Regulations on the Status
and Transfer of Players
March 2022 edition

Fédération Internationale de Football Association
President:
Secretary General:
Address:

Telephone:
Website:Gianni Infantino
Fatma SamouraFIFA
FIFA-Strasse 20
P.O. Box8044 Zurich
Switzerland+41 (0)43 222 7777
FIFA.comRegulations on the Status
and Transfer of Players
March 2022 Edition

2

CONTENTS

ArticlePage
DEFINITIONS

5

I. INTRODUCTORY PROVISION
1Scope

9
9

II. STATUS OF PLAYERS
2
Status of players: amateur and professional players
3
Reacquisition of amateur status
4
Termination of activity

11
11
11
11

III. REGISTRATION OF PLAYERS
5
Registration
5bis Bridge transfer
6
Registration periods
7Player passport
8Application for registration
9International Transfer Certificate
10 Loan of professionals
11 Unregistered players
12 Enforcement of disciplinary sanctions12bis Overdue payables

12
12
13
13
15
15
15
16
16
17
17

IV. MAINTENANCE OF CONTRACTUAL STABILITY BETWEEN
PROFESSIONALS AND CLUBS
19
13 Respect of contract19
14 Terminating a contract with just cause
1914bis	Terminating a contract with just cause for outstanding salaries
19
15 Terminating a contract with sporting just cause
20
16 Restriction on terminating a contract during the season
20
17 Consequences of terminating a contract without just cause
20
18 Special provisions relating to contracts between professionals and clubs22

CONTENTS 3

ArticlePage
V. THIRD-PARTY INFLUENCE AND OWNERSHIP OF PLAYERS’ECONOMIC RIGHTS
18bis Third-party influence on clubs
18ter Third-party ownership of players’ economic rights

24
24
24

VI. SPECIAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO FEMALE PLAYERS
18quater Special provisions relating to female players26
26VII. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS INVOLVING MINORS
19 Protection of minors
19bis	Registration and reporting of minors at academies

29
29
31

VIII. TRAINING COMPENSATION AND SOLIDARITY MECHANISM
20 Training compensation
21 Solidarity mechanism

33
33
33

IX. JURISDICTION
22 Competence of FIFA
23 Football Tribunal
24 Consequences for failure to pay relevant amounts in due time
25 Implementation of decisions and confirmation letters 

34
34
35
36
38

X. FINAL PROVISIONS
26 Transitional measures
27 Matters not provided for
28 Official languages
29 Enforcement

40
40
41
41
41

4

CONTENTS

ArticlePage
ANNEXE 1
Release of players to association teams

42

ANNEXE 2
Rules for the employment of coaches

54

ANNEXE 3
Transfer matching system

62

ANNEXE 3A
Administrative procedure governing the transfer of players
between associations outside TMS

77

ANNEXE 4
Training compensation

81

ANNEXE 5
Solidarity mechanism

85

ANNEXE 6
Rules for the Status and Transfer of Futsal Players

87

ANNEXE 7
Temporary rules addressing the exceptional situation deriving fromthe war in Ukraine

93

DEFINITIONS 5

DEFINITIONS
For the purpose of these regulations, the terms set out below are defined asfollows:
1.

Former association: the association to which the former club is affiliated.

2.

Former club: the club that the player is leaving.

3.

New association: the association to which the new club is affiliated.

4.

New club: the club that the player is joining.

5.

Official matches: matches played within the framework of organised
football, such as national league championships, national cups andinternational championships for clubs, but not including friendly and trial
matches.

6.

Organised football: association football organised under the auspices ofFIFA, the confederations and the associations, or authorised by them.

7.

Protected period: a period of three entire seasons or three years,
whichever comes first, following the entry into force of a contract, wheresuch contract is concluded prior to the 28th birthday of the professional,
or two entire seasons or two years, whichever comes first, following theentry into force of a contract, where such contract is concluded after the
28th birthday of the professional.

8.

Registration period: a period fixed by the relevant association inaccordance with article 6.

9.

Season: a 12-month period commencing on the first day of the firstregistration period fixed by an association in accordance with article 6.

10. Training compensation: the payments made in accordance with Annexe 4
to cover the development of young players.
11. Minor: a player who has not yet reached the age of 18.
12. Academy: an organisation or an independent legal entity whose primary,long-term objective is to provide players with long-term training throughthe provision of the necessary training facilities and infrastructure. This

6

DEFINITIONS

shall primarily include, but not be limited to, football training centres,
football camps, football schools, etc.
13. Transfer matching system (TMS): a web-based data information systemwith the primary objective of simplifying the process of international
player transfers as well as improving transparency and the flow of
information.
14. Third party: a party other than the player being transferred, the two clubs
transferring the player from one to the other, or any previous club, withwhich the player has been registered.
15. Eleven-a-side football: football played in accordance with the Laws of theGame as authorised by the International Football Association Board.
16. Futsal: football played in accordance with the Futsal Laws of the Gamethat have been drawn up by FIFA in collaboration with the Sub-Committeeof the International Football Association Board.
17. Registration: the act of making a written record containing details of aplayer that include:– the start date of the registration (format: dd/mm/yyyy);– the full name (first, middle and last names) of the player;– date of birth, gender, nationality and status as an amateur or aprofessional (as per article 2 paragraph 2 of these regulations);– the type(s) of football the player will play (eleven-a-side football /futsal / beach soccer);– the name of the club at the association where the player will play(including the FIFA ID of the club);– the training categorisation of the club at the moment of theregistration;– the FIFA ID of the player;– the FIFA ID of the association.
18. Electronic player registration system: an online electronic information
system with the ability to record the registration of all players at theirassociation. The electronic player registration system must be integrated
with the FIFA Connect ID Service and the FIFA Connect Interface in order
to exchange information electronically. The electronic player registration
system must provide all registration information for all players from theage of 12 through the FIFA Connect Interface and, in particular, mustassign each player a FIFA ID utilising the FIFA Connect ID Service.

DEFINITIONS 7

19. FIFA Connect ID Service: a service provided by FIFA assigning globally valid
unique identifiers (the FIFA ID) to individuals, organisations, and facilities,
providing duplicate information in case of a second registration of thesame entity, and keeping a central record of the current registration(s) of
all entities with an assigned FIFA ID.
20. FIFA ID: the worldwide unique identifier given by the FIFA Connect ID
Service to each club, association and player.
21. International transfer: the movement of the registration of a player fromone association to another association.
22. National transfer: the movement of the registration of a player at an
association from one club to another within the same association.
23. Electronic domestic transfer system: an online electronic information
system with the ability to administer and monitor all nationaltransfers within an association, in line with the principles of the model
implemented at international level through the Transfer Matching System(cf. Annexe 3). At a minimum, the system must collect the full name,gender, nationality, date of birth and FIFA ID of the player, the status(amateur or professional as per article 2 paragraph 2 of these regulations),
the name and FIFA ID of the two clubs involved in the national transfer,as well as any payments between the clubs, if applicable. The electronic
domestic transfer system must be integrated with the electronic
registration system of the association and with the FIFA Connect Interface
in order to exchange information electronically.
24. Bridge transfer: any two consecutive transfers, national or international,of the same player connected to each other and comprising a registrationof that player with the middle club to circumvent the application of therelevant regulations or laws and/or defraud another person or entity.
25. Purely amateur club: a club with no legal, financial or de facto links to aprofessional club that:i.

is only permitted to register amateur players; orii. has no registered professional players; oriii. has not registered any professional players in the three years prior toa particular date.

8

DEFINITIONS

26. FIFA Connect Interface: a technical interface provided by FIFA within
the FIFA Connect Programme, used to exchange electronic end-to-end
encrypted messages between member associations, and between member
associations and FIFA.
27. Training rewards: the mechanisms which compensate training clubs fortheir role in the training and education of young players, namely training
compensation (cf. article 20) and the solidarity mechanism (cf. article 21).
28. Coach: an individual employed in a football-specific occupation by aprofessional club or association whose:i.

employment duties consist of one or more of the following: training
and coaching players, selecting players for matches and competitions,making tactical choices during matches and competitions; and/orii. employment requires the holding of a coaching licence in accordancewith a domestic or continental licensing regulation.
29. Professional club: a club that is not a purely amateur club.
30. Maternity leave: a minimum period of 14 weeks’ paid absence granted
to a female player due to her pregnancy, of which a minimum of eightweeks must occur after the birth of the child.

Reference is also made to the Definitions section in the FIFA Statutes.
NB: Terms referring to natural persons are applicable to both genders. Any
term in the singular applies to the plural and vice-versa.

