Chilean football club Universidad Catolica's dispute with EPL side Cardiff City is "highlighting the difficulties Latin American clubs can have in getting paid for developing young talent," according to Panja & Duff of BLOOMBERG. Lawyers for the publicly traded club said that Cardiff failed to pay about $675,000 in compensation for "record signing Gary Medel within the 30 days mandated" by FIFA. Cardiff, which will earn at least $97M in TV income from its "first season in England’s top league, could have been reported to FIFA." Medel, a 26-year-old midfielder, joined Cardiff for €11M ($14.9M) from La Liga Sevilla in August, and under FIFA regulations, "Santiago-based Catolica is owed a fraction of the fee in 'solidarity' payments because he trained there as a youth." Cardiff said that it had "very positive conversations" with Catolica representatives and "agreed on the figure payable to them." Solidary payments "accounted for 1 percent," or €23.2M, of global transfer fees in '11. Sports researcher Raffaele Poli said that clubs in South America and Africa are "starting to chase payments they weren't aware they were owed or which they didn't have the resources to pursue." Poli added that there are now "at least six lawyers in countries including Switzerland, Argentina and Ivory Coast who specialize in approaching clubs to chase payments in return for a share of any receipts" (BLOOMBERG, 11/25).
