3 June 2019 – The tedious process for amateur clubs of having to claim their rightful remuneration from bigger clubs for their efforts in developing footballers will soon be a thing of the past thanks to MYSAFA.
For years South African amateur clubs have struggled to claim what was rightfully theirs for their endless hours and efforts put into the development of players who have gone on to play internationally but with no formal record of their development journey.
Through the FIFA Solidarity Payments, each time a player is transferred internationally, 5% of the transfer fee must be set aside and paid to clubs that developed the player between the ages of 12 and 23.
Without a FIFA-recognised player registration system, the claiming of such funds has been very difficult. By FIFA’s estimation, 80% of solidarity payments go unpaid, globally. With the transfer market hitting US$8 billion in 2018, that translates to a staggering R4.5 billion in unpaid solidarity payments, worldwide.
While solidarity and training compensation has been around for almost two decades, the pro-active collection of solidarity compensation and payment based on member associations’ electronic registration system data is new. FIFA legislation set to be ratified this week at FIFA Congress makes clear the benefits of registering clubs and players in MYSAFA – it will be the mechanism for pro-actively contacting and paying these clubs in future.
Despite the hurdles, some South African clubs have successfully navigated the solidarity payment system in the past to collect on high-profile international transfers.
Just last year, local amateur football club Mighty United SC, affiliated in Langelethu Football Association (LFA) in the Western Cape, received a huge cash injection after being assisted by FC Cape Town in their solidarity claim for the transfer of Leo Thethani, to Ajax Amsterdam in late 2017. The now 20-year-old was first registered to Mighty before joining the Capetonian PSL side. The integrity shown by Ajax Cape Town in this instance should be commended. It is not necessarily the norm in solidarity payment cases involving multiple clubs – one with substantial legal and financial resources, and one (or more) without.
The LFA club was highly instrumental in the development of the player who is now an international star and recently returned from Poland with the SA national U-20 side that competed in the FIFA U-20 Men’s World Cup™.
The process has however been simplified and clubs will require less admin and absolutely no legal costs to claiming their solidarity funds thanks to MYSAFA, which has been recognised by FIFA as the official player registrations system in the country.
By simply being registered on MYSAFA, clubs and players will be connected to the FIFA Connect system, which enables the relevant interface for domestic transfer and registration system when a player is being registered or transferred worldwide.
Clubs, players and the public are urge to read the FIFA Regulations on Status and Transfer of Players for more information on solidarity and training compensation that may be due to them.