I. INTRODUCTORY PROVISION 9

I. INTRODUCTORY PROVISION

1

Scope

1.
These regulations lay down global and binding rules concerning the status ofplayers, their eligibility to participate in organised football, and their transfer
between clubs belonging to different associations.
2.
The transfer of players between clubs belonging to the same associationis governed by specific regulations issued by the association concerned inaccordance with article 1 paragraph 3 below, which must be approved by FIFA.
Such regulations shall lay down rules for the settlement of disputes between
clubs and players, in accordance with the principles stipulated in theseregulations. Such regulations should also provide for a system to reward clubs
affiliated to the relevant association investing in the training and education ofyoung players.
The use of an electronic domestic transfer system is a mandatory step for all
national transfers of professional and amateur players (both male and female)within the scope of eleven-a-side football. A national transfer must be enteredin the electronic domestic transfer system each time a player is to be registeredwith a new club within the same association. Any registration of a player fora new club without the use of the electronic domestic transfer system will be
invalid.
3.
a) The following provisions are binding at national level and must be included
without modification in the association’s regulations: articles 2-8, 10, 11,12bis, 18, 18 paragraph 7 (unless more favourable conditions are available
pursuant to national law), 18bis, 18ter, 18quater (unless more favourable
conditions are available pursuant to national law), 19 and 19bis.
b) Each association shall include in its regulations appropriate means toprotect contractual stability, paying due respect to mandatory national law
and collective bargaining agreements. In particular, the following principles
must be considered:

10

I. INTRODUCTORY PROVISION– article 13: the principle that contracts must be respected;– article 14: the principle that contracts may be terminated by either party
without consequences where there is just cause;– article 15: the principle that contracts may be terminated byprofessionals with sporting just cause;– article 16: the principle that contracts cannot be terminated during thecourse of the season;– article 17 paragraphs 1 and 2: the principle that in the event oftermination of contract without just cause, compensation shall bepayable and that such compensation may be stipulated in the contract;– article 17 paragraphs 3-5: the principle that in the event of terminationof contract without just cause, sporting sanctions shall be imposed on
the party in breach.
4.
These regulations also govern the release of players to association teams inaccordance with the provisions of Annexe 1. These provisions are binding for
all associations and clubs.
5.
These regulations also include rules concerning contracts between coaches andprofessional clubs or associations (cf. Annexe 2).
6.
These regulations also include temporary rules addressing the exceptionalsituation deriving from the war in Ukraine (cf. Annexe 7).

II. STATUS OF PLAYERS 11

II. STATUS OF PLAYERS

2

Status of players: amateur and professional players

1.
Players participating in organised football are either amateurs or professionals.
2.
A professional is a player who has a written contract with a club and is paid
more for his footballing activity than the expenses he effectively incurs. Allother players are considered to be amateurs.

3

Reacquisition of amateur status

1.
A player registered as a professional may not re-register as an amateur until atleast 30 days after his last match as a professional.
2.
No compensation is payable upon reacquisition of amateur status. If a player
re-registers as a professional within 30 months of being reinstated as anamateur, his new club shall pay training compensation in accordance witharticle 20.

4

Termination of activity

1.
Professionals who end their careers upon expiry of their contracts andamateurs who terminate their activity shall remain registered at theassociation of their last club for a period of 30 months.
2.
This period begins on the day the player made his last appearance for the clubin an official match.

12

III. REGISTRATION OF PLAYERS

III. REGISTRATION OF PLAYERS

5

Registration

1.
Each association must have an electronic player registration system, whichmust assign each player a FIFA ID when the player is first registered. A player
must be registered at an association to play for a club as either a professionalor an amateur in accordance with the provisions of article 2. Only electronicallyregistered players identified with a FIFA ID are eligible to participate inorganised football. By the act of registering, a player agrees to abide by the FIFA
Statutes and regulations, the confederations and the associations.
2.
A player may only be registered with a club for the purpose of playingorganised football. As an exception to this rule, a player may have to beregistered with a club for mere technical reasons to secure transparency inconsecutive individual transactions (cf. Annexe 3).
3.
A player may only be registered with one club at a time.
4.
Players may be registered with a maximum of three clubs during one season.
During this period, the player is only eligible to play official matches for two clubs,
subject to the temporary exceptions below. As an exception to this rule, a player
moving between two clubs belonging to associations with overlapping seasons (i.e.
start of the season in summer/autumn as opposed to winter/spring) may be eligible
to play in official matches for a third club during the relevant season, provided
he has fully complied with his contractual obligations towards his previous clubs.
Equally, the provisions relating to the registration periods (article 6) as well as tothe minimum length of a contract (article 18 paragraph 2) must be respected.
i.

During the following period, players may be registered with a maximum of
three clubs and are eligible to play official matches for three clubs during
one season:a) for associations following a dual-year calendar: the 2019/20 and 2020/21
seasons; andb) for associations following a single-year calendar: the 2020 and 2021
seasons.

III. REGISTRATION OF PLAYERS 13

5.
Under all circumstances, due consideration must be given to the sporting
integrity of the competition. In particular, a player may not play official
matches for more than two clubs competing in the same national
championship or cup during the same season, subject to stricter individualcompetition regulations of member associations.

5bis

Bridge transfer

1.
No club or player shall be involved in a bridge transfer.
2.
It shall be presumed, unless established to the contrary, that if two consecutive
transfers, national or international, of the same player occur within a periodof 16 weeks, the parties (clubs and player) involved in those two transfers haveparticipated in a bridge transfer.
3.
The FIFA Disciplinary Committee, in accordance with the FIFA Disciplinary Code,will impose sanctions on any party subject to the FIFA Statutes and regulations
involved in a bridge transfer.

6

Registration periods

1.
Players may only be registered during one of the two annual registration
periods fixed by the relevant association. Associations may fix different
registration periods for their male and female competitions. As an exception
to this rule, a professional whose contract has expired prior to the end ofa registration period may be registered outside that registration period.
Associations are authorised to register such professionals provided due
consideration is given to the sporting integrity of the relevant competition.
Where a contract has been terminated with just cause, FIFA may takeprovisional measures in order to avoid abuse, subject to article 22.

14III. REGISTRATION OF PLAYERSa) As an exception to paragraph 1, a female player may be registered by anassociation outside of a registration period to temporarily replace a female
player that has taken maternity leave. The period of the contract of thetemporary replacement female player shall, unless otherwise mutuallyagreed, be from the date of registration until the day prior to the start of
the first registration period after the return of the female player that has
taken maternity leave.
b) A female player may be registered by an association outside of aregistration period upon completion of her maternity leave (cf. article 18
paragraph 7; and article 18quater) subject to her contractual status.
c) Associations shall adapt their domestic rules accordingly. However, priority
shall be given to ensuring that a female player that has returned frommaternity leave is eligible to participate in domestic competitions, and thesporting integrity of the relevant competition.
d) As a temporary exception to paragraph 1, a professional whose contract
has expired or been terminated as a result of COVID-19 has the right to beregistered by an association outside a registration period, regardless of thedate of expiry or termination.
2.
The first registration period shall begin on the first day of the season. This
period may not exceed 12 weeks. The second registration period shall normallyoccur in the middle of the season and may not exceed four weeks. The tworegistration periods for the season shall be entered into TMS at least 12
months before they come into force (cf. Annexe 3, article 5.1 paragraph 1). Alltransfers, whether a national transfer or an international transfer, shall only
occur within these registration periods, subject to the exceptions in article 6.
FIFA shall determine the dates for any association that fails to communicate
them on time.
3.
Players may only be registered – subject to the exception and temporary
exception provided for in article 6 paragraph 1 – upon submission through theelectronic player registration system of a valid application from the club to therelevant association during a registration period.

III. REGISTRATION OF PLAYERS 15

4.
The provisions concerning registration periods do not apply to competitions
in which only amateurs participate. The relevant association shall specify
the periods when players may be registered for such competitions provided
that due consideration is given to the sporting integrity of the relevant
competition.

7

Player passport

The registering association is obliged to provide the club with which the player
is registered with a player passport containing the relevant details of theplayer. The player passport shall indicate the club(s) with which the player has
been registered since the calendar year of his 12th birthday.

8

Application for registration

The application for registration of a professional must be submitted together
with a copy of the player’s contract. The relevant decision-making body has
discretion to take account of any contractual amendments or additional
agreements that have not been duly submitted to it.

9International Transfer Certificate

1.
Players registered at one association may only be registered at a newassociation once the latter has received an International Transfer Certificate(hereinafter: ITC) from the former association. The ITC shall be issued free ofcharge without any conditions or time limit. Any provisions to the contrary
shall be null and void. The association issuing the ITC shall lodge a copy with
FIFA. The administrative procedures for issuing the ITC are contained in
Annexe 3, article 8, and Annexe 3a of these regulations.
2.
Associations are forbidden from requesting the issue of an ITC in order toallow a player to participate in trial matches.

16III. REGISTRATION OF PLAYERS

3.
The new association shall inform the association(s) of the club(s) that trainedand educated the player between the ages of 12 and 23 (cf. article 7) in writingof the registration of the player as a professional after receipt of the ITC.
4.
An ITC is not required for a player under the age of ten years.

10

Loan of professionals

1.
A professional may be loaned to another club on the basis of a writtenagreement between him and the clubs concerned. Any such loan is subject tothe same rules as apply to the transfer of players, including the provisions on
training compensation and the solidarity mechanism.
2.
Subject to article 5 paragraph 4, the minimum loan period shall be the time
between two registration periods.
3.
The club that has accepted a player on a loan basis is not entitled to transfer
him to a third club without the written authorisation of the club that released
the player on loan and the player concerned.

11

Unregistered players

Any player not registered at an association who appears for a club in any
official match shall be considered to have played illegitimately. Without
prejudice to any measure required to rectify the sporting consequences of suchan appearance, sanctions may also be imposed on the player and/or the club.
The right to impose such sanctions lies in principle with the association or theorganiser of the competition concerned.

III. REGISTRATION OF PLAYERS 17

12

Enforcement of disciplinary sanctions

1.
Any disciplinary sanction of up to four matches or up to three months thathas been imposed on a player by the former association but not yet (entirely)
served by the time of the transfer shall be enforced by the new association atwhich the player has been registered in order for the sanction to be served atdomestic level. When issuing the ITC, the former association shall notify the
new association via TMS of any such disciplinary sanction that has yet to be(entirely) served.
2.
Any disciplinary sanction of more than four matches or more than threemonths that has not yet been (entirely) served by a player shall be enforced by
the new association that has registered the player only if the FIFA Disciplinary
Committee has extended the disciplinary sanction to have worldwide effect.
Additionally, when issuing the ITC, the former association shall notify the new
association via TMS of any such pending disciplinary sanction.

