FIFA and the rest of the world celebrates the International Women’s Day 2017, a day to commemorate the fight for equal rights of women.
Football is the world’s most popular sport and it is not crazy to assume that equal rights in football and development of women’s football will help women empower themselves. FIFA’s president Infantino also sees women’s football as "part of the solution for the future of football”. Well on a day like this let’s look at the issue of training compensation (TC) and if women’s football offers light in the darkness.
The TC system has been design to reward and encourage academies for developing players.However according to the DRC[1] the TC system does not apply to female players: - the DRC recalled that the Regulations created a detailed system for the payment of training compensation, which encourages the training of young players and creates stronger solidarity among clubs by awarding financial compensation to clubs that have invested in training young players - ‘the participating members of the DRC unanimously concurred that the reality of women’s football significantly differs from that of the men’s game. The budgets, expenses and costs currently involved in each are certainly not comparable’. - ‘the Chamber deemed it appropriate to stress that the system of training compensation currently provided for by the Regulations was established to serve the reality of the professional men’s football, however, not to be applied in an environment like the current still in a developing phase status of the women’s game’.
The ‘reality’ argument is not very convincing, at least not if it is gender based. The financial reality of men’s football in let’s say Madagascar, Bulgaria or Nepal is incomparable with the reality of the English Premiere League or the German Bundesliga but clubs from poorer and less developed regions or competitions are not expempt fror paying or receiving TC.
The ‘developing phase status’ also appears not to be a good argument to not apply a tool ‘which encourages the training of young players ’, if it depends on the gender of players.
Above all female players should be happy not to be hindered by the TC system when they want to sign a contract as professional. That is totally just but on a day like today would it not be great if Infantino would follow up on last years words with an announce the abolishment of the current TC system[2] so that also male players will be able to enjoy the same rights. It’s time to follow the women.