FIFA welcomes EC study

FIFA has taken note of and welcomes the publication of the study - mandated by the European Commission - on the economic and legal aspects of transfers of players in team sports. Through FIFA’s contribution to the broad consultations carried out during the preparation of this study, FIFA, as football’s world governing body, provided, as requested, extensive input on manifold areas of its football governance regulatory framework. Among FIFA’s key areas of input into the study were the functioning and logic of the principles upon which its Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players are based. These all aim to ensure the regularity and integrity of sporting competitions, namely through: - the principles of solidarity; - protection of minors; - registration periods; - contractual stability; - training and education of young players; - dispute resolution systems While the detailed findings of the study will need to be fully evaluated, FIFA acknowledges with satisfaction that the majority of the proposals contained in the study are already being addressed in the current regulatory framework. Equally importantly, the study’s key conclusions reflect that FIFA’s current framework - including the intermediate and regular adjustments that the entire system has gone through over the last decade - is constituted for the good of the game. FIFA's on-going work has been undertaken with the objective to continuously adjust the applicable regulations to the needs of modern football, and tackle the ever-changing challenges that football is faced with, in consultation with all football stakeholders. Concrete examples of this to-date are the provisions on redistribution mechanisms; the introduction of the Transfer Matching System - which has brought greater transparency at all levels of the entire transfer process, and became mandatory for the international transfer of male professional players on 1 October 2010 -, or the establishment of dispute resolution systems also at national level. In this respect, any future potential adaptations that could further contribute in this direction will certainly be analysed by FIFA, and implemented, where appropriate, following the necessary consultation and applicable decision-making processes within FIFA’s competent bodies. From FIFA