should be in possession of expired contracts. Those with terminated contracts or that have transfer clearance letters from their clubs must wait for the July transfer window,” said PSL chief executive officer Kennedy Ndebele.

 

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