12bis

Overdue payables

1.
Clubs are required to comply with their financial obligations towards players
and other clubs as per the terms stipulated in the contracts signed with theirprofessional players and in the transfer agreements.
2.
Any club found to have delayed a due payment for more than 30 days
without a prima facie contractual basis may be sanctioned in accordance withparagraph 4 below.
3.
In order for a club to be considered to have overdue payables in the sense of
the present article, the creditor (player or club) must have put the debtor clubin default in writing and have granted a deadline of at least ten days for the
debtor club to comply with its financial obligation(s).

18III. REGISTRATION OF PLAYERS

4.
Within the scope of its jurisdiction (cf. article 22 to 24), the Football Tribunal
may impose the following sanctions:a) a warning;b) a reprimand;c) a fine;d) a ban from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally,for one or two entire and consecutive registration periods.
5.
The sanctions provided for in paragraph 4 above may be applied cumulatively.
6.
A repeated offence will be considered an aggravating circumstance and leadto a more severe penalty.
7.
The terms of the present article are without prejudice to the applicationof further measures in accordance with article 17 in the event of unilateral
termination of the contractual relationship.

IV. MAINTENANCE OF CONTRACTUAL STABILITY BETWEEN
PROFESSIONALS AND CLUBS 19

IV. MAINTENANCE OF CONTRACTUAL STABILITY BETWEEN
PROFESSIONALS AND CLUBS

13

Respect of contract

A contract between a professional and a club may only be terminated upon
expiry of the term of the contract or by mutual agreement.

14

Terminating a contract with just cause

1.
A contract may be terminated by either party without consequences of any
kind (either payment of compensation or imposition of sporting sanctions)where there is just cause.
2.
Any abusive conduct of a party aiming at forcing the counterparty toterminate or change the terms of the contract shall entitle the counterparty(a player or a club) to terminate the contract with just cause.

14bis	Terminating a contract with just cause foroutstanding salaries

1.
In the case of a club unlawfully failing to pay a player at least two monthly
salaries on their due dates, the player will be deemed to have a just cause toterminate his contract, provided that he has put the debtor club in default inwriting and has granted a deadline of at least 15 days for the debtor club tofully comply with its financial obligation(s). Alternative provisions in contracts
existing at the time of this provision coming into force may be considered.
2.
For any salaries of a player which are not due on a monthly basis, the pro-rata
value corresponding to two months shall be considered. Delayed payment ofan amount which is equal to at least two months shall also be deemed a justcause for the player to terminate his contract, subject to him complying with
the notice of termination as per paragraph 1 above.

20

IV. MAINTENANCE OF CONTRACTUAL STABILITY BETWEEN
PROFESSIONALS AND CLUBS

3.
Collective bargaining agreements validly negotiated by employers’ andemployees’ representatives at domestic level in accordance with national law
may deviate from the principles stipulated in paragraphs 1 and 2 above.
The terms of such an agreement shall prevail.

15

Terminating a contract with sporting just cause

An established professional who has, in the course of the season, appearedin fewer than ten per cent of the official matches in which his club has been
involved may terminate his contract prematurely on the ground of sporting
just cause. Due consideration shall be given to the player’s circumstances in theappraisal of such cases. The existence of sporting just cause shall be established
on a case-by-case basis. In such a case, sporting sanctions shall not be imposed,though compensation may be payable. A professional may only terminate his
contract on this basis in the 15 days following the last official match of theseason of the club with which he is registered.

16

Restriction on terminating a contract during the season

A contract cannot be unilaterally terminated during the course of a season.

17

Consequences of terminating a contract without just cause

The following provisions apply if a contract is terminated without just cause:1.
In all cases, the party in breach shall pay compensation. Subject to theprovisions of article 20 and Annexe 4 in relation to training compensation,and unless otherwise provided for in the contract, compensation for thebreach shall be calculated with due consideration for the law of the country
concerned, the specificity of sport, and any other objective criteria. These
criteria shall include, in particular, the remuneration and other benefits dueto the player under the existing contract and/or the new contract, the timeremaining on the existing contract up to a maximum of five years, the fees andIV. MAINTENANCE OF CONTRACTUAL STABILITY BETWEEN
PROFESSIONALS AND CLUBS 21

expenses paid or incurred by the former club (amortised over the term of thecontract) and whether the contractual breach falls within a protected period.
Bearing in mind the aforementioned principles, compensation due to a player
shall be calculated as follows:i. in case the player did not sign any new contract following the terminationof his previous contract, as a general rule, the compensation shall be equal
to the residual value of the contract that was prematurely terminated;
ii. in case the player signed a new contract by the time of the decision,
the value of the new contract for the period corresponding to the timeremaining on the prematurely terminated contract shall be deductedfrom the residual value of the contract that was terminated early(the “Mitigated Compensation”). Furthermore, and subject to theearly termination of the contract being due to overdue payables, inaddition to the Mitigated Compensation, the player shall be entitled toan amount corresponding to three monthly salaries (the “Additional
Compensation”). In case of egregious circumstances, the Additional
Compensation may be increased up to a maximum of six monthly
salaries. The overall compensation may never exceed the rest value ofthe prematurely terminated contract.
iii. Collective bargaining agreements validly negotiated by employers’ andemployees’ representatives at domestic level in accordance with nationallaw may deviate from the principles stipulated in the points i. and ii.
above. The terms of such an agreement shall prevail.
2.
Entitlement to compensation cannot be assigned to a third party. If a
professional is required to pay compensation, the professional and his new
club shall be jointly and severally liable for its payment. The amount may be
stipulated in the contract or agreed between the parties.
3.
In addition to the obligation to pay compensation, sporting sanctions shallalso be imposed on any player found to be in breach of contract during theprotected period. This sanction shall be a four-month restriction on playing in
official matches. In the case of aggravating circumstances, the restriction shalllast six months. These sporting sanctions shall take effect immediately oncethe player has been notified of the relevant decision. The sporting sanctions

22

IV. MAINTENANCE OF CONTRACTUAL STABILITY BETWEEN
PROFESSIONALS AND CLUBS

shall remain suspended in the period between the last official match of theseason and the first official match of the next season, in both cases including
national cups and international championships for clubs. This suspensionof the sporting sanctions shall, however, not be applicable if the player isan established member of the representative team of the association he iseligible to represent, and the association concerned is participating in the
final competition of an international tournament in the period between thelast match and the first match of the next season. Unilateral breach without
just cause or sporting just cause after the protected period shall not result in
sporting sanctions. Disciplinary measures may, however, be imposed outside
the protected period for failure to give notice of termination within 15 days ofthe last official match of the season (including national cups) of the club withwhich the player is registered. The protected period starts again when, while
renewing the contract, the duration of the previous contract is extended.
4.
In addition to the obligation to pay compensation, sporting sanctions shall be
imposed on any club found to be in breach of contract or found to be inducing
a breach of contract during the protected period. It shall be presumed, unlessestablished to the contrary, that any club signing a professional who has
terminated his contract without just cause has induced that professional tocommit a breach. The club shall be banned from registering any new players,either nationally or internationally, for two entire and consecutive registration
periods. The club shall be able to register new players, either nationally orinternationally, only as of the next registration period following the complete
serving of the relevant sporting sanction. In particular, it may not make use of
the exception and the provisional measures stipulated in article 6 paragraph 1of these regulations in order to register players at an earlier stage.
5.
Any person subject to the FIFA Statutes and regulations who acts in a mannerdesigned to induce a breach of contract between a professional and a club inorder to facilitate the transfer of the player shall be sanctioned.

18

Special provisions relating to contracts between
professionals and clubs

1.
If an intermediary is involved in the negotiation of a contract, he shall be
named in that contract.

IV. MAINTENANCE OF CONTRACTUAL STABILITY BETWEEN
PROFESSIONALS AND CLUBS 23

2.
The minimum length of a contract shall be from its effective date until theend of the season, while the maximum length of a contract shall be five
years. Contracts of any other length shall only be permitted if consistent withnational laws. Players under the age of 18 may not sign a professional contract
for a term longer than three years. Any clause referring to a longer period
shall not be recognised.
3.
A club intending to conclude a contract with a professional must inform theplayer’s current club in writing before entering into negotiations with him. A
professional shall only be free to conclude a contract with another club if his
contract with his present club has expired or is due to expire within six months.
Any breach of this provision shall be subject to appropriate sanctions.
4.
The validity of a contract may not be made subject to a successful medical
examination and/or the grant of a work permit.
5.
If a professional enters into more than one contract covering the same period,
the provisions set forth in Chapter IV shall apply.
6.
Contractual clauses granting the club additional time to pay to the professionalamounts that have fallen due under the terms of the contract (so-called“grace periods”) shall not be recognised. Grace periods contained in collective
bargaining agreements validly negotiated by employers’ and employees’
representatives at domestic level in accordance with national law shall,
however, be legally binding and recognised. Contracts existing at the time ofthis provision coming into force shall not be affected by this prohibition.
7.
Female players are entitled to maternity leave during the term of theircontract, paid at the equivalent of two thirds of their contracted salary.
Where more beneficial conditions are provided in the applicable national law
in the country of their club’s domicile or an applicable collective bargaining
agreement, these beneficial conditions shall prevail.

24

V. THIRD-PARTY INFLUENCE AND OWNERSHIP OF PLAYERS’ ECONOMIC RIGHTS

V. THIRD-PARTY INFLUENCE AND OWNERSHIP OF PLAYERS’ECONOMIC RIGHTS

18bis

Third-party influence on clubs

1.
No club shall enter into a contract which enables the counter club/counterclubs, and vice versa, or any third party to acquire the ability to influence in
employment and transfer-related matters its independence, its policies or the
performance of its teams.
2.
The FIFA Disciplinary Committee may impose disciplinary measures on clubsthat do not observe the obligations set out in this article.

