International Compensation

[growler]

Surely the club should have some sort of insurance? How would the FA of Japan, Togo, Iran and a few others fund the wages of some of their players? What about Ivory coast?

 

Nope, international football is about pride. If anything, the players who earn so much should be able to say 'no pay' for those games. They get bonuses for success in the international tournaments, that is sufficient.

[wacko]

Obviously, we need a valid, insightful comparison here.

 

If you lend me your 150ft yacht and I sail it into a rock, is it okay for me to say, "tough, your problem"?

 

So why should FIFA simply be able to shrug their shoulders when some of the yachts get broken at their regatta?

 

Any news on that valid, insightful comparison we need?

[aka Dus]

No useful comparison is possible. The FAs provide the framework and even coaching that develops young players in their countries. Big clubs then throw fortunes at these players and G14 are now engaged in an attempt to undermine the position of international football at the top of the football pyramid. Certainly all FAs should be made have comprehensive insurance but the rest is horsetrading.

[Jon]

FIFA interfere with the game enough as it is, can you imagine how much input they would want into a players contract if they were going to be forced to pay that players wages for a period of time during the year.

 

They'd impose salary caps immediately, then we'd have all the mucking around with additional bonuses to top up those contracts, which of course the player wouldn't receive whilst on International duty.

 

Not to mention the fact that FIFA don't do anything for free, so they'd be charging us for their input on top of their normal interference costs

[wacko]

A fairer comparison is, you as an employee decide to enter a skiing competition and break your leg. Does your employer have to pay your wages? Remember, the players CHOOSE to play international football.

 

If the PFA could do anything right, this would be it.

They do indeed choose to play, but their employers are more or less powerless to stop them. It's far from unusual for an employer to cancel employees' holidays if they are suddenly needed at work. Essentially, the wage-paying employers are told by the FA/FIFA/UEFA, "we're taking your employees, thank you very much, to make pots of money for ourselves and we aren't going to give you any of it, even if something terrible happens to one of your players that costs you millions."

 

Fact is, FIFA and the FAs make hundreds of millions from international games and competitions on the back of the work of players who are employed and paid by the clubs. And when a player is injured like Cisse or Owen, they just shrug their shoulders and say, "not our problem."

 

What kind of an arrangement is this where clubs bear all the risk and FIFA takes all the profit? The sums of money we're talking about are very significant to a club but a drop in the ocean in terms of what FIFA is making at the World Cup.

 

That is true. Relatively poor FAs like the FAI have insurance policies to cover their players, why shouldn't the FFF?

Why should they bother? It just costs them money to buy insurance and if a player does get injured, it won't cost them anything whether they are insured or not. Even the FA's insurance is laughable--it will cover perhaps half of Owen's wages, leaving Newcastle with a similar bill to us for Cisse.

Edited June 27, 2006 by wacko

[RedNik]

Half of michael owen's wages is not laughable. Its very significant. If we had 20 k taken off Cisse's wages while injured a move would be more likely/ easier. Furthermore, even if he stayed, we would spend some half a million less over the time of the injury. Its definitely not a joke.

[wacko]

Half of michael owen's wages is not laughable. Its very significant. If we had 20 k taken off Cisse's wages while injured a move would be more likely/ easier. Furthermore, even if he stayed, we would spend some half a million less over the time of the injury. Its definitely not a joke.

I meant laughably inadequate. Half the England team are on those kind of wages and the FA's insurance policy comes nowhere near close to covering it. These guys are spending the thick end of a billion on a stadium that will hardly get used but they can't be bothered to take out proper insurance. Sure, it's better than the French FA, but it's still a joke.