The current off-season is the busiest as three Premier League statuses involving, VTM FC, Young Stars, and Masitaoka could see ownership changes. These changes could see fallen giants, Extension Gunners and Mochudi Centre Chiefs return to the elite league in the next season. Speaking to MmegiSport this week, FUB secretary-general, Kgosana Masaseng, said the union is outraged by the employment conditions of professional footballers in this country and the lack of resolve shown by the football authorities to find acceptable solutions for this alarming position.
Masaseng said before clubs are allowed to transfer their status in the league or are sold or forfeit their right to participate in the league to new entities, there must be an agreement on who takes over the responsibility of contracted players, especially from the entity selling its status. "The way in which unilateral decisions are taken in these types of transactions is in violation of the applicable rules. Oftentimes the sale of clubs without due attention is detrimental to the players of the 'old' entities, who will not receive any outstanding payments. Almost all the players from these teams have been affected one way or the other, mainly because of two issues; either they accepted lower offers just to have new contracts from other clubs or are dealing with 'forced' termination of contracts," said Masaseng.
Masitaoka have since decided to release all squad members as the team faces a drop to the third-tier league football. At VTM, the majority of players saw their contracts end in June and may not be offered a renewal, as the club management has yet to decide on its Premier League status. Young Stars' status is currently on the verge of being taken by Gunners and players would wait until the conclusion of the deal to learn their fate. Masaseng further said the FUB cannot quantify the number of players affected by these transactions as the window is still open.
Masaseng said some players had mutually agreed to part ways with their former clubs who opted to stop playing in the league, while others are still pursuing cases of unilateral termination of their contracts and for that, they are seeking fair compensation. "We have written to the football authorities to alert them about this anomaly. Otherwise, we will be setting a trend where clubs will shift to spend money on new players whereas they have not paid their former players. There is a need to urgently refine the regulations to deal with these new trends," said Masaseng. FUB is, however, weighing options to see whether they can rely on the landmark agreement reached by FIFA and FIFPRO in 2020 to establish the FIFA Fund for Football Players.
The fund provides financial support to players who have not been paid and have no chance of duly receiving the wages agreed with their clubs. Under the Protocol Governing the FIFA Fund for Football Players, all applications are evaluated by the joint Steering Committee composed of FIFA and FIFPRO representatives. "We can confirm that this trend in Botswana has been experienced by over a hundred clubs from over 36-member associations that have either disappeared as a result of an insolvency-related process, disaffiliated from their member association or stopped participating in professional football. Our feeling is that our football must consider protection schemes for players in cases where they lose their contracts on account of club insolvency. This mechanism can be designed to protect the players and can be an important support system for many players who are not paid due to their clubs disappearing," Masaseng said.
