Players advised on new contracts
Football Association of Malawi (Fam) has advised players and clubs to sign contracts that are in line with Fifa’s new terms and conditions.
In November, Fifa gave players more power to leave clubs which either delay paying wages or mistreat them.
The new rules allow players to cancel their contracts and sign for another club if they go unpaid for two months.
Federation of International Association of Professional Footballers, the global group of players’ unions, also confirmed the changes.
“While clubs in the richest leagues invariably treat players well, there are other leagues in which the employment rights of footballers are routinely ignored.
“In some cases, players have been tied to clubs which fell months behind in paying salaries. [There are also cases where players] have been harassed with tactics designed to intimidate them into leaving or signing contracts on less favourable terms,” Fifa says in a statement.
Football Association of Malawi (Fam) Club Licensing and Transfer Matching System Manager, Casper Jangale, described the revised rules as an eye-opener.
He said Fam was equally fed up with local clubs which abuse players by not abiding by contractual agreements.
“Even before that, the understanding has been that if a player is not being paid, he can sign for another club. But to put this into perspective, players and clubs have to make sure of such agreements when they are signing contracts.
“Now that the transfer window is open, this new rule has to be part of terms and conditions applied to any contractual documents. If we fail to adopt this, clubs would continue abusing players,” Jangale said.
He added that the newly-formed Players Association of Malawi would spearhead the enforcement of the new rule.
Most local clubs fail to pay players on time. Recently, Masters Security FC players boycotted a match they were supposed to play against Nyasa Big Bullets at Chilomoni Stadium in Blantyre over unpaid dues.
The country’s transfer window opened on December 25 2017 and is expected to close in April.
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