18ter

Third-party ownership of players’ economic rights

1.
No club or player shall enter into an agreement with a third party wherebya third party is being entitled to participate, either in full or in part, incompensation payable in relation to the future transfer of a player from one
club to another, or is being assigned any rights in relation to a future transfer
or transfer compensation.
2.
The interdiction as per paragraph 1 comes into force on 1 May 2015.
3.
Agreements covered by paragraph 1 which predate 1 May 2015 may continue
to be in place until their contractual expiration. However, their duration may
not be extended.
4.
The validity of any agreement covered by paragraph 1 signed between
1 January 2015 and 30 April 2015 may not have a contractual duration of morethan one year beyond the effective date.

V. THIRD-PARTY INFLUENCE AND OWNERSHIP OF PLAYERS’ ECONOMIC RIGHTS 25

5.
By the end of April 2015, all existing agreements covered by paragraph 1
need to be recorded within the Transfer Matching System (TMS). All clubs thathave signed such agreements are required to upload them in their entirety,
including possible annexes or amendments, in TMS, specifying the details of
the third party concerned, the full name of the player as well as the durationof the agreement.
6.
The FIFA Disciplinary Committee may impose disciplinary measures on clubs orplayers that do not observe the obligations set out in this article.

26

VI. SPECIAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO FEMALE PLAYERS

VI. SPECIAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO FEMALE PLAYERS

18quater	Special provisions relating to female
players

1.
The validity of a contract may not be made subject to a player being or
becoming pregnant during its term, being on maternity leave, or utilisingrights related to maternity in general.
2.
If a club unilaterally terminates a contract on the grounds of a player being
or becoming pregnant, being on maternity leave, or utilising rights related tomaternity in general, the club will be deemed to have terminated the contract
without just cause.
a) It shall be presumed, unless proven to the contrary, that the unilateral
termination of a contract by a club during a pregnancy or maternity leaveoccurred as a result of a player being or becoming pregnant.
3.
Where a contract has been terminated on the grounds of the player being or
becoming pregnant, as an exception to article 17 paragraph 1:a) compensation due to a player shall be calculated as follows:i. in case the player did not sign any new contract following thetermination of her previous contract, as a general rule, the compensation
shall be equal to the residual value of the contract that was prematurely
terminated;
ii. in case the player signed a new contract by the time of the decision,
the value of the new contract for the period corresponding to the timeremaining on the prematurely terminated contract shall be deductedfrom the residual value of the contract that was terminated early;iii. in either case described above, the player shall be entitled to additional
compensation corresponding to six monthly salaries of the prematurely
terminated contract;VI. SPECIAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO FEMALE PLAYERS 27

iv. collective bargaining agreements validly negotiated by employers’ andemployees’ representatives at domestic level in accordance with nationallaw may deviate from the principles stipulated above. The terms of suchan agreement shall prevail;b) in addition to the obligation to pay compensation, sporting sanctions
shall be imposed on any club found to have unilaterally terminated acontract on the grounds of a player being or becoming pregnant, beingon maternity leave, or utilising rights related to maternity in general.
The club shall be banned from registering any new female players, either
nationally or internationally, for two entire and consecutive registration
periods. The club shall be able to register new players, either nationallyor internationally, only as of the next registration period following thecomplete serving of the relevant sporting sanction. In particular, it may
not make use of the exception and the provisional measures stipulated inarticle 6 paragraph 1 a) of these regulations in order to register players at
an earlier stage;c) the sanction provided for in b) above may be applied cumulatively with afine.
4.
Where a player becomes pregnant, she has the right, during the term of her
contract, to:a) continue providing sporting services to her club (i.e. playing and training),
following confirmation from her treating practitioner and an independent
medical professional (chosen by consensus between the player and herclub) that it is safe for her to do so. In such cases, her club has an obligation
to respect the decision and formalise a plan for her continued sporting
participation in a safe manner, prioritising her health and that of theunborn child;b) provide employment services to her club in an alternate manner, should
her treating practitioner deem that it is not safe for her to continue
sporting services, or should she choose not to exercise her right to continue
providing sporting services. In such cases, her club has an obligation torespect the decision and work with the player to formalise a plan for her
alternate employment. The player shall be entitled to receive her full
remuneration, until such time that she utilises maternity leave;

28

VI. SPECIAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO FEMALE PLAYERSc) independently determine the commencement date of her maternity leave,
taking into consideration the minimum periods provided (cf. Definitions).
Any club that pressures or forces a player to take maternity leave at a
specific time shall be sanctioned by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee;d) return to football activity after the completion of her maternity leave,following confirmation from her treating practitioner and an independent
medical professional (chosen by consensus between the player andher club) that it is safe for her to do so. In such cases, her club has an
obligation to respect the decision, reintegrate her into footballing
activity (cf. article 6 paragraph 1 b)), and provide adequate ongoing
medical support. The player shall be entitled to receive her full
remuneration following her return to football activity.
5.
A player shall be provided the opportunity to breastfeed an infant and/or
express breast milk whilst providing sporting services to her club. Clubs shallprovide suitable facilities in accordance with applicable national legislation in
the country of a club’s domicile or a collective bargaining agreement.

VII. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS INVOLVING MINORS 29

VII. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS INVOLVING MINORS

19

Protection of minors

1.
International transfers of players are only permitted if the player is over theage of 18.
2.
The following five exceptions to this rule apply:a) The player’s parents move to the country in which the new club is locatedfor reasons not linked to football.
b) The player is aged between 16 and 18 and:i. the transfer takes place within the territory of the European Union (EU)or European Economic Area (EEA); or
ii. the transfer takes place between two associations within the same
country.
The new club must fulfil the following minimum obligations:iii. It shall provide the player with an adequate football education and/or
training in line with the highest national standards (cf. Annexe 4, article 4).
iv. It shall guarantee the player an academic and/or school and/or vocational
education and/or training, in addition to his football education and/or training, which will allow the player to pursue a career other thanfootball should he cease to play professional football.
v. It shall make all necessary arrangements to ensure that the player islooked after in the best possible way (optimum living standards with ahost family or in club accommodation, appointment of a mentor at theclub, etc.).
vi. It shall, on registration of such a player, provide the relevant association
with proof that it is complying with the aforementioned obligations.

30

VII. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS INVOLVING MINORSc) The player lives no further than 50km from a national border and theclub with which the player wishes to be registered in the neighbouringassociation is also within 50km of that border. The maximum distance
between the player’s domicile and the club’s headquarters shall be 100km.
In such cases, the player must continue to live at home and the two
associations concerned must give their explicit consent.
d) The player flees his country of origin for humanitarian reasons, specificallyrelated to his life or freedom being threatened on account of race, religion,
nationality, belonging to a particular social group, or political opinion,
without his parents and is therefore at least temporarily permitted toreside in the country of arrival.
e) The player is a student and moves without his parents to another country
temporarily for academic reasons in order to undertake an exchange
programme. The duration of the player’s registration for the new club until
he turns 18 or until the end of the academic or school programme cannot
exceed one year. The player’s new club may only be a purely amateur clubwithout a professional team or without a legal, financial or de facto link to
a professional club.
3.
The provisions of this article shall also apply to any player who has neverpreviously been registered with a club, is not a national of the country where
the association at which he wishes to be registered for the first time is domiciled,and has not lived continuously for at least the last five years in said country.
4.
Where a minor player is at least ten years old, the Players’ Status Chamber of
the Football Tribunal must approve:a) their international transfer according to paragraph 2;b) their first registration according to paragraph 3; orc) their first registration, where the minor player is not a national of the country
where the association at which they wish to be registered is domiciled andhas lived continuously for at least the last five years in that country.
5.
Approval pursuant to paragraph 4 is required prior to any request for an ITC
and/or a first registration by an association.

VII. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS INVOLVING MINORS 31

6.
Where a minor player is under ten years old, it is the responsibility of theassociation that intends to register the player – as per the request of its
affiliated club – to verify and ensure that the circumstances of the player fall,beyond all doubt, under one of the exceptions provided for in paragraph 2, 3,
or 4 c). Such verification shall be made prior to any registration.
7.
An association may apply to the Players’ Status Chamber of the Football
Tribunal for a limited minor exemption (“LME”).
a) An LME, if granted, relieves an association, under specific terms andconditions and solely for amateur minor players who are to be registeredwith purely amateur clubs, from the application obligations set out inparagraph 4.
b) In such a case, prior to any request for an ITC and/or a first registration,
the association concerned is required to verify and ensure that thecircumstances of the player fall, beyond all doubt, under one of the
exceptions provided for in paragraph 2, 3, or 4 c).
8.
The procedures for applying to the Players’ Status Chamber of the Football
Tribunal for the matters described in this article are contained in theProcedural Rules Governing the Football Tribunal.

19bis	Registration and reporting of minors at academies

1.
Clubs that operate an academy with legal, financial or de facto links tothe club are obliged to report all minors who attend the academy to theassociation upon whose territory the academy operates.
2.
Each association is obliged to ensure that all academies without legal, financial
or de facto links to a club:a) run a club that participates in the relevant national championships; allplayers shall be reported to the association upon whose territory theacademy operates, or registered with the club itself; or32VII. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS INVOLVING MINORSb) report all minors who attend the academy for the purpose of training to
the association upon whose territory the academy operates.
3.
Each association shall keep a register comprising the names and dates of birthof the minors who have been reported to it by the clubs or academies.
4.
Through the act of reporting, academies and players undertake to practisefootball in accordance with the FIFA Statutes, and to respect and promote theethical principles of organised football.
5.
Any violations of this provision will be sanctioned by the Disciplinary
Committee in accordance with the FIFA Disciplinary Code.
6.
Article 19 shall also apply to the reporting of all minor players who are notnationals of the country in which they wish to be reported.

