FFA to close Caceres transfer loophole

"Their end goal is a system where a player can sign a 5 or 6 year contract but tear it up and walk away at any point if a better offer comes along" Sorry, but this is not true. First, the normal laws of contract would apply and, whilst I'm not intimate with all European law, I have good knowledge of the English Legal System and one party can't just walk away from a contract. Second, I'm sure I've read FIFPro want there to be a designated period prior to the end of a contract (maybe after 75% of the contract has passed) or certain conditions (e.g. player is being unfairly treated, not getting a game, etc.) where a player under contract can enter seek to terminate the contract without any damages being paid. I presume there would be a similar clauses allowing clubs to also terminate a contract.

Contracts and transfer fees are different beasts. At the mega clubs transfer fees are about compensation for revenue foregone in shirt sales etc, at the lower end compensation for player development and often what keep clubs solvent. Contracts are protection for club and player. Many employment contracts in industry will have non-compete clauses saying you can't work for a competitor for a year. Why wouldn't a football club? The transfer fee helps break those clauses, although perhaps the player should pay? Equally players need protection for injuries and changes in club management. It's the old 80:20 rule 20% of the players earn 80% of the money. Most are on average earnings or just above, struggling with mortgages etc. In Australia the NPL clubs should be compensated and if a player is on contract to an A League club a transfer fee would apply. Transfer fees are a great equaliser moving money from rich clubs to poor.

"make it easier for players to move between clubs while respecting contracts" Those terms are oxymorons. It is laughable that FIFPro tacks on 'respecting contracts' to make their proposals sound nicer, when in reality they have nothing to do with respecting contracts. FIFPro sees transfer fees as money that players are missing out on. Their end goal is a system where a player can sign a 5 or 6 year contract but tear it up and walk away at any point if a better offer comes along, but of course if the player receives a career ending injury or is just a dud then the club has to honour the contract in full. I hope the European Commission has the sense to tell them they can't have it both ways - they can have fully protected contracts that lock all parties in for the duration, unless there is mutual agreement to separate; or they can have less protected contracts that give players more freedom to leave, but also give clubs more freedom to offload underperformers. I won't hold my breath for the bureaucrats in Brussels to apply sense to any issue any time soon.

Yep. Agree. BIG JOKE.

"Sort of seems a shame though that clubs like CCM can’t cash in on Melbourne City. " Exactly Franko. And people think pro/rel will destroy CCM.. Don't worry FFA have their death knell covered.

"Yeah but they’ll probably make it more difficult than it already is. And of course keep the pittance that lower divisions get for transfers when the a-league comes calling." Well my initial feeling was one of fury for blocking CFGs "creative" solutions to getting around the cap.,, just like when they moronically changed the "Troisi transfer rule" (why they would make it MORE difficult for us to bring home NT talent is beyond me!!!) If what u say is true, then take a bow FFA, yet again doing their best to F%^* the game on their path to emulating the AFL.

Whole issue about Transfer Fees may be redundant if the FIFPro wins the Legal Action it has launched with the European Commission. Amongst other things, FIFPro wants to abolish transfer fees and make it easier for players to move between clubs while respecting contracts.

Yep, NPL clubs need more transfer money for players being signed. Should be on a games rating though. NPL Player joins A-League club - $10k NPL Player plays A-League game - $10k NPL Player plays 50 A-League games - $50k NPL Player plays for Australia - $100k (paid for by FFA) Or something along those lines...

Agree that Newcastle brought in some good players, but they really should have had a transfer fee out of Carney.

Maybe, then again, maybe not. Results and performances by the Jets squad improved significantly after Carney was offloaded. Losing Carney = bringing in Nordstrand and Ugarkovic . So Jets all ended up not losing out, eh?

This is a joke. Just allow transfers instead of creating another stupid mess over player registrations.

Yeah but they'll probably make it more difficult than it already is. And of course keep the pittance that lower divisions get for transfers when the a-league comes calling.

The more rules you make the harder people will try to get around them; sometimes successfully sometimes not. Creating an arms race where regulators are constantly chasing their tail and creating more opportunities for another scandal/crisis. City were happy to pay and Mariners happy to sell so why not allow transfers? If we can't have market based transfers why not a regulated structure were the value is based on factors such as: age, time with club, time left on contract, representative status, etc. It's not perfect because it introduces new rules to game but it could be part of a longer term transition. So long as there is a salary cap the rich clubs can't buy all the best players but they can lure some of them away without compensation to the current club. That's not a fair balance

Sort of seems a shame though that clubs like CCM can't cash in on Melbourne City. Understand it is to prevent them from being plundered but compare the David Carney NJFC>SFC transfer against Caceras CCM>MCFC transfer. It's Newcastle that really lost out, at least CCM got $300k.

"“FFA has conducted a review of the National Registration Regulations (NRR), in particular the regulations covering transfers within the Hyundai A-League clubs,” Bout FFA-king time!!!! And Congrats to city group pushing the point on this and doing a bit of pioneering by proxy. I Hope to see them push the envelope again soon.