April 16 (AP) – FIFA is braced for legal challenges over the recommendation that player contracts should be extended until the seasons halted by the coronavirus pandemic can be completed.
World football’s governing body made the recommendation in a set of guidelines intended to address the complexities caused by the unprecedented shutdown of the sport, and help preserve the integrity and stability of domestic leagues.
Most major European leagues are still hoping to resume at some point, most likely without fans, pushing the domestic seasons well beyond their usual end point possibly even into August. However, many player contracts are set to expire on June 30, with some expecting to join a new club in July.
“You can appreciate the complexity of trying to give some guidelines globally,” Victor Montagliani, the FIFA vice president who leads the body’s coronavirus task force, told The Associated Press.
“We fully understand there could be individual circumstances in various legal jurisdictions that may arise to questions being asked or even some challenges.
“I guess it’s no different than a system we already had that happens even before we had this COVID-19 issue where if there was any challenge, it would it would go through the proper football judicial bodies. … We fully understand that that may happen again this time and we’ll deal with that accordingly, whether it be at the national level, confederation level or even at the FIFA level.”
Another complication is that sports lawyers do not view the guidelines from Zurich-based FIFA as binding for any player, club or league. And it’s unclear what happens if clubs and leagues from different countries disagree on which rules should apply.
