FAI facing €750,000 players bill for internationals

FAI facing €750,000 players bill for internationals

DAMIEN DUFF may never get to wear the green of Ireland at Croke Park if top European clubs succeed in winning compensation for the release of players for international duty.

A high-powered FAI delegation visited Brussels yesterday to warn EU officials and Irish MEPs about the serious consequences for soccer in Ireland if they had to face a bill of €750,000 for players' wages every time the senior international team played a game.

"Having to play three-quarters of a million euro at today's wages everytime we play an international match is simply not sustainable," said FAI chief executive John Delaney.

"The €10m which we invest in the grassroots would be put at risk and it would mean that our star players might not get to play for their country."

With Croke Park about to be given UEFA's five-star standard it could eventually mean that the only time Ireland's top players actually get to play a competitive game in Dublin would be if their clubs reached a Champions League final at GAA headquarters.

Some of Ireland's current internationals are among the top earners in the English game with Damien Duff earning around €100,000-a-week at Chelsea, while Tottenham's Robbie Keane and Manchester United's John O'Shea would be paid approximately €50,000 per week.

The FAI currently pays an insurance premium of €60,000 per game which covers each player's wages for up 26 weeks should they get injured while playing for their country.

But G14, the lobby group for Europe's top football clubs, is angry that clubs have to continue paying players wages while they are on international duty and is unhappy that profits which FIFA and UEFA make from the World Cup and European Championships goes to associations rather than clubs.

Former German international striker Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who is both chairman of Bayern Munich and vice-chairman of G14, said: "The legal analysis we have asked for concludes that we have to release our players but we don't have to do it for free."

They are also backing Belgian club Charleroi, who this week sued FIFA in the Belgian courts for compensation after one of their players was out for eight months after being injured in an international match.

That case is expected to go all the way to the European Court of Human Rights and the ruling is likely to have widespread implications for the international game which is why Delaney, FAI director of strategy Declan Conroy and FAI planning and development director John Byrne were in Brussels.

With the help of Fianna Fail MEP Eoin Ryan, they were able to meet Ireland's European Commissioner Charlie McCreevy, EU Director of Sport Pierre Mairesse and the vice-president of the European Premier Football Leagues, Jean Marie Phillips, as well as the Irish MEPs.

The message to all was short and to the point.

"We told them that although G14 may want to be paid for the use of players they are forgetting where those players came from. It was at the grassroots that their talent was nurtured and developed by volunteer coaches and it is the grassroots which will suffer if associations like the FAI have to start paying the players' wages," said Delaney.

"G14 also seem to forget that playing international football increases the capital value of players and also increases their merchandising values. The game's superstars owe their fame to the profile they receive from playing international football. G14 cannot have their cake and eat it."

At today's huge salaries, the FAI estimate that it would cost them €750,000 per game if they had to pay clubs compensation for the release of international players.

Last year Ireland played nine internationals which would work out at €6.75m - around 30 per cent of the FAI's annual turnover.

"Having to pay this money would leave us with two options. We could either slash the amount of money we spend on the development of the game or else we don't use our star players.

"Neither option is desirable so it is a catch 22 situation," said Delaney.

Inter Milan pay 40k of robbie keanes wage and spurs pay 20k, at least that was what it was before he signed the new contract.

Thats bad for Ireland but what about poorer countrys from africa etc. Would these countries be able to fill an international team with their best players?

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Originally Posted by Louth4sam

Thats bad for Ireland but what about poorer countrys from africa etc. Would these countries be able to fill an international team with their best players?

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They made that point on Off The Ball on Newstalk the other night, Adebayor (sp?) is paying for Togo's trainging gear and equipment out of his own pocket!

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Originally Posted by livehead1

Inter Milan pay 40k of robbie keanes wage and spurs pay 20k, at least that was what it was before he signed the new contract.

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:eek: :confused: Inter Milan still pay his wages??? I knew Leeds still bankrolled him a little but even that should be finished by now.

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Originally Posted by joeSoap

Manchester United's John O'Shea would be paid approximately €50,000 per week.

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50 grand a week!!! :eek:

They can bloody well keep him.

Methinks if it does go through you could see a lot more eircom league players called up. :ball:

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Originally Posted by Lim till i die

50 grand a week!!! :eek:

They can bloody well keep him.

Methinks if it does go through you could see a lot more eircom league players called up. :ball:

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it won't go through. if it did, they would put ticket prices up.

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Originally Posted by livehead1

it won't go through. if it did, they would put ticket prices up.

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It doesn't matter if the law is behind G14 as it would kill International football. There are more poor international associations than rich ones so would mean vast majority of international associations (even in Europe) would not be able to afford to pick players from top clubs which of cpurse is really what G14 want afterall.

