Dispute Over Player Transfer — FIFA Writes To GFA

Ghana Football Association
Mr. Kofi Nsiah
General Secretary

Zurich, 9 May 2003

Dear Sir,

We acknowledge receipt of your fax dated 6 May 2003 and have taken due note of your enquiry on a player who is presently under contract with a club who wishes to sign with a different club.

Firstly, we would like to underline that the FIFA Regulations for the Status and Transfer of Players lend strong emphasis to the maintenance of contractual stability and foresees consequences for those parties that unilaterally terminate the employment without just cause.

In your example, if the player signed an employment contract with the club A before his 28 birthday and if he then breached this contract in its first 3 years of validity by signing with club B, art. 21.1 (a) of the FIFA Regulations for the Status and Transfer of Players will apply. This means that the club A will be entitled to compensation and that the player will subject to sports sanctions. These sanctions are listed in art. 23.1 of the mentioned regulations.

Similarly, for a player who signed an employment conract after his 28 birthday, the first two years of the employment are protected, thus signifying that the player will be subject to sporting sanctions, should he breach the contract in the first two years (of. art. 21.1 (b). Furthermore, the club B will be presumed to have induced a breach of contract in accordance with art.23.2 (B) of the regulations.

Therefore, if the club A does not wish to agree on a premature rescission of the employment contract and instead insists that the player complies with his engagement, then the latter is compelied to do so of bear the cnsequences that are listed above. Who hope this information will be of use to you and thank you for your kind attention to the above

Yours faithfully,
FIFA

Gianpaolo Monteneri,
Head of Players’ Status,
Legal Services.