The First Global Agreement on the Labor Rights of Footballers Was Signed

The agreement, known as the "Global Labor Agreement" seeks to "promote and protect the basic principles of industrial relations at the collective level between representatives of employees and employers."

The broad scope of the agreement is striking, as it includes the FIFPRO network, made up of more than 66 national footballers' unions, approximately 60,000 players. On the other hand, the World League Forum has 44 national leagues, or more than 1,000 clubs, at its disposal.

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Guy Ryder, Director General of the International Labor Organization, was positive about the news: “We are pleased to support the Global Labor Agreement reached by FIFPRO and the World Leagues Forum. The agreement follows our core principles on rights in the workplace, and part of the recent ILO Global Dialogue Forum, 'Decent Work in the World of Sport'. We are committed to supporting the ambitions of both organizations, to implement fair working conditions, and to promote social dialogue in professional football."

An Sspecially Important Issue in a World Cup Year

Taking into account that this year the World Cup in Qatar 2022 is coming, it has become more important than ever to promote the rights of footballers. There are several labor rights issues that have come under scrutiny in a year as relevant to sport as 2022 is . Work overload, the accumulation of trips, harassment of soccer players on social networks and the use of their data personal are some of them.

The president of FIFPRO, David Aganzo, spoke at the World Football Summit, held on September 28, on numerous of these issues. Regarding the overload of work, he said the following: “We all understand the industry, and we understand that the money is there. A partner is a footballer, but he is also a person. He has to be with his family, he has to recover. When we want to watch football, we want to do it watching the best players in the best conditions. Without footballers, there is no football”

Speaking of the issue of harassment on social networks, Aganzo gave figures that are worrying. “More than 80% of messages to players are racist," he said. He also stated that they are working together with FIFA to develop software that is capable of blocking all insulting messages.

On the other hand, he also stated that although the increasing use of personal data is of interest to fans, the consent of the players should be taken into account when sharing some of their most private figures. "There is a very fine line in which it is a personal matter when we talk about a person's health data," he said. He clarified that players should at least have the right to be informed when their personal data is being used and the right to rectify and correct them if they are wrong.