How Could cameroon afford to pay Eto?

I am sure Damien Duff et al would forgo a week's wages to continue playing for his country...

The big clubs should be ashamed of themselves for being so greedy,
willing to destroy international football for a few quid,
If they don't want to play international players they shouldn't sign/keep
them, afterall who is it who is pushing up players wages in the first place?
A season ticket boycott would help them see sense.

i think its just the g14 flexing their muscles.
probably be a compromise about only releasing for major games or not as many friendlies or something.dont think it will be that big a deal in the end. or expect them to try and get things like the confederations cup scrapped and the african nations moved to summer.....FAI should just put an international release clause in irish players contracts from a young age.

This is the kind of thing that drives me fcuking crazy.:mad:

I appreciate all the value added sh!te about clubs and players and players BUT

where would these fcukers get their players if the FA's weren't running under age leagues, coaching etc and producing the players they eventually get - usually for fcuk all - eg Kevin Doyle etc etc etc.

If the clubs want to go this route, let THEM run all underage footie and pay for it.

The supporters groups are up in arms over this and if the clubs win this one out - boycott them - money talks and they'll soon come to their senses. The various FAs could also band together refuse to have anything to do with the clubs. Referees associations could also organise a boycott. Grounds could be made unavailable for competitions, pre-season tours be scrapped if the Asian and African confederations don't play ball when the Chelskis, Real Madrids want to travel there on marketing schemes masquerading as friendly matches.

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Originally Posted by sirhamish

This is the kind of thing that drives me fcuking crazy.:mad:

I appreciate all the value added sh!te about clubs and players and players BUT

where would these fcukers get their players if the FA's weren't running under age leagues, coaching etc and producing the players they eventually get - usually for fcuk all - eg Kevin Doyle etc etc etc.

If the clubs want to go this route, let THEM run all underage footie and pay for it.

The supporters groups are up in arms over this and if the clubs win this one out - boycott them - money talks and they'll soon come to their senses. The various FAs could also band together refuse to have anything to do with the clubs. Referees associations could also organise a boycott. Grounds could be made unavailable for competitions, pre-season tours be scrapped if the Asian and African confederations don't play ball when the Chelskis, Real Madrids want to travel there on marketing schemes masquerading as friendly matches.

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yes its another one of the problems associated with footballers wages in a sense. If they were being paid 30k a year like most jobs then there wouldn't be a problem. But we must also look at this from the football clubs point of view. for example of Duff was to be injured playing for us in a friendly. He could be out for a year, that could cost his club millions of pounds, and they have to pay a proportion of his medical bills through no fault of their own, simply because they have players with the ability to warrant a place in an international team.

I don't agree that the various FA's should have to pay for players but there are inevitably, two sides to every story.

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Originally Posted by livehead1

yes its another one of the problems associated with footballers wages in a sense. If they were being paid 30k a year like most jobs then there wouldn't be a problem. But we must also look at this from the football clubs point of view. for example of Duff was to be injured playing for us in a friendly. He could be out for a year, that could cost his club millions of pounds, and they have to pay a proportion of his medical bills through no fault of their own, simply because they have players with the ability to warrant a place in an international team.

I don't agree that the various FA's should have to pay for players but there are inevitably, two sides to every story.

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Take your point Livehead but doesn't the FAI pay a huge insurance fee per match and does it cover the time they're out injured?? Maybe it's just medical costs it covers - it's hardly wages or is it??

I still think that there are many G14 type clubs who see internationals as a nuisance - they should remember that the biggest TV audiences are for internationals and if they want to kill the game as a mass participation sport, mass attended sport and a mass viewed sport, they're doing the right way about.

It makes me laugh when you see the likes of Juventus giving away thosands of tickets for a UEFA Champions League game and regularly getting 25,000 or less for games, whinging about international matches.
Many of the big clubs are all experiencing drops in crowd levels - they should get their own houses in order first by reducing admission fees, paying less money on transfers/wages etc before hitting out at many Associations who have the overall good of the game at heart.

Amy Lawrence had a good article about them in last Sunday's Observer BTW and their crowd collapse.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/sport...734576,00.html

I think compromise will win out eventually but what kind of compromise??:confused:

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Originally Posted by sirhamish

Take your point Livehead but doesn't the FAI pay a huge insurance fee per match and does it cover the time they're out injured?? Maybe it's just medical costs it covers - it's hardly wages or is it??

I still think that there are many G14 type clubs who see internationals as a nuisance - they should remember that the biggest TV audiences are for internationals and if they want to kill the game as a mass participation sport, mass attended sport and a mass viewed sport, they're doing the right way about.

