2022 and the years to come will be marked by significant reforms in professional football across the world. FIFA will be introducing several reforms this year and in the next few years relating to the international match calendar, the transfer system (and protecting player health and well-being[1]) and women’s football.
The International Match Calendar
The International Match Calendar (IMC) and international tournaments themselves have been subject to criticism both at a national level and the overall international level. Speaking at the 2021 FIFA Professional Football Conference, Arsène Wenger (Chief of Global Football Development) outlined that the proposed reforms deal with both the international window and qualifiers as well as the frequency of the final tournaments.
Perhaps it is better to first address the current issues and challenges in relation to international tournaments. As FIFA itself outlined, “the competitive imbalance between continents is increasingly visible”[2] and in our opinion, unfortunately it will not decrease anytime soon... Some international matches often do not have a real meaning and also hold little to no interest for fans. Even more, in some continents, the calendar is not aligned properly, resulting in clashes between international tournaments and national leagues.
These issues and the proposed reforms, however, do not stipulate a change in the balance of games which will remain 20% national team matches and 80% club football. FIFA’s objective in its own words is to develop a football calendar that is “fit-for-purpose” while focusing on the modern needs of football, contributing to the improvement of the quality of players, clubs, and national teams. Another important objective pointing to the global outlook of FIFA is increasing both the incentives and opportunities for detecting and developing talented players outside a small number of countries.
A few of the possible advantages that would come with a change in the international match calendar include:
Condensed and longer international windows, thus enabling national leagues to be played without interruption for longer periods of time
More time for national team coaches and players to work together and create a better structure within their teams
Frequent gamers at high level will help increase the competitiveness of less developed countries
Reduction in excessive travels within continents
More clarity for fans regarding the objective and meaning of official matches taking place
A stronger boost in the visibility and appeal of women’s football
Development and increase of the competitive balance in youth national teams across all continents
So, what reforms did FIFA propose to the football stakeholders regarding the men’s football IMC?
Concerning options one and two, the feedback received from football stakeholders focused on several points:
Having a single October window would be extreme as the two touchpoints are not enough
Federations held a strong point on keeping the original number of games (8+2)
There must be a strong focus on “smaller” nations receiving equal opportunities to compete, as it is in the current format
There was a general agreement on the need to reform and regroup certain windows
There is a need to reorganize and harmonize the qualification process across all Confederations
Following this initial feedback, a third option was developed that included 6 matches in the October window, 2 matches in March and 2 matches at the end of May/beginning of June before the final tournament in June.
Some of the benefits of the proposed third option include modernizing the organization of the calendar, while focusing on benefits for the clubs, reducing friction between national teams regarding release and travel of players, ensuring longer uninterrupted periods of playing for the clubs, and a longer October window that would allow for a final tournament to be played at the level of CAF and AFC.
There were a lot of speculations as to how a biannual World Cup would be organized bearing in mind continental tournaments. 166 out of FIFA’s 211 member associations requested for a World Cup to be organized and played every two years. The initial proposal for the frequency of World Cups and continental tournaments looks as follows:
At a first sight, the reforms seem feasible and it also brings about benefits like: potential for global growth of football, more focus and attention on national teams and players, increased participation of fans and a larger focus on fan preferences.
However, as with any reform in professional football, questions and concerns arose regarding players and their well-being. On one hand these were reflected in the official statements of stakeholders such as FIFPro. On the other hand, a new proposal has been put forward for a mandatory and “guaranteed rest period” for players at the end of each season. More precisely, for championships finishing in May and starting in August (e.g. Premier League), this rest period would come immediately when players are done with their duties regarding national teams in final tournaments. For players who play for clubs participating in a championship throughout the entire calendar year (February to November; e.g. Kazakhstan), this guaranteed rest period would come in December. FIFPro has given specific recommendations as to the duration of this rest period: 28 days as off-season rest and 14 days of rest during a season.
Other proposed reforms that focus more specifically on financial matters relate to the FIFA Club Benefit Scheme, the Talent Development Scheme and the distribution of revenues from the FIFA World Cups. Both the Club Benefit and Talent Development Schemes will get an increase in funding and more investments. The distribution of revenues from a FIFA biennial World Cup will focus on the FIFA Forward Programmes, the Club Benefit Scheme and Women’s and Youth Tournaments.
For now, the path to reforms regarding the IMC is not entirely clear as about a month before the FIFA Professional Football Conference was held, the European Leagues strongly rejected FIFA’s proposals[3]. Some of the arguments for the opposition to the reforms included:
The proposals would lead to a calendar shift from club football to national team football and a severe shirt in sporting and economic value from domestic to international competitions
The proposals are detrimental to domestic competitions, the clubs, players and fans
European Leagues also advocated for maintaining the current frequency of World Cup competitions, limiting the changes in international release windows and arranging rest periods for players at a domestic level.