VIII. TRAINING COMPENSATION AND SOLIDARITY MECHANISM 33

VIII. TRAINING COMPENSATION AND SOLIDARITY MECHANISM

20

Training compensation

21

Solidarity mechanism

Training compensation shall be paid to a player’s training club(s): (1) whena player is registered for the first time as a professional, and (2) each time
a professional is transferred until the end of the calendar year of his 23rdbirthday. The obligation to pay training compensation arises whether
the transfer takes place during or at the end of the player’s contract. The
provisions concerning training compensation are set out in Annexe 4 ofthese regulations. The principles of training compensation shall not apply towomen’s football.

If a professional is transferred before the expiry of his contract, any clubthat has contributed to his education and training shall receive a proportionof the compensation paid to his former club (solidarity contribution). The
provisions concerning solidarity contributions are set out in Annexe 5 of theseregulations.

34

IX. JURISDICTION

IX. JURISDICTION

22

Competence of FIFA

1.
Without prejudice to the right of any player, coach, association, or club to seek
redress before a civil court for employment-related disputes, FIFA is competentto hear:a) disputes between clubs and players in relation to the maintenance ofcontractual stability (articles 13-18) where there has been an ITC request
and a claim from an interested party in relation to said ITC request, inparticular regarding the issue of the ITC, sporting sanctions or compensation
for breach of contract;b) employment-related disputes between a club and a player of aninternational dimension; the aforementioned parties may, however,
explicitly opt in writing for such disputes to be decided by an independent
arbitration tribunal that has been established at national level within theframework of the association and/or a collective bargaining agreement.
Any such arbitration clause must be included either directly in the contract
or in a collective bargaining agreement applicable on the parties. The
independent national arbitration tribunal must guarantee fair proceedings
and respect the principle of equal representation of players and clubs;c) employment-related disputes between a club or an association and a coachof an international dimension; the aforementioned parties may, however,
explicitly opt in writing for such disputes to be decided by an independent
arbitration tribunal that has been established at national level within theframework of the association and/or a collective bargaining agreement.
Any such arbitration clause must be included either directly in the contract
or in a collective bargaining agreement applicable on the parties. The
independent national arbitration tribunal must guarantee fair proceedings
and respect the principle of equal representation of coaches and clubs;d) disputes relating to training compensation (article 20) and the solidarity
mechanism (article 21) between clubs belonging to different associations;IX. JURISDICTION 35e) disputes relating to training compensation (article 20) and the solidarity
mechanism (article 21) between clubs belonging to the same association
provided that the transfer of a player at the basis of the dispute occurs
between clubs belonging to different associations;f) disputes between clubs belonging to different associations that do not fallwithin the cases provided for in a), d) and e).
2.
FIFA is competent to decide regulatory applications made pursuant to theseregulations or any other FIFA regulations.

23

Football Tribunal

1.
The Dispute Resolution Chamber of the Football Tribunal shall adjudicate on
any of the cases described in article 22 paragraphs 1 a), b), d), and e).
2.
The Players’ Status Chamber of the Football Tribunal shall adjudicate on any of
the cases described in article 22 paragraphs 1 c) and f), and 2.
3.
The Football Tribunal shall not hear any case subject to these regulations if
more than two years have elapsed since the event giving rise to the dispute.
Application of this time limit shall be examined ex officio in each individualcase.
4.
The procedures for lodging claims in relation to the disputes described inarticle 22 are contained in the Procedural Rules Governing the Football
Tribunal.

36

IX. JURISDICTION

24

	Consequences for failure to pay relevant amounts
in due time

1.
When:
a) the Football Tribunal orders a party (a club or a player) to pay anotherparty (a club or a player), the consequences of the failure to pay therelevant amounts in due time shall be included in the decision;b) parties to a dispute accept (or do not reject) a proposal made by theFIFA general secretariat pursuant to the Procedural Rules Governing theFootball Tribunal, the consequences of the failure to pay the relevant
amounts in due time shall be included in the confirmation letter.
2.
Such consequences shall be the following:a) Against a club: a ban from registering any new players, either nationally orinternationally, up until the due amounts are paid. The overall maximum
duration of the registration ban shall be of up to three entire andconsecutive registration periods, subject to paragraph 7 below;b) Against a player: a restriction on playing in official matches up until the dueamounts are paid. The overall maximum duration of the restriction shall be of
up to six months on playing in official matches, subject to paragraph 7 below.
3.
Such consequences may be excluded where the Football Tribunal has:a) imposed a sporting sanction on the basis of article 12bis, 17 or 18quater inthe same case; orb) been informed that the debtor club was subject to an insolvency-related
event pursuant to the relevant national law and is legally unable to comply
with an order.
4.
Where such consequences are applied, the debtor must pay the full amount due(including all applicable interest) to the creditor within 45 days of notification of
the decision.

IX. JURISDICTION 37

5.
The 45-day time limit shall commence from notification of the decision orconfirmation letter.
a) The time limit is paused by a valid request for the grounds of the decision.
Following notification of the grounds of the decision, the time limit shallrecommence.
b) The time limit is also paused by an appeal to the Court of Arbitration forSport.
6.
The debtor shall make full payment (including all applicable interest) to thebank account provided by the creditor, as set out in the decision or confirmation
letter.
7.
Where the debtor fails to make full payment (including all applicable interest)
within the time limit, and the decision has become final and binding:a) the creditor may request that FIFA enforce the consequences;b) upon receipt of such request, FIFA shall inform the debtor that theconsequences shall apply;c) the consequences shall apply immediately upon notification by FIFA,
including, for the avoidance of doubt, if they are applied during an open
registration period. In such cases, the remainder of that registration period
shall be the first ”entire” registration period for the purposes of paragraph
2 a);d) the consequences may only be lifted in accordance with paragraph 8 below.
8.
Where the consequences are enforced, the debtor must provide proof of
payment to FIFA of the full amount (including all applicable interest), in orderfor them to be lifted.
a) Upon receipt of the proof of payment, FIFA shall immediately requestthat the creditor confirm receipt of full payment (including all applicableinterest) within five days.

38

IX. JURISDICTIONb) Upon receipt of confirmation from the creditor, or after expiry of thetime limit in the case of no response, FIFA shall notify the parties that theconsequences are lifted.
c) The consequences shall be lifted immediately upon notification by FIFA.
d) Notwithstanding the above, where full payment (including all applicableinterest) has not been made, the consequences shall remain in force until
their complete serving.

25

Implementation of decisions and confirmation letters

1.
The sporting successor of a debtor shall be considered the debtor and be
subject to any decision or confirmation letter issued by the Football Tribunal.
The criteria to assess whether an entity is the sporting successor of anotherentity are, among others, its headquarters, name, legal form, team colours,
players, shareholders or stakeholders or ownership and the category ofcompetition
2.
Where a debtor is instructed to pay a creditor a sum of money (outstanding
amounts or compensation) by the Football Tribunal:a) payment is made when the debtor pays the full amount instructed(including any applicable interest) to the creditor;b) payment is not deemed to have been made where the debtor makes
any unilateral deduction from the full amount instructed (including any
applicable interest).
3.
The following actions do not contravene a registration ban described in article
12bis, 17, 18quater, or 24:a) the return from loan of a professional, solely where the loan agreement
expires naturally;

IX. JURISDICTION 39b) the extension of the loan of a professional, beyond the natural expiry of
the loan agreement;c) the definitive engagement of a professional who was temporarily registered
for the club directly prior to the registration ban being imposed;d) the registration of a professional who was already registered with the clubas an amateur directly prior to the registration ban being imposed.

40

X. FINAL PROVISIONS

X. FINAL PROVISIONS

26

Transitional measures1.
Any case that has been brought to FIFA before these regulations come into
force shall be assessed according to the previous regulations.
a)		 Any case that has been brought to FIFA for which a decision is still
pending as at 1 October 2021 from the Players’ Status Committee, Dispute
Resolution Chamber, or any of their sub-committees, shall be decided
by the relevant chamber of the Football Tribunal in accordance with theProcedural Rules Governing the Football Tribunal;b)		 The transitory provisions of the Procedural Rules Governing the Football
Tribunal shall apply to those cases.
2.
As a general rule, other cases shall be assessed according to these regulations
with the exception of the following:a) disputes regarding training compensation;b) disputes regarding the solidarity mechanism.
Any cases not subject to this general rule shall be assessed according to theregulations that were in force when the contract at the centre of the dispute
was signed, or when the disputed facts arose.
3.
Member associations shall amend their regulations in accordance with article 1
to ensure that they comply with these regulations and shall submit them toFIFA for approval. Notwithstanding the foregoing, each member association
shall implement article 1 paragraph 3 a).

X. FINAL PROVISIONS 41

27

Matters not provided forAny matters not provided for in these regulations and cases of force majeure
shall be decided by the FIFA Council whose decisions are final.

28

Official languages

In the case of any discrepancy in the interpretation of the English, French, Spanishor German texts of these regulations, the English text shall be authoritative.

29

Enforcement

These regulations were approved by the Bureau of the FIFA Council on
16 March 2022 and come into force immediately.
Temporary amendments approved by the FIFA Council as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic will be periodically reviewed and removed accordingly.
Temporary amendments approved by the FIFA Council as a result of the war in
Ukraine will be periodically reviewed and removed accordingly.

