The recent updates about the FIFA Player Release Rule: the creation of the 'club protection programme'.

• Author: Taricone, Francesco
• Position: COMMENTS

In the last edition of the International Sports Law Journal an article was published on the legitimacy of the so-called "FIFA Player Release Rule". (1)

Recently, there have been important developments which should be mentioned in order to evaluate how FIFA and Clubs are evolving their positions.

In the recent congress held in Budapest (May 2012), (2) FIFA approved the creation of a worldwide player insurance programme called "FIFA Club Protection Programme" on behalf of the member associations. Starting September 2012, "FIFA will insure all the players involved in all "A" National Team matches listed in the International match calendar worldwide", (3) planning a budget of USD 100 million.

More specifically, the FIFA circular clarifies that, "if a player is injured due to an accident while on duty with his representative "A" team, the player's club will be compensated for having to continue to pay the player's fixed salary although the player is temporarily disabled and unable to perform footballing activities for his club.". The maximum amount refunded would be $ 27,000 per day.

However, it is too early to consider if this programme would be THE answer.

First of all, the established daily limit could be easily surpassed in the case of an injury of a top player, leaving clubs partially uncovered.

Secondly, the programme only covers "the entire release period for matches between two representative "A" teams played on dates listed on the FIFA international match calendar", leaving without protection a great number of fixtures (for example, some friendly or youth matches).

Thirdly, it should be accurately clarified who will decide whether the player's injury is a direct consequence of his international activity or it is, for example, an old problem not fully solved by his club's medical staff.

In this regard, the circular explains that "players with injuries that already exist when a player joins his national team (...) are not covered for the part of the body concerned".

This position is not satisfactory at all. In fact, it is common that a previous injury could have repercussions in other parts of the body following other traumas or accidents. In addition, it would be hard to determine who would be in charge of deciding whether the player was already injured or if a previous injury could be considered fully recovered (with the risk of a new injury in case of wrong judgement).

Considering the high value of the compensation, an independent...