A contributed article by Karen Bhardwaj:
Last week it was reported that the European Commission has sought to take on the role in regulating football transfers. This is a step which could see the apex body FIFA losing some amount of control. The rules implemented by the world governing body have to comply with the laws laid down by the EU.
A contributed article by Karen Bhardwaj:
Last week it was reported that the European Commission has sought to take on the role in regulating football transfers. This is a step which could see the apex body FIFA losing some amount of control. The rules implemented by the world governing body have to comply with the laws laid down by the EU.
The collective selling of broadcast rights was one such area which was a bone of contention to the EU. The English Premier League, as we well know, sells their broadcast rights collectively for a certain fee to potential broadcasters (Sky). The problem with this is that the Premier League can be viewed to be a cartel taking advantage of its dominant market position and subsequently have anti-competitive agreements. This matter was taken up by the Office of Fair Trading. However, nothing came of it as this broadcast money is further divided amongst the teams competing and there are parachute payments made to the Championship teams, although nothing was mentioned regarding the ‘specificity’ of sport.
Transfer of players is of top interest to all football fans alike during the off season, pre-season and even when the transfer window is shut. The current rule under FIFA requires agents to be registered through member associations. The criterion of becoming a licensed agent is not very high. Despite needing to be a licensed agent, two thirds of players’ transfers are completed by non-registered agents.
The FIFA working group has said that it will abolish current licensing rules, which is already full of flaws. Now the fear is that it could be a free for all, leading to more third party ownership of players and instability in the transfer market due to this. We would have more Carlos Tevez and Kia Joorabchian cases springing up every now and again.
The European Commission has been right to take this up as a top priority issue. If the European Commission does manage to take this under their wing, it could spell some trouble for FIFA, as they are the world governing body of football and they have to have tight regulations for things like these. It also looks like FIFA seem to be more concerned with the commercial aspects of the World Cup rather than taking on the more pressing issues in world football.