FIFPRO, THE WORLD UNION of professional football players, has announced its full support for the FPAI's suggestions against bringing back the draft system in the ISL.
The Football Players' Association of India recently came out and said they were against the proposed re-introduction of the Players' Draft in the Indian Super League. Apart from being a departure from the global practice of open-market player signing, the Draft puts a fixed price on players and does not give them the choice to pick their own clubs.
After FPAI came out with their proposal, the All India Football Federation, instead of taking the players' concerns into account, released a statement saying they do not recognise the FPAI.
Now that FIFPro has come out in support of FPAI, the Indian players' union will feel less isolated, and with the world taking notice of the whole situation, the spotlight will turn back towards AIFF's mishandling of the situation.
Here's the statement released by FIFPro in its entirety...
"FIFPro fully supports moves by the Indian players union to make sure it is consulted by the Indian Super League over rules for next season.
The Football Players Association of India (FPAI) is concerned that the league wants to unilaterally impose a draft system for the 2017-8 season against the wishes of most of its nearly 500 members. FIFPro General Secretary Theo van Seggelen said,
“It is imperative that the players – the stars of the Indian Super League – are able to negotiate their own working conditions. The Indian Super League cannot impose conditions to fit with its business model without consulting players.”
In the last few weeks, the FPAI has consulted players at all 10 clubs in the I-League to ask them their views on re-introducing the draft system that was dropped for last season. Most of the I-League players also take part in the Indian Super League, which resumes in November.
Players are unhappy with a draft system because they could be moved on to a different club against their will and not have the right to negotiate their salary.
The union also wants to discuss rules that restrict contracts to one year, impose quotas on the number of Indian players and fix a squad salary cap."