It makes me laugh when you see the likes of Juventus giving away thosands of tickets for a UEFA Champions League game and regularly getting 25,000 or less for games, whinging about international matches.
Many of the big clubs are all experiencing drops in crowd levels - they should get their own houses in order first by reducing admission fees, paying less money on transfers/wages etc before hitting out at many Associations who have the overall good of the game at heart.

Amy Lawrence had a good article about them in last Sunday's Observer BTW and their crowd collapse.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/sport...734576,00.html

I think compromise will win out eventually but what kind of compromise??:confused:

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i've just realised, theres a huge flaw to this argument about duff....chelsea are not a member of G14 and don't want to be apparently....?

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Originally Posted by livehead1

i've just realised, theres a huge flaw to this argument about duff....chelsea are not a member of G14 and don't want to be apparently....?

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I thought they wanted to join Livehead1??

Anyway, here's UEFA's reaction

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_...737302,00.html

A point that John Delaney made on Setanta last night is that the clubs have an asset. The value of this asset increases hugely with international football. Would Blackburn have got £17 for Damien Duff had he never lit of the world cup? Probably not.

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

Would Blackburn have got £17 for Damien Duff had he never lit of the world cup? Probably not.

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Limerick FC offered £15, but those Chelski gits toppled us by two quid....:D

I have to agree with everything that sirhamish is saying.

I think the clubs are acting disgracefully. If they destroy international football, they will take any remaining soul that's left in the game. G-14 have done enough damage to the game. As for Chelsea's interest in G-14, I thought Mourinho complained a couple of weeks ago that Chelsea are not a member. He argued that it was Peter Kenyon's fault for not getting them into G-14 and that they would receive better traetment from UEFA and match officials if they were a member.:rolleyes:

As for Damien Duff costing them £17, there is no way he would have cost that if he wasn't playing international football. It was the World Cup that provided him with the stage to showcase his talent.

Hear Hear JPM. It's been a long established fact of life that good footballers play international football. G14 should grow up & get on with it. Hopefully the Charleroi case will fall flat on its face.

Well said The Jamaican PM and Stuttgart88.

I was worried we might get a repeat of the Tennis crisis in the 60s when the professionals gave the finger to the various Tennis organisations. :eek:

Like i said it doesn't matter if the G14 clubs have a legal case or not as its just unworkable on worldwide basis. Big countries would be able to afford to pay players & smaller countries would not so international football would collapse.

Uefa are standing their ground against a CL breakway just to protect their own interests & not the smaller countries. I think they should call the bluff of the G14 clubs & then refuse them membership of their national associations & therefore block all players in those clubs from international football. Clubs like Juventus would die trying to live off 10,000 Euro Super League attendances.

It should be remembered that G14 only represent a handful of clubs & although they powerful could easily be boycotted by proper football people.

This situation really highlights the club versus country issue and the unusual dependence that lots of Irish fans have on a foreign league for their weekly football entertainment. I am also of the opinion that some kind of sensible compromise will be made but the potential for this to hurt Irish football fans is huge. In fact i would go as far as to say that the worst case scenario would hit Irish soccer fans worse than any other country in Europe or even the world.
The quality of the EL vs EPL vs SPL has been debated to infinitum here and I don't want to get into that now but for whatever reason there are many more staunt fans of British teams than of Irish teams in Ireland and this is quite a unique situation. There are probably some exceptions but I think the vast majority on here would prefer to see Ireland win a world cup than their chosen British team win the champion's league 10 years in a row. With most other countries the fans have a much closer relationship to their local club and some care even more about their club results than that of their national team. Whereas Irish people support teams that have nothing to do with them or their community. What a bitter pill it would be to swallow to you see one of your Irish heroes playing out of his skin for your favourite club and run rings around the best Europe has to offer but to see Ireland get hammered by England because we couldn't afford to pay his wages. That would really make you think twice about supporting that club ...... I hope!!

Uefa do not recognise G14 & they are quiet correct. They are an unrepresentative & only speak for less than 1% of European clubs. They are the minority... I think Uefa have refused to speak to them...?

If the G14 want to set up there own league let them, it'll fail within a couple of years. 18 clubs as of now equals 34 league games, and a maximum of 4 games in a cup comp or 8 if 2 leged cup. No promotion, no relegation, who would pay to see the bottom 9 clubs on PPV??? There players would all be banned from international competitions, so that would upset a lot of players who still give 100% for their countries.

Remember a few years ago The English Rugby Union went to sell the rights to their home games at Twickwenham, they did, and the Irish French Scots and Welsh withdrew from the five nations. They got F all for the tv rights as they had no one to play and backed down very quickly.

Remember Celtic and Rangers trying to do a deal for tv rights and all the other SPL clubs threatened to leave the SPL, end result the same.

It's pure greed and wont work, so I say let them do what the f*** they like because it wont last

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Originally Posted by sirhamish

Take your point Livehead but doesn't the FAI pay a huge insurance fee per match and does it cover the time they're out injured?? Maybe it's just medical costs it covers - it's hardly wages or is it??

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It is clearly stated in the full story at the start of the thread. http://www.unison.ie/sportsdesk/stor...=12&si=1585175
"The FAI currently pays an insurance premium of €60,000 per game which covers each player's wages for up 26 weeks should they get injured while playing for their country"
I understand that this insurance is not compulsary world wide. The insurance issue is a legitimate bone of contention which could easily be remedied by making it compulsary.

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Originally Posted by geysir

It is clearly stated in the full story at the start of the thread. http://www.unison.ie/sportsdesk/stor...=12&si=1585175
"The FAI currently pays an insurance premium of €60,000 per game which covers each player's wages for up 26 weeks should they get injured while playing for their country"
I understand that this insurance is not compulsary world wide. The insurance issue is a legitimate bone of contention which could easily be remedied by making it compulsary.

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Thanks Geysir - forgot that bit - my bad.

So if their wages are covered for 26 weeks what'd Delaney on about re. the massive costs involved if G14 get their way?
I can understand the small countries having a problem but 60 grand?:confused:

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Originally Posted by pete

It doesn't matter if the law is behind G14 as it would kill International football. How Could cameroon afford to pay Eto?

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That is precisely what the G14 are trying to bring about !:mad:

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Originally Posted by sirhamish

Thanks Geysir - forgot that bit - my bad.

So if their wages are covered for 26 weeks what'd Delaney on about re. the massive costs involved if G14 get their way?
I can understand the small countries having a problem but 60 grand?:confused:

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they are looking for the wages to be paid by the national associations while players are on international duty whether injured or not.
it is complete greed by europes so called bigger clubs. the cheek of them to be honest. all their players came from the underage set-ups in each country but do you ever hear them wanting to pay the associations for helping develope such talent?!

Good post from Irish Praha pointing out the differance in attitudes that different fans might actually have to international football. The G14 proposal might not be as universally opposed as is being made out.

IF the G14 have their way, compensation payments to schoolboy clubs will be a thing of the past, its a case of major PLCs only interested in money for today and not the future of the game. As previously posted they have no problem with benefiting from the increase in value of players via international football.

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Originally Posted by jbyrne

they are looking for the wages to be paid by the national associations while players are on international duty whether injured or not.
it is complete greed by europes so called bigger clubs. the cheek of them to be honest. all their players came from the underage set-ups in each country but do you ever hear them wanting to pay the associations for helping develope such talent?!

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That's what I said in an earlier post in this thread, jbyrne, couldn't agree with you more.

irish praha makes a great deal of sense.
i lived in italy and i naively asked a few footie lads what they thought of the azzuri's chances in an upcoming game.
"I dont give a fúck, i follow roma/inter/pisa etc"

similar seen in the north of england, glasgow, catalonia, basque country, siberia etc. week in week out club fans are always stauncher than 6 game a season international fans

i know hoops who rather see rovers win a corner than delaneys 11 win a competitive match. while i wouldnt go that far, if i had to chose one over the other.....

while it is just the g14 flexing muscles, how many of us are allowed moonlight in our jobs?

Roverstill I die, i accept your views but if you are more interested in Rovers why do you have Delaney out as your signature???

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Originally Posted by Forever Dreamin

Roverstill I die, i accept your views but if you are more interested in Rovers why do you have Delaney out as your signature???

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8 points off, schemes to relegate teams on marketablility, pushing through groundsharing, consolodating power at the expense of transparancy etc? there is more to the fai than 8 international games.

you have proved my point that the average irish fan doesnt see beyond the senior national side. thanks.:rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Roverstillidie

8 points off, schemes to relegate teams on marketablility, pushing through groundsharing, consolodating power at the expense of transparancy etc? there is more to the fai than 8 international games.

you have proved my point that the average irish fan doesnt see beyond the senior national side. thanks.:rolleyes:

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LOL and sure why should they, when people like you can do it for them!!

Well one of the positives might be that there would be an EL/Republic Of Ireland Senior international team playing in the Green shirt, cause the FAI would not be able to afford the overpaid primadonna's wages in comp to the Fat Cat clubs cross channel!