This is not the only stakeholder to stand strongly against the proposed reforms – the European Club Association (ECA) also expressed its strong opposition in a statement[4]. ECA stated that these proposals would lead to a “direct and destructive impact on the club game, both domestically and internationally” while also putting the players’ health and wellbeing at risk.
FIFPro also released a statement[5] concerning the proposed reforms to the IMC. The Players’ Association stressed the need to find solutions to existing problems before introducing a biennial World Cup. The General Secretary of FIFPro, Jonas Baer-Hoffmann, focused on the natural physiological limits of players and the fact that the success of the sport depends on their physical and mental well-being.
For now, it remains to be seen how these proposals move forward in the future and whether they will materialize.
The Transfer System Reform
The other large building block of professional football, the transfer system, will also be subject to reforms in the near future. The reasoning behind the ideas for this reform lies in several rather worrying trends that can be noticed on the transfer market nowadays:
The original objectives are not achieved
The market is driven by speculation and not solidarity
Clubs that have trained players receive low training rewards
Contractual instability is increasing
Agents have a growing influence which leads to conflicts of interest
Competitive balance concerns
The so-called Transfer Reform was pointed out as a priority by the Football Stakeholders Committee in a meeting held back in March 2017. The Reform contains three reform packages and one ‘special’ package focused on football coaches and female players.
The concrete measures part of this transfer reform that will come into force this year are the FIFA Clearing House, the new Agents Regulations and the new Loan Regulations.
The FIFA Clearing House “will be a separate entity under the full control of FIFA in charge of processing payments related to Training Rewards between clubs all around the world”[6]. Training rewards concern the payments to be made by the new club to the training clubs of a player that is transferred or registered at an association as a professional. The FIFA Clearing House will serve as an automation of the distribution and payments of training rewards between clubs.
The FIFA Council is deciding on the new Agents Regulations in the first three months of 2022 and these are expected to enter into force later this year. In the past years, agent fees have increased so much so that there is now more money spent on agent fees than actual training rewards for clubs. Therefore, there was a need to find a balance and this led to the introduction of the main features of the new rules:
Re-introduction of the mandatory licensing system
Further education and CPD (continuing professional development) requirement
Effective dispute resolution system (through the Agents Chamber at the Football Tribunal)
Avoiding conflict of interest
Caps on commissions
All commissions are to be paid via the Clearing House
Lastly, the new Loan Regulations will come into force on 1 July 2022. The new rules will introduce a cap on the number of players a given club can loan out during a season. This cap will be set at a maximum of 8 players during the 2022/23 season and will continue to decrease by one each season – for example, in the 2023/24 season clubs will be able to loan out only 7 players. The same is applicable for the loans in the club. A new peculiarity in the regulations is also the cap on loans in and out between the same clubs – maximum 3 loans in and 3 loans out.
The last reform discussed at the Professional Football Conference, but undoubtedly not of lesser importance, relates to women’s football and the introduction of minimum labour conditions for players[7]. These minimum labour conditions are reflected in the latest version of the FIFA RSTP[8] and include:
Mandatory remuneration
The right to return to football activity after maternity leave
Exceptional registration of a player to temporarily replace another player that has taken maternity leave
Protection during pregnancy – regular and independent medical advice
Special protection from dismissal during pregnancy – such a termination will be considered without just cause
With the Women’s EURO’s this summer and the Men’s World Cup this winter approaching, this year will undoubtedly hold interesting practical implications and lessons for future regulatory reforms. A few things are for sure, football needs to move forward, competitive balance needs to be strengthened and players’ well-being ensured.
[1] FIFA - Protecting player health and well-being: https://www.fifa.com/the-future-of-football/protecting-player-health-and-well-being [2] FIFA - Reviewing international match calendars: https://www.fifa.com/the-future-of-football/reviewing-international-match-calendars [3] European Leagues - Leagues reject FIFA's proposal for changes in the international match calendar: https://europeanleagues.com/leagues-reject-fifas-proposal-for-changes-in-the-international-match-calendar/ [4] ECA - Statement on the International Match Calendar: https://www.ecaeurope.com/news-media-releases/eca-demands-football-clubs-and-player-welfare-are-at-the-heart-of-any-international-match-calendar-imc-reform-process/ [5] FIFPro - FIFPro calls for proper negotiation on reforms of international match calendar: https://fifpro.org/en/industry/fifpro-calls-for-proper-negotiation-on-reforms-of-international-match-calendar [6] FIFA - Clearing House: https://www.fifa.com/en/legal/football-regulatory/clearing-house [7] FIFA - Women's Football: Minimum Labour Conditions for Players: https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/033101649cc3c480/original/f9cc8eex7qligvxfznbf-pdf.pdf
[8] FIFA - Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, August 2021: https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/196c746445c58051/original/Regulations-on-the-Status-and-Transfer-of-Players-August-2021.pdf