Zurich, 16 March 2022

For the FIFA Council

President:
Gianni Infantino

Secretary General:
Fatma Samoura

42

ANNEXE 1

ANNEXE 1
Release of players to association teams

1

Principles for men’s football1.
Clubs are obliged to release their registered players to the representative
teams of the country for which the player is eligible to play on the basis of his
nationality if they are called up by the association concerned. Any agreement
between a player and a club to the contrary is prohibited.
2.
The release of players under the terms of paragraph 1 of this article ismandatory for all international windows listed in the international match
calendar (cf. paragraphs 3 and 4 below) as well as for the final competitionsof the FIFA World Cup™, the FIFA Confederations Cup and the championships
for “A” representative teams of the confederations, subject to the relevant
association being a member of the organising confederation.
3.
After consultation with the relevant stakeholders, FIFA publishes theinternational match calendar for the period of four or eight years. It will
include all international windows for the relevant period (cf. paragraph 4
below). Following the publication of the international match calendar only the
final competitions of the FIFA World Cup™, the FIFA Confederations Cup andthe championships for “A” representative teams of the confederations will be
added.
4.
An international window is defined as a period of nine days starting on a
Monday morning and ending on Tuesday night the following week (subject tothe temporary exceptions below), which is reserved for representative teams’
activities. During any international window a maximum of two matches may
be played by each representative team (subject to the temporary exceptions
below), irrespective of whether these matches are qualifying matches for
an international tournament or friendlies. The pertinent matches can bescheduled any day as from Wednesday during the international window,
provided that a minimum of two full calendar days are left between two
matches (e.g. Thursday/Sunday or Saturday/Tuesday).

ANNEXE 1 43i.

During the international window scheduled for March 2022, forassociations affiliated to OFC:a) the international window is extended by one day; andb) a maximum of three matches may be played by each representative
team.

ii. During the international window scheduled for March 2022, forassociations affiliated to CONCACAF:a) the international window is extended by one day; andb) a maximum of three matches may be played by each representative
team.
5.
Representative teams shall play the two matches (subject to the temporary
exceptions set out in paragraph 4 of this article) within an international
window on the territory of the same confederation, with the only exceptionof intercontinental play-off matches. If at least one of the two matches is afriendly, they can be played in two different confederations only if the distance
between the venues does not exceed a total of five flight hours, according tothe official schedule of the airline, and two time-zones.
6.
It is not compulsory to release players outside an international window or
outside the final competitions (as per paragraph 2 above) included in theinternational match calendar. It is not compulsory to release the same player for
more than one “A” representative team final competition per year. Exceptions
to this rule can be established by the FIFA Council for the FIFA Confederations
Cup only.
7.
For international windows, players must be released and start the travel to join
their representative team no later than Monday morning and must start thetravel back to their club no later than the next Wednesday morning following
the end of the international window, subject to the temporary exception
below. For a final competition in the sense of paragraphs 2 and 3 above,
players must be released and start the travel to their representative team nolater than Monday morning the week preceding the week when the relevant

44

ANNEXE 1

final competition starts and must be released by the association in the morningof the day after the last match of their team in the tournament.
i.

During the international windows that have been extended in accordancewith paragraphs 4 i. and ii., players must start the travel back to their clubno later than the morning following the end of the international window.

8.
The clubs and associations concerned may agree a longer period of release ordifferent arrangements with regard to paragraph 7 above.
9.
Players complying with a call-up from their association under the terms of thisarticle shall resume duty with their clubs no later than 24 hours after the endof the period for which they had to be released. This period shall be extended
to 48 hours if the representative teams’ activities concerned took place in adifferent confederation to the one in which the player’s club is registered.
Clubs shall be informed in writing of a player’s outbound and return scheduleten days before the start of the release period. Associations shall ensure that
players are able to return to their clubs on time after the match.
10.
If a player does not resume duty with his club by the deadline stipulated in thisarticle, at the request of his club, the Players’ Status Chamber of the Football
Tribunal may decide that the next time the player is called up by his association
the period of release shall be shortened as follows:a) international window: by two days;b) final competition of an international tournament: by five days.
11.
In the event of a repeated violation of these provisions, at the request of his
club, the Players’ Status Chamber of the Football Tribunal may decide to:a) issue a fine;b) further reduce the period of release;c) ban the association from calling up the player(s) for subsequent
representative-team activities.

ANNEXE 1 45

1bis

Principles for women’s football1.
Clubs are obliged to release their registered players to the representative
teams of their country for which the player is eligible to play on the basisof her nationality if they are called up by the association concerned. Any
agreement between the player and a club to the contrary is prohibited.
2.
The release of players under the terms of paragraph 1 of this article ismandatory for all international windows listed in the women’s international
match calendar (cf. paragraphs 3 and 4 below) as well as for the final
competitions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup™, the Women’s Olympic
Football Tournament, the championships for women’s “A” representative
teams of the confederations, subject to the relevant association being amember of the organising confederation, and the confederations’ final-round
qualification tournaments for the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament.
3.
After consultation with the relevant stakeholders, FIFA publishes the women’sinternational match calendar for a period of four years. It will include allinternational windows for the relevant period (cf. paragraph 4 below), as wellas the final competitions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup™, the Women’s
Olympic Football Tournament and blocked periods for the championships
for women’s “A” representative teams of the confederations as well as forthe confederations’ final-round qualification tournaments for the Women’s
Olympic Football Tournament. Following the publication of the women’sinternational match calendar, only the specific dates for the championships
for women’s “A” representative teams of the confederations and theconfederations’ final-round qualification tournaments for the Women’s
Olympic Football Tournament will be added within the respective blocked
periods. The championships for the women’s ”A“ representative teams of theconfederations and the final-round qualification tournaments for the Women’s
Olympic Football Tournament must be played within the respective stipulated
blocked periods and confederations are required to notify FIFA of the dates, inwriting, at the latest two years in advance of the respective championships for
women’s “A” representative teams or final-round tournament.

46

ANNEXE 1

4.
There are three types of international windows:a) Type I is defined as a period of nine days starting on a Monday morningand ending on a Tuesday night the following week, which is reserved for
representative teams’ activities. During the type I international window,
a maximum of two matches may be played by each representative team,irrespective of whether these matches are qualifying matches for aninternational tournament or friendlies. The pertinent matches can bescheduled on any day as from Wednesday during the international window,
provided that a minimum of two full calendar days are left between two
matches (e.g. Thursday/Sunday or Saturday/Tuesday).
b) Type II is defined as a period of ten days starting on a Monday morningand ending on Wednesday night the following week, which is reserved forfriendly tournaments of the representative teams and qualifying matches.
During the type II international window, a maximum of three matches
may be played by each representative team. The pertinent matches can bescheduled on any day as from Thursday during the international window,
provided that a minimum of two full calendar days are left between two
matches (e.g. Thursday/Sunday/Wednesday).
c) Type III is defined as a period of 13 days starting on Monday morning andending on Saturday night the following week, which is reserved exclusively
for qualifying matches for the championships of the women’s ”A“representative teams of the confederations. During the type III international
window, a maximum of four matches may be played by each representative
team. The pertinent matches can be scheduled on any day as from Thursday
during the international window, provided that a minimum of two fullcalendar days are left between matches (e.g. Thursday/Sunday/Wednesday/
Saturday).
5.
It is not compulsory to release players outside an international window or
outside the competitions listed in paragraph 2 above that are included in thewomen’s international match calendar.
6.
For all three types of international windows, players must be released and start
the travel to join their representative team no later than Monday morningand must start the travel back to their club no later than the next Wednesday
morning (type I), the next Thursday morning (type II) or the next SundayANNEXE 1 47

morning (type III) following the end of the international window. For the
confederations’ final-round qualification tournaments for the Women’s Olympic
Football Tournament, players must be released and start the travel to join theirrepresentative team no later than Monday morning before the opening matchof the qualification tournament and must be released by the association on
the morning of the day after the last match of their team in the tournament.
For the latter qualification tournaments, the maximum total period of release(between leaving Monday morning and the day of release back to the clubby the association) is 16 days. For the other final competitions in the sense ofparagraphs 2 and 3 above, players must be released and start the travel to theirrepresentative team no later than the Monday morning of the week preceding
the week when the relevant final competition starts, and must be released by
the association on the morning of the day after the last match of their team in
the tournament.
7.
The clubs and associations concerned may agree a longer period of release ordifferent arrangements with regard to paragraph 6 above.
8.
Players complying with a call-up from their association under the terms of thisarticle shall resume duty with their clubs no later than 24 hours after the endof the period for which they had to be released. This period shall be extended
to 48 hours if the representative teams’ activities concerned took place in adifferent confederation to the one in which the player’s club is registered. Clubs
shall be informed in writing of a player’s outbound and return schedule ten days
before the start of the release period. Associations shall ensure that players areable to return to their clubs on time after the match.
9.
If a player does not resume duty with her club by the deadline stipulated in thisarticle, at the request of her club, the Players’ Status Chamber of the Football
Tribunal may decide that the next time the player is called up by her association
the period of release shall be shortened as follows:a) international window: by two days;b) final competition of an international tournament: by five days.

48

ANNEXE 1

10.
In the event of a repeated violation of these provisions, at the request of herclub, the Players’ Status Chamber of the Football Tribunal may decide to:a) issue a fine;b) further reduce the period of release;c) ban the association from calling up the player(s) for subsequent
representative-team activities.

1ter

Principles for futsal

1.
Clubs are obliged to release their registered players to the representative
teams of the country for which the player is eligible to play on the basis of his
nationality if they are called up by the association concerned. Any agreement
between a player and a club to the contrary is prohibited.
2.
The release of players under the terms of paragraph 1 of this article ismandatory for all international windows listed in the futsal international match
calendar (cf. paragraphs 3 and 4 below) as well as for the final competitionsof the FIFA Futsal World Cup and of the championships for “A” representative
teams of the confederations, subject to the relevant association being amember of the organising confederation.
3.
After consultation with the relevant stakeholders, FIFA publishes the futsal
international match calendar for the period of five years. It will include
all international windows for the relevant period (cf. paragraph 4 below).
Following the publication of the futsal international match calendar, only the
final competitions of the FIFA Futsal World Cup and of the championships for“A” representative teams of the confederations will be added.

