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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
FOOTBALL clubs could find themselves in a quagmire after the Footballers Union of Zimbabwe (FUZ) said the Zifa statement of December 31 last year on guidelines during the Covid-19 lockdown has no legal force.

In a letter to Premier Soccer League chief executive officer Kennedy Ndebele, FUZ secretary-general Thomas Sweswe said clubs should negotiate contract extensions with their players as there was nothing called a contract roll over.

Zifa recommended that since there was no football action for the whole of last year, player contracts that were initially set to expire at the end of last year roll over into this year.

Some clubs misinterpreted the Zifa statement as a directive and did not negotiate with players for a contract extension based on those ‘recomendations’.

Sweswe said FUZ regretted that it was never involved in the discussions regarding the delay in commencement of the football season, even though it was affiliated to FIFPRO and is an essential stakeholder in Zimbabwean football.

“This is even more regrettable since Fifa, in the Fifa Covid-19 guidelines, instructed its member associations to engage with players’ unions at domestic level. We would like to stress that the guidelines which were issued on 31 December 2020, do not make it sufficiently clear that the recommended points are not binding on players and clubs. In other words, we feel that it has not been made sufficiently clear that these are just recommendations from Zifa and that for any and all amendments to be made to loan/transfer agreements and employment contracts, the consent of all parties is required, including consent of the player,” reads Sweswe’s letter.

He said even Fifa recommended an extension, but there was no obligation on either party.

“In any case, Fifa never proposed to extend the contracts of the parties with a full additional year. We would add that according to the Fifa guidelines, as a matter of principle, existing employment agreements shall be governed by the national law referred to in the agreement and/or an existing collective bargaining agreement and the contractual autonomy of the parties.

“As you will note, this part of the Fifa guidelines does not refer to the regulations or decisions of member associations of Fifa, so also the letter by Zifa cannot change this. To the contrary, the Fifa guidelines do refer to national law and the contractual autonomy of the parties, both of which do not dictate an extension of a loan agreement or an employment contract. For the sake of good order, the Zifa letter only proposed guidelines and the content of such a letter do not constitute binding regulations.”

He said the Zifa letter specifically emphasises that the guidelines are subject to any other mutual agreement or arrangement that parties might have agreed on.

In the present scenario, Sweswe said there is no agreement between the parties, since the players’ employment contracts have expired.

“So we urge clubs to negotiate with players on new contracts for the 2021 season,” wrote Sweswe.