FIFA protects football coaches and female football players
In a statement published 19th November this year, FIFA announced that the FIFA Council are set to approve two sets of reforms that aim to strengthen the positions of football coaches and female football players. The proposed regulations were endorsed by the FIFA Football Stakeholders Committee (FSC) at its meeting 18th November this year, and is expected to be approved by the FIFA Council in December.
The reform that will affect female football players, aim to establish new global minimum standards for women, more specifically rights that might arise during a football player’s pregnancy and maternity leave. In short, the proposal will entitle football players to minimum 14 weeks maternity leave at a minimum of two thirds of the player’s contracted salary, the right to return to football activities after her maternity leave, protection and medical support during pregnancy, protection from dismissal during pregnancy and more flexible transfer regulations, allowing clubs to replace football players who are on maternity leave.
Regarding the proposed reform FIFA President Gianni Infantino said “Following the recent phenomenal growth and the unprecedented success of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in France last year, women’s football is now entering its next stage of development. It follows that we also have to adopt a regulatory framework that is appropriate and suitable to the needs of the women’s game. Coaches play a vital role in the game, but historically they have been left outside the football regulatory framework. We needed to plug this gap and recognise the key role they have.”
The proposed reforms for female players are likely to be included in the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP) art. 1 para. 3a or 3b alongside regulations on contractual stability for players, making it obligatory for national associations to amend their domestic regulations and standard contracts.
Until now, the contractual relationships between football coaches/managers and their football clubs have not been regulated by FIFA. With the new reform, football coaches/managers will also find themselves with better protection, as the new regulations aim to ensure contractual stability similar to the contractual stability provisions for football players. The reform for football coaches/managers will partly provide football coaches/managers with a minimum regulatory framework that clarifies the employment relationships with their clubs and national associations, and partly offer the football coaches/managers and their employers the possibility to have their disputes heard by FIFA’s decision-making bodies and the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Unlike the reform for female football players, the reform for football coaches/managers will only be applicable to employment relationships of an international dimension between football coaches/managers and professional clubs or associations. In other words, employment relationships where football coaches/managers whose nationality is the same as their football club or national association will not be affected.
