NEW DELHI: With some football clubs exercising force majeure clauses citing the COVID-19 pandemic, the All India Football Federation has come out with a set of recommendations to be followed while committing to new player contracts and honouring the existing ones.
The recommendations, made after consultations with FIFA, provides guidelines in regards to the regulatory and legal issues faced in football during this unprecedented crisis.
FIFA had earlier come up with their set of guidelines to be followed in contractual disputes during the Coronavirus situation. The AIFF has framed these recommendations after applying the concerned Indian laws to FIFA's suggestions, Goal.com reports.
AIFF has specified that the 2019-20 season will end formally on May 31, while the starting date for the next season will remain open till such time as there is more clarity on the pandemic. This has also seen the next two transfer windows postponed, according to the the football website.
In effect, the AIFF's recommendations mention that since there is no starting date fixed for the upcoming season, contracts with new signings will be enforced only from the start of next season. Which basically means that the clubs need to pay the players they have signed on only from the start of the new season and not before that. Any
Also, there will be no effects on contracts that were set to end this year since the ending date has now been specified.
Goal further reports
If the clubs and players are unable to come to an agreement, the matter can be referred to FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) or Player Status Committee (PSC) which will take into cognizance the following factors:
1) whether the club had attempted to reach a mutual agreement with its employee(s);
2) the economic situation of the club;
3) the proportionality of any contract amendment;
4) the net income of the employee after contract amendment;
5) whether the decision applied to the entire squad or only specific employees.
- Log in to post comments