FIFA faces accusations of creating “fake” unions for player welfare talks instead of engaging with established representatives like Fifpro, raising concerns about collective bargaining rights.
Football’s global governing body, FIFA, has been strongly accused of undermining genuine player representation by promoting “fake” or “yellow” unions during a recent welfare consultation meeting in Morocco.
The serious accusation was levied by the world players’ union, FIFPro, after it was excluded from the event, dubbed the FIFA Professional Players Consultation Forum, held at the weekend.
FIFPro stated that the meeting “did not involve a meaningful global representation of independent player unions that speak on behalf of players and are an integral part of labour negotiations.”
According to a report from The Independent, FIFPro views this exclusion as part of a recurring strategy by the global governing body. The union stated: “This approach reinforces a concerning pattern.
FIFA has previously applied similar strategies with agents and fans, creating FIFA -crafted organisations for consultation processes rather than engaging with the recognised football representative bodies.”
The union stressed the severity of the alleged tactic, which enters the realm of employment matters, arguing that “Extending this practice to employment matters and promoting fake or ‘yellow’ unions undermines collective worker representation and runs counter to International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions.”
Relations between the two bodies remain strained, with FIFPro’s Europe division currently involved in two separate legal actions against FIFA over the international match calendar.
FIFA stated that the Rabat meeting was attended by representatives of 30 national player unions. However, sources told the PA news agency that at least four of those unions were represented by individuals suspended for poor governance or corruption.
The consultation did feature the endorsement of key player welfare measures, including a 72-hour break between matches and a 21-day rest period between seasons, which will be subject to further consultation.
Despite these advances, FIFPro criticized the underlying governance structure, stating:
“While FIFA has made some important advances together with FIFPRO in recent years, Fifa continues to hide its unilateral governance structure of professional football behind so-called stakeholder consultation – a deeply flawed process as shown with the meeting in Rabat.”