The Russian players’ association PSFT criticizes the transfer regulations of the Russian football federation, FUR. The PSFT complained after the federation’s indifferent reaction to an open letter from Under-23 players.

 

Last week a group of 24 Under-23 footballers playing in the Russian Premier League sent an open letter to the FUR and its new president Sergey Fursenko. The players requested the federation to reconsider the national rules concerning training compensation for the transfer of players Under-23 after expiration of their contract. They proposed to abolish the existing compensation rules for players over 17 years, because these would damage Russian football.

 

In Russia, when a player is transferred to a club in the Premier League, the total sum of compensation (salary, bonus payments and educational expenses) is multiplied by three. If a player moves to a team in the First Division, the sum is multiplied by two. This compensation norm violates Russian labour law and very often forces players to resign contracts on unfavourable terms.

 

The Russian federation reacted very quickly to the letter of the young players with a statement on its website. The FUR said that payment of compensation is obligatory when the player is transferred irrespective to whether his contract has expired or not. This ruling is stipulated in the FUR's Regulations on Status and Transfer of players and is adopted from the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players. The FUR added that this norm in the first place is directed to protect the sport schools and clubs that develop players; as the sums that the clubs spend on the players' professional development often exceed the amounts of compensations they receive.

 

The PSFT was not amused by this ‘surprising answer’, said Nikolai Grammatikov, the association’s secretary general. ‘We stressed that FIFA’s training compensation rule only applies to international transfers. The decision to imply it or not on national level is left to national football federations. Most of the European counties have abandoned this norm. Such selective position of FUR on the implementation of FIFA Regulations is very unfair.’

 

Grammatikov talks about ‘selective’ behaviour, because the same FIFA Regulations stipulate that a national dispute resolution chamber (NDRC) should be in force from the 1st of January 2008. ‘But the FUR does not rush to organize the Russian DRC according to the FIFA norms and simply ignores unwanted rules’, he said.

 

Grammatikov continues: ‘Saying this compensation norm is meant to protect sport schools, is a clear sign of hypocrisy. FUR knows that the only compensation the schools receive, is the compensation paid when the player signs his first contract. The maximum amount of the compensation is 300.000 Russian rubles (approximately 10.000 USD). Moreover the compensation is paid to the player’s last school, even if he only spent one year there. Schools in Russia do not have an opportunity to compensate their expenses on the players' growth.’

 

Still, Grammatikov and the PSFT try to remain positive. ‘We once again offered to cooperate together for the benefit of the Russian football and are waiting for the continuation of our internet communication.’