FIFA Announces Transfer Amendments
FIFA have announced that players will now be allowed to make two moves in a single calendar year.FIFA have announced that players will now be allowed to make two moves in a single calendar year.
Following a two-day meeting in Zurich, the FIFA Executive Committee ratified the revised Regulations for the Status and Transfer of Players. President Sepp Blatter also confirmed a player could be loaned to two different clubs in succession during a season if he had only trained and not played in any matches for his original club between loans.
An official press release read, as follows:
There are a number of amendments in the revised regulations, with the restriction on the number of transfers per calendar year to be relaxed, thereby allowing a player to be transferred twice within the same calendar year if the contract between the club and player has been cancelled with mutual consent before the second transfer is completed. However, transfers must still take place in one of the transfer windows.
Furthermore, the provisions regarding the loan of players will also be more flexible. For example, a player who has been loaned to another club but then returns to his original club may be loaned to a second club, provided that since his return to his original club, he has only trained there and has not played in any matches for his original club.
However, the five principles that FIFA agreed with the EU Commission in March 2001 have not been amended. These principles relate to the protection of minors, training compensation for young players, the solidarity mechanism, maintenance of contractual stability and the system used to resolve disputes. With regard to the final point, the revised regulations will allow a single judge to rule in such matters. In general, the different powers of the various bodies that deal with disputes have been laid down in a more precise manner.
These new regulations, which will come into force on 1 July 2005 after the conclusion of the current season, will also have a new, more consistent structure and will contain the provisions and additions that FIFA has issued via circular letters since the adoption of the current transfer regulations on 1 September 2001. With regard to international registration transfer certificates and the provisional registration of players, it was also agreed that a more precise legal formulation was required.
It was also announced that FIFA had agreed to create a special insurance fund to compensate national associations and clubs for players injured during the 2006 World Cup finals.