ANNEXE 1 49

4.
There are two types of international windows:a) Type I is defined as a period of ten days starting on a Monday morningand ending on Wednesday night the following week, which is reserved
for representative teams’ activities. During a Type I international window,
a maximum of four matches may be played by each representative team,irrespective of whether these matches are qualifying matches for aninternational tournament or friendlies. Representative teams can play the
maximum of four matches within an international window of Type I in no
more than two confederations.
b) Type II is defined as a period of four days starting on a Sunday morningand ending on Wednesday night the following week, which is reserved
for representative teams’ activities. During a Type II international window,
a maximum of two matches may be played by each representative team,irrespective of whether these matches are qualifying matches for aninternational tournament or friendlies. Representative teams shall play the
maximum of two matches within an international window of Type II on the
territory of the same confederation.
5.
It is not compulsory to release players outside an international window or
outside the final competitions as per paragraph 2 above included in the futsal
international match calendar.
6.
For both types of international windows, players must be released and start
the travel to join their representative team no later than the first morning of
the window (i.e. Sunday or Monday, respectively), and must start the travelback to their club no later than the Thursday morning following the end of
the international window. For a final competition of the championships for“A” representative teams of the confederations, players must be released andstart the travel to their representative team in the morning 12 days before therelevant final competition starts and must be released by the association in themorning of the day after the last match of their team in the tournament. For
the FIFA Futsal World Cup, players must be released and start the travel to theirrepresentative team in the morning 14 days before the World Cup starts andmust be released by the association in the morning of the day after the lastmatch of their team in the tournament.

50

ANNEXE 1

7.
The clubs and associations concerned may agree a longer period of release ordifferent arrangements with regard to paragraph 6 above.
8.
Players complying with a call-up from their association under the terms of thisarticle shall resume duty with their clubs no later than 24 hours after the endof the period for which they had to be released. This period shall be extended
to 48 hours if the representative teams’ activities concerned took place in adifferent confederation to the one in which the player’s club is registered.
Clubs shall be informed in writing of a player’s outbound and return scheduleten days before the start of the release period. Associations shall ensure that
players are able to return to their clubs on time after the match.
9.
If a player does not resume duty with his club by the deadline stipulated in thisarticle, at the request of his club, the Players’ Status Chamber of the Football
Tribunal may decide that the next time the player is called up by his association
the period of release shall be shortened as follows:a) international windows: by two days;b) final competition of an international tournament: by five days.
10.
In the event of a repeated violation of these provisions, at the request of his
club, the Players’ Status Chamber of the Football Tribunal may decide to:a) issue a fine;b) further reduce the period of release;c) ban the association from calling up the player(s) for subsequent
representative-team activities.

ANNEXE 1 51

2

Financial provisions and insurance

1.
Clubs releasing a player in accordance with the provisions of this annexe are
not entitled to financial compensation.
2.
The association calling up a player shall bear the costs of travel incurred by theplayer as a result of the call-up.
3.
The club with which the player concerned is registered shall be responsible
for his insurance cover against illness and accident during the entire period of
his release. This cover must also extend to any injuries sustained by the player
during the international match(es) for which he was released.
4.
If a professional player participating in eleven-a-side football suffers during
the period of his release for an international “A” match a bodily injury
caused by an accident and is, as a consequence of such an injury, temporarily
totally disabled, the club with which the player concerned is registered will
be indemnified by FIFA. The terms and conditions of the indemnification,
including the loss-handling procedures, are set forth in the Technical Bulletin –Club Protection Programme.

3

Calling up players

1.
As a general rule, every player registered with a club is obliged to respondaffirmatively when called up by the association he is eligible to represent on
the basis of his nationality to play for one of its representative teams.
2.
Associations wishing to call up a player must notify the player in writing atleast 15 days before the first day of the international window (cf. Annexe 1,
article 1 paragraph 4) in which the representative teams’ activities for which
he is required will take place. Associations wishing to call up a player for the

52

ANNEXE 1

final competition of an international tournament must notify the player inwriting at least 15 days before the beginning of the relevant release period.
The player’s club shall also be informed in writing at the same time. Equally,
associations are advised to copy the association of the clubs concerned into thesummons. The club must confirm the release of the player within the following
six days.
3.
Associations that request FIFA’s help to obtain the release of a player playing
abroad may only do so under the following two conditions:a) The association at which the player is registered has been asked tointervene without success.
b) The case is submitted to FIFA at least five days before the day of the match
for which the player is needed.

4

Injured players

A player who due to injury or illness is unable to comply with a call-up fromthe association that he is eligible to represent on the basis of his nationality
shall, if the association so requires, agree to undergo a medical examination
by a doctor of that association’s choice. If the player so wishes, such medical
examination shall take place on the territory of the association at which he isregistered.

5

Restrictions on playing

A player who has been called up by his association for one of its representative
teams is, unless otherwise agreed by the relevant association, not entitled toplay for the club with which he is registered during the period for which hehas been released or should have been released pursuant to the provisions of
this annexe, plus an additional period of five days.

ANNEXE 1 53

6

Disciplinary measures

Violations of any of the provisions set forth in this annexe shall result in theimposition of disciplinary measures to be decided by the FIFA Disciplinary
Committee based on the FIFA Disciplinary Code.

54

ANNEXE 2

ANNEXE 2
Rules for the employment of coaches

1

Scope

1.
This annexe lays down rules concerning contracts between coaches andprofessional clubs or associations.
2.
This annexe applies to coaches that are:a) paid more for their coaching activity than the expenses they effectively
incur; andb) employed by a professional club or an association.
3.
This annexe applies equally to football and futsal coaches.
4.
Each association shall include in its regulations appropriate means to protect
contractual stability between coaches and clubs or associations, paying due
respect to mandatory national law and collective bargaining agreements.

2

Employment contract

1.
A coach must have a written contract with a club or an association, executedon an individual basis.
2.
A contract shall include the essential elements of an employment contract,such as inter alia the object of the contract, the rights and obligations of theparties, the status and occupation of the parties, the agreed remuneration, theduration of the contract and the signatures of each party.

ANNEXE 2 55

3.
If a football intermediary is involved in the negotiation of a contract, they shallbe named in that contract.
4.
The validity of a contract may not be made subject to:a) the granting of a work or residence permit;b) the requirement to hold a specific coaching licence; orc) other requirements of an administrative or regulatory nature.
5.
In their employment process, clubs and associations must act with due diligencein order to ensure that the coach meets the necessary requirements to beengaged (e.g. holding the required coaching licence) and performs their duties.
6.
Contractual clauses granting the club or the association additional time to
pay the coach amounts that have fallen due under the terms of the contract(“grace periods”) shall not be recognised. Grace periods contained in collective
bargaining agreements validly negotiated by employers’ and employees’
representatives at domestic level in accordance with national law shall,
however, be legally binding and recognised. Contracts existing at the time ofthis provision coming into force shall not be affected by this prohibition.

3

Respect of contracts

A contract may only be terminated upon expiry of its term or by mutual
agreement.

4

Terminating a contract with just cause

1.
A contract may be terminated by either party without the payment ofcompensation where there is just cause.

56

ANNEXE 22.
Any abusive conduct of a party aimed at forcing the counterparty to terminate
or change the terms of the contract shall entitle the counterparty to terminate
the contract with just cause.

5

Terminating a contract with just cause for outstanding salaries

1.
In the case of a club or association unlawfully failing to pay a coach at least
two monthly salaries on their due dates, the coach will be deemed to have ajust cause to terminate their contract, provided that they have put the debtor
club or association in default in writing and granted a deadline of at least
15 days for the debtor club or association to fully comply with its financial
obligation(s). Alternative provisions in contracts existing at the time of thisprovision coming into force may be considered.
2.
For any salaries of a coach which are not due on a monthly basis, the pro-rata
value corresponding to two months shall be considered. Delayed payment ofan amount which is equal to at least two months shall also be deemed a justcause for the coach to terminate their contract, subject to compliance with thenotice of termination as per paragraph 1 above.
3.
Collective bargaining agreements validly negotiated by employers’ andemployees’ representatives at domestic level in accordance with national law
may deviate from the principles stipulated in paragraphs 1 and 2 above. The
terms of such an agreement shall prevail.

6

Consequences of terminating a contract without just cause

1.
In all cases, the party in breach shall pay compensation.
2.
Unless otherwise provided for in the contract, compensation for the breachshall be calculated as follows:ANNEXE 2 57

Compensation due to a coacha) In case the coach did not sign any new contract following the terminationof their previous contract, as a general rule, the compensation shallbe equal to the residual value of the contract that was prematurely
terminated.
b) In case the coach signed a new contract by the time of the decision,
the value of the new contract for the period corresponding to the timeremaining on the prematurely terminated contract shall be deductedfrom the residual value of the contract that was terminated early (the“Mitigated Compensation”). Furthermore, and subject to the earlytermination of the contract being due to overdue payables, in addition
to the Mitigated Compensation, the coach shall be entitled to an amountcorresponding to three monthly salaries (the “Additional Compensation”).
In case of egregious circumstances, the Additional Compensation may
be increased up to a maximum of six monthly salaries. The overall
compensation may never exceed the residual value of the prematurely
terminated contract.
c) Collective bargaining agreements validly negotiated by employers’ andemployees’ representatives at domestic level in accordance with nationallaw may deviate from the principles stipulated above. The terms of such an
agreement shall prevail.
Compensation due to a club or an associationd) Compensation shall be calculated on the basis of the damages andexpenses incurred by the club or the association in connection with thetermination of the contract, giving due consideration, in particular, to theremaining remuneration and other benefits due to the coach under theprematurely terminated contract and/or due to the coach under any newcontract, the fees and expenses incurred by the former club (amortisedover the term of the contract), and the principle of the specificity of sport.
3.
Entitlement to compensation cannot be assigned to a third party.
4.
Any person subject to the FIFA Statutes who acts in a manner designed toinduce a breach of contract between a coach and a club or association shall besanctioned.

