Renegotiate contracts: Fifa Fifa president Gianni Infantino

Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
LOCAL football clubs, their sponsors and players may now need to renegotiate their contracts signed before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic that has seen matches across the globe being frozen.

This follows a series of recommendations and guidelines worked by Fifa to address some key practical issues arising from the pandemic, especially regarding player contracts and the transfer system in consultation with different stakeholders through a task force chaired by the Fifa vice-president and chairman of the Fifa football stakeholders committee Vittorio Montagliani.

Representatives of clubs, players, leagues, national associations and confederations are also part of the taskforce.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has clearly changed all the factual circumstances around football for this season. So, Fifa, together with the stakeholders, has come up with some practical ideas and proposals to tackle these new circumstances. While this will not solve each and every problem, it should serve to bring a measure of stability and clarity to football for the foreseeable future,” said Fifa president Gianni Infantino.

“We hope that this collaborative effort, under the leadership of Fifa, can provide a positive example of how football can come together and show unity, solidarity and a spirit of compromise in order to face the challenging times ahead. But before these times come, one thing must be clear to everyone, especially now: health comes first, well before football,” he said.

According to a document on the Fifa guidelines to address the legal consequences of Covid-19, player contracts usually end when the season ends, with a termination date that coincides with the end of the season.

“It is now obvious that the current season will not end when people thought it would. Therefore, it is proposed that contracts be extended until such time that the season does actually end. This should be in line with the original intention of the parties when the contract was signed and should also preserve sporting integrity and stability.

“A similar principle applies to contracts due to begin when the new season starts, meaning the entry into force of such contracts is delayed until the next season actually does start,” reads the document.

In the Zimbabwean context, whose season, both Premiership and lower leagues, was to have begun last month, it legally means clubs and sponsors can freeze players’ salaries until the season gets underway.

Since there will be a spill over into next year, even players that had signed one-year contracts ending in December will remain contracted to the clubs until the season eventually ends.

“While it may make sense for millionaires in Europe and other leagues, it would be both callous and insensitive in our Zimbabwean situation to suddenly freeze players’ salaries, but that is only our view probably as clubs who are in direct contact with the players and other staff members.

“However, that is a frightening reality which I hope sponsors won’t want to pursue. It’s a fact that by end of April clubs here would be paying their fourth salary without themselves generating any commercial income nor their sponsors getting any activity/activation value. Football sponsorship benefits from brand association which is a function of publicity and currently they’re paying for a covered billboard,” said a club administrator.

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