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Xolisani Gwesela

Lovemore Dube Senior Sports Editor
A Bulawayo soccer club owner France Ndlovu has challenged Zifa to come up with a framework to protect small clubs from losing out on the talent they develop.Many players have broken into Premiership ranks without any form of compensation for the clubs where they started. This has been as a result of Zifa not having a strict code on compensation to be followed when players move from their parent clubs to bigger ones.

Ndlovu, who owns FMH Academy, believes small clubs are getting a raw deal. This he says has to change if people who are sacrificing so much for the sport continue to get no compensation for their hard work at grassroots level.

“So many tend to see the talent at Premiership level. Behind that there are so many unsung heroes, owners of clubs, coaches and communities that would have worked so hard only for their crowning moment to be stolen from them.

“So much work is being done in the junior leagues, community clubs and social ranks. We are developing talent but at the end of the day we are not getting any joy out of it. We need a better deal,” said Ndlovu.

He said there was a need for Zifa to gazette transfer fees at all levels of the game to protect small clubs. Ndlovu said the model where they would only demand something when a player signs a professional contract before the age of 23, was bad as it has too many loopholes. He said some clubs can keep the player until he is over that age and give him a professional contract so as to avoid paying development fees.

“Club administrators are cunning, they sign your player, dilly-dally with paying you, after six months the player is de-registered and transferred to a Division Two team. After that he is loaned out to a Division One side, and the answer when you ask your dues is, he is still an amateur and developing,” said a furious Ndlovu.

He said Zifa should adopt what small footballing countries like The Seychelles have.

In The Seychelles every player movement from the age of 18 regardless of whichever direction one is moving lower division or top league, there is money involved. The association is also entitled to a percentage of the transfer fee even if it is local.

The national association is in charge of administration and development of all football in a country and deserves to levy such deals.
An 18-year-old moving to a top league side in that country attracts a mandatory $1,400 transfer fee, to a Division Two club $700, Division Three $350, regional or provincial and women’s clubs earn $175 per player.

A player in the 18-23 age bracket earns his club $2,300 for the best league, $1,200 for the next and $600 for Third Division. Regional and women’s clubs’ players attract a transfer fee of $300.

The 23-28 group which is considered the prime and most marketable in that country and abroad has a price tag of $3,200 for the elite league and $1,600 for the next division. It is even much higher for the regional and women’s soccer leagues’ clubs.

From the age of 28 the price goes down.

“It’s a model worth copying, both big and small clubs are protected as long as they are affiliated to the league,” said Ndlovu.
A capped national team attracts the price of the elite league even if he is playing for a lower division side.

According to a PSL manual, it is provided for, for teams to be compensated for working with players from the age of 12 up to his 21st birthday.

That is if he attains for the first time a status of not being a non-amateur player and also up to the age of 23.
Transfers to amateur clubs don’t require any training compensation for young players.

“As a general rule, the amount due shall reflect the costs which were necessary to train the player and shall be paid for the benefit of every club which has contributed to the training of the player in question, starting from the age of 12. The amount to be paid is for the benefit of every player and shall be paid for the benefit of every club which has contributed to the training of the player in question, starting from the age of 12. The money shall be distributed on a pro-rata basis depending on the full year of proper and proven training, and in relation to the category to which the training clubs belong,” reads the PSL manual.

According to the PSL there is a solidarity mechanism in place for the payments with a five percent differential for ages 12 to 14 and thereafter 10 percent per year until the age of 23.

Zifa’s Xolisani Gwesela said he was consulting his superior Jonathan Mashingaidze on the issue on what position they are taking on the issue.

With most of the Premiership clubs without junior policies, clubs such as Ndlovu’s deserve compensation to keep on churning great players for the country.