58

ANNEXE 2

7

Overdue payables

1.
Clubs and associations are required to comply with their financial obligations
towards coaches as per the terms stipulated in the contracts signed with theircoaches.
2.
Any club or association found to have delayed a due payment for morethan 30 days without a prima facie contractual basis may be sanctioned inaccordance with paragraph 4 below.
3.
In order for a club or an association to be considered to have overdue payablesin the sense of the present article, the creditor coach must have put the debtor
club or association in default in writing and have granted a deadline of atleast ten days for the debtor club or association to comply with its financial
obligation(s).
4.
Within the scope of its jurisdiction, the Football Tribunal may impose thefollowing sanctions:a) a warning;b) a reprimand;c) a fine.
5.
The sanctions provided for in paragraph 4 above may be applied cumulatively.
6.
A repeated offence will be considered an aggravating circumstance and leadto a more severe penalty.
7.
The terms of the present article are without prejudice to the payment ofcompensation in accordance with article 6 paragraph 2 above in the event of
unilateral termination of the contractual relationship.

ANNEXE 2 59

8Consequences for failure to pay relevant amounts in due time

1.
When:
a) the Football Tribunal orders a party (a club, a coach or an association)
to pay another party (a club, a coach or an association) a sum of money(outstanding amounts or compensation), the consequences of the failure
to pay the relevant amounts in due time shall be included in the decision;b) parties to a dispute accept (or do not reject) a proposal made by theFIFA general secretariat pursuant to the Procedural Rules Governing theFootball Tribunal, the consequences of the failure to pay the relevant
amounts in due time shall be included in the confirmation letter.
2.
Such consequences shall be the following:a) Against a club: a ban from registering any new players, either nationally orinternationally, up until the due amounts are paid. The overall maximum
duration of the registration ban shall be of up to three entire andconsecutive registration periods, subject to paragraph 7 below.
b) Against an association: a restriction on receiving a percentage ofdevelopment funding, up until the due amounts are paid, subject toparagraph 7 below.
c) Against a coach: a restriction on any football-related activity up until thedue amounts are paid. The overall maximum duration of the restriction
shall be of up to six months, subject to paragraph 7 below.
3.
Such consequences may be excluded where the Football Tribunal has been
informed that the debtor club or association was subject to an insolvency-related
event pursuant to the relevant national law and is legally unable to comply
with an order.
4.
Where such consequences are applied, the debtor must pay the full amount(including all applicable interest) due to the creditor within 45 days of
notification of the decision.

60

ANNEXE 2

5.
The 45-day time limit shall commence from notification of the decision orconfirmation letter.
a) The time limit is paused by a valid request for grounds of the decision.
Following notification of the grounds of the decision, the time limit shallrecommence.
b) The time limit is also paused by an appeal to the Court of Arbitration forSport.
6.
The debtor shall make full payment (including all applicable interest) tothe bank account provided by the creditor, as set out in the decision orconfirmation letter.
7.
Where the debtor fails to make full payment (including all applicable interest)
within the time limit, and the decision has become final and binding:a) the creditor may request that FIFA enforce the consequences;b) upon receipt of such request, FIFA shall inform the debtor that theconsequences shall apply;c) the consequences shall apply immediately upon notification by FIFA,
including, for the avoidance of doubt, if they are applied during an open
registration period. In such cases, the remainder of that registration
period shall be the first ”entire” registration period for the purposes ofparagraph 2 a);d) the consequences may only be lifted in accordance with paragraph 8 below.
8.
Where the consequences are enforced, the debtor must provide proof of full
payment (including all applicable interest) to FIFA, for the consequences to belifted.
a) Upon receipt of the proof of payment, FIFA shall immediately request thatthe creditor confirm receipt of full payment within five days.

ANNEXE 2 61b) Upon receipt of confirmation from the creditor, or after expiry of thetime limit in the case of no response, FIFA shall notify the parties that theconsequences are lifted.
c) The consequences shall be lifted immediately upon notification by FIFA.
d) Notwithstanding the above, where full payment (including all applicableinterest) has not been made, the consequences shall remain in force until
their complete serving.
9.
For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions set out in article 25 apply equally tothis annexe.

62

ANNEXE 3

ANNEXE 3
Transfer matching system

1

Scope

1.
The transfer matching system (TMS; cf. point 13 of the Definitions section) is
designed to ensure that football authorities have more details available tothem on international player transfers. This will increase the transparency of
individual transactions, which will in turn improve the credibility and standingof the entire transfer system.
2.
TMS is designed to clearly distinguish between the different payments inrelation to international player transfers. All such payments must be entered in
the system as this is the only way to be transparent about tracking the money
being moved around in relation to these transfers. At the same time, thesystem will require associations to ensure that it is indeed a real player who is
being transferred and not a fictitious player being used for illicit activities suchas money-laundering.
3.
TMS helps safeguard the protection of minors. If a minor is being registeredas a non-national for the first time or is involved in an international transfer,approval must be given by the Players’ Status Chamber of the Football Tribunal
for that purpose (cf. article 19 paragraph 4). The request for approval by
the association that wishes to register the minor on the basis of article 19
paragraph 2, 3 or 4 c) and the subsequent decision-making workflow must be
conducted through TMS.
4.
Within the scope of the present annexe (cf. specifically, article 1 paragraph 5),
TMS is the means by which ITCs are requested and delivered.
5.
The use of TMS is a mandatory step for all international transfers ofprofessional and amateur players (both male and female) within the scope of
eleven-a-side football, and any registration of such a player without the use

ANNEXE 3 63

of TMS will be deemed invalid. In the following articles of the present annexe,
the term “player” will refer to male and female players participating in elevena-side football. Within this Annexe, the term “international transfer” will
exclusively refer to the transfer of such players between associations.
6.
Every international transfer within the scope of eleven-a-side football must
be entered in TMS. If the player will be registered as an amateur by the new
association, the transfer instruction shall be entered in TMS by the club(s)holding a TMS account, or, in the case of a club not holding a TMS account, by
the association concerned.

2

System1.
TMS provides associations and clubs with a web-based data information systemdesigned to administer and monitor international transfers.
2.
Depending on the type of instruction, a variety of information must be entered.
3.
In case of an international transfer where no transfer agreement exists, the
new club must submit specific information and upload certain documents
relating to the transfer into TMS. The process is then moved to the associations
for electronic ITC handling (cf. section 8 below).
4.
In case of an international transfer where a transfer agreement exists, bothclubs involved must, independently of each other, submit information and,
where applicable, upload certain documents relating to the transfer into TMS
as soon as the agreement has been formed.
5.
In the case referred to in the preceding paragraph of this article, the process isonly moved to the associations for electronic ITC handling (cf. section 8 below)
once club-level agreement has been reached.

64

ANNEXE 3

3

Users

1.
All users shall act in good faith.
2.
All users shall check TMS at regular intervals on a daily basis and pay particularattention to any enquiries or requests for statements.
3.
Users are responsible for ensuring that they have all the necessary equipment
to fulfil their obligations.
3.1 Clubs
1.
Clubs are responsible for entering and confirming transfer instructions in TMS
and, where applicable, for ensuring that the required information matches.
This also includes uploading the required documents.
2.
Clubs are responsible for ensuring that they have the necessary training andknow-how in order to fulfil their obligations. In this regard, clubs shall appoint
TMS managers who are trained to operate TMS, and shall be responsible forthe training of a replacement TMS manager if required, so that clubs are at
all times in a position to fulfil their obligations in TMS. The FIFA Regulatory
Enforcement Department and the relevant hotline may assist them in thisrespect with all technical-related issues, if need be. Furthermore, article 5.3 ofthis annexe applies in connection with this matter.
3.2 Associations
1.
Associations are responsible for maintaining their season and registration
details, if applicable for male and female players separately, as well as thoseof their clubs (including, in particular, the categorisation of clubs in connection
with training compensation). In addition, they are responsible for conducting
the electronic ITC process (cf. section 8 below) and, where applicable, forconfirming players deregistering from their association.
2.
Associations are responsible for ensuring that they have the necessary
training and know-how in order to fulfil their obligations. In this regard, each

ANNEXE 3 65

association shall appoint a TMS manager and, at least, one additional user who
are trained to operate TMS. Associations shall be responsible for the training ofa replacement TMS manager if required, so that associations are at all times ina position to fulfil their obligations in TMS. The FIFA Regulatory Enforcement
Department and the relevant hotline may assist them in this respect with alltechnical-related issues, if need be.
3.3 FIFA general secretariat
The various competent departments within the FIFA general secretariat are
responsible for:a) entering relevant sporting sanctions and managing possible objections toregulation infringements;b) entering relevant disciplinary sanctions;c) entering association suspensions.
3.4 Confidentiality and access
1.
Associations and clubs will keep all data obtained based on the access to TMS
strictly confidential and take all reasonable measures and apply the highest
degree of care in order to guarantee at all times complete confidentiality
Furthermore, associations and clubs will use the confidential information
exclusively for the purpose of accomplishing player transactions in which they
are directly involved.
2.
Associations and clubs will ensure that only authorised users have access to
TMS. Furthermore, associations and clubs will select, instruct and control theauthorised users with the highