A survey published on Tuesday revealed footballers around the world "face low wages, delayed payments, bullying and intimidation," according to Brian Homewood of REUTERS. The survey, conducted by the world players' union FIFPro, said that 60% of the nearly 14,000 players interviewed in 54 countries earned less than $2,000 a month and "four in 10 had experienced late payment at some stage in the last two years." FIFPro General Secretary Theo van Seggelen said, "Our frustration is that nobody is willing to believe that clubs do not respect contracts and don't pay the players." He said that the clubs should "feel ashamed that this is today's reality." He added, "Not every footballer has three cars in different colors." FIFPro said that the survey, produced in conjunction with the University of Manchester, "covered countries in Europe, North and South America and Africa." FIFPro said that unions from "several key countries, including England and Spain which boast two of the world's richest leagues, did not return completed surveys." However, this was "offset by the number of developing countries which were also excluded." A "lack of job security was also a problem" with the average contract length of 22 months while 8% of players said that they "did not have a contract at all." Van Seggelen said, "The vast majority earn modest wages, have short careers, very little security and face an uncertain future when their career comes to an end" (REUTERS, 11/29).
HARSH TRUTH: In London, Matt Slater reported with the average wage in Britain widely acknowledged to be over £27,000 ($33,770), the study's authors said that it "debunks the myth that players enjoy a highly-privileged lifestyle." The report also reveals that four in 10 players experience late payment of wages, three in 10 are transferred to clubs against their will and one in five have been "forced to train alone as a punishment or attempt to force a move." But perhaps the "most worrying finding" is that one in 14 players -- effectively a player per team in every match -- have been approached by match-fixers during their careers, with a "strong correlation between this and late payment: half of those approached by fixers have also had to wait for wages" (INDEPENDENT, 11/29). Also in London, Nick Ames reported the FIFPro Global Employment Report "paints a picture of an industry fraught with instability and, in an alarming number of cases, insufficient regulation." Chief among FIFPro’s concerns "is the issue of late payment." FIFA rules "allow clubs to pay players up to 90 days after the due date; beyond this point a player is permitted to unilaterally breach his contract although the constraints of the transfer window often make this impractical." The report found 78% of late payments "fell within that three-month window; the remainder, which accounted for nearly one in 10 of the players surveyed, were forced to wait longer." FIFPro attributed this to "jackpot economics," whereby clubs spend "heavily at the start of a season without knowing whether they can honour projected payments," and during a short career in which only 5% of respondents were aged 33 or above such delays have "severe knock-on effects on livelihoods" (GUARDIAN, 11/28).
SCOTTISH THREATS: The BBC reported more than a third of footballers surveyed in Scotland said that "they received threats from the stands on a match day." One-fifth of footballers in Scotland said that they had "suffered discrimination relating to race, religion or sexual orientation." The views "comprised 169 players from nine randomly picked Scottish clubs." Scottish League Two side Clyde Manager Barry Ferguson said that he had not "witnessed abuse about a player's race or sexuality in Scotland, but religious abuse was a problem." He said, "Having played most of my career up in Scotland, I've suffered a bit myself, so I'm not surprised by the statistic, although it is disappointing. I had it as well when I was down in England, but obviously not as much. Certainly, when you play up here with the big two, Rangers and Celtic, it is more religion-based, which is disappointing, but you learn to grow up with that being from the west of Scotland. The foreign guys who came in were surprised, shocked even, at the level of stuff that was aimed at them" (BBC, 11/29).
AFRICAN REALITY: In a separate piece, the BBC reported the survey shows that "life for the vast majority of African footballers is a far cry from the glitz and glamour." Over 3,000 of the players who took part in the survey "are from 13 African countries: Botswana, Cameroon, DR Congo, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, South Africa, Tunisia and Zimbabwe." One of the "most shocking findings of the survey is that physical abuse of footballers in Africa is the worst in the world." Players in Ghana are 10 times more likely than the global average "to be physically attacked by club seniors." Players also reported "very high levels of discrimination" -- which FIFPro categorized as either racial, sexual or religious -- by fans, other players, coaching staff and third parties (BBC, 11/29).
