MLS clubs to receive solidarity payments once league agrees to follow FIFA rules

Major League Soccer clubs will be compensated for the development costs of players of their youth academies who choose to sign their first professional contract with foreign clubs after the league announced Thursday that it would begin to comply with the FIFA regulations concerning training allowances and solidarity payments.

The decision means that MLS clubs will now receive compensation for the players they develop, which may well exceed six digits. They will also receive a reduction in transfer fees when these players are transferred to clubs in another country. Conversely, MLS clubs will have to pay these fees to foreign clubs when they will pay a transfer fee for incoming players.

"We have made increasing investments in youth development, and these investments have accelerated in recent years," said Todd Durbin, executive vice president of MLS, responsible for player relations and competition. "We intend to continue to invest and grow this investment, but if a player we developed decides to sign overseas, we think we should be able to recover the value of that investment. "

Solidarity payments are paid each time a player is transferred to another club before the end of his contract and that transfer involved a move to another country – a "change of association" to FIFA , according to the governing body of world football.

Five per cent of transfer fees are paid to youth clubs responsible for player development between the ages of 12 and 23 years. The rules also stipulate that when a player signs his first professional contract with a club in a foreign country, or is transferred to a club belonging to a different association, the professional club is required to pay a training allowance to youth clubs. having developed the player between 12 and 21 years old. A training allowance is also due when a player is transferred to a club from another country until the season of his 23 years.

Q & A: What does the decision mean for MLS clubs?

However, not everyone is happy with the move of the MLS. The association of MLS players, as well as players' agents, consider the training allowances and the solidarity payments as a glorified tax whose amounts may compromise transactions.

In a statement to ESPN FC, the MLS Players Association said the league's announcement was "a step backward for the development of football in the United States and Canada" and called it Effort on the part of the MLS to prevent the choice of players.

"Despite claims to the contrary, this initiative is not aimed at improving the development of young people," said the MLSPA. "It's just trying to force players to sign with MLS by limiting opportunities abroad."

The MLSPA added: "The fact that FIFA regulations are paid elsewhere in the world to training allowances and solidarity payments is an indefensible justification for changing MLS's position on these issues, such as those requiring guaranteed contracts. , which prohibit unilateral options and limit the duration of contracts – are now trying to rely on these same rules to limit the chances of players in academies for young people.

"We will review these amendments, including the consent decree passed by the US federation on this, and explore all of our options with other stakeholders."

The United States Football Federation (USSF) had banned the implementation of training allowances and solidarity payments, introduced into FIFA's Status and Transfer of Players Regulations (RSTP), as a result of of the 1995 Bosman decision allowing free will to terminate their contracts.

Among their reasons were fears that RSTP would violate child labor laws or prosecute antitrust cases from various stakeholders, including the MLS Players Association. The USSF had also stated in the past that a consent judgment contained in the Fraser case against MLS – stating that MLS did not require transfer fees for non-contract players – the Was preventing the RSTP from being applied. .

The USSF says that at a stakeholder meeting in 2015, opposing views among youth clubs, professional leagues and player unions left the organization in the middle.

"Since then, American football has maintained a position of neutrality on the issue of training allowances and solidarity payments and will therefore not be part of the application of these regulations," said a spokesman. USSF's word at ESPN FC.

The spokesman added: "However, we will continue to deal with any complaints made by the clubs in accordance with FIFA regulations, which remains unchanged regardless of the affiliation of the club at the origin of the claim. "

This decision represents a change in philosophy for MLS and could represent a significant financial advantage for its clubs. MLS has never paid nor received any training compensation or solidarity payments. But when league clubs started developing their own youth academies – investing tens of millions of dollars a year – the academy's products signed their first professional contracts with foreign clubs. Elsewhere in the world, the academy would have been remunerated, but as the RSTP was not respected in the United States, the MLS clubs have not received anything in return.

An example appeared in 2016 when the current US international program Weston McKennie has sent his youth club FC Dallas back to Schalke 04 of the Bundesliga. The money invested in McKennie's development has never been recovered and the agreement has allowed Dallas to no longer be incentivized to invest in youth development. youth development.

In recent years, some clubs have raised the issue of solidarity payments to the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC). A case involving the transfer in 2014 of American international DeAndre Yedlin, of the Seattle Sounders in Tottenham Hotspur, has launched a record of one of Yedlin's youth clubs, Crossfire Premier. A decision on the case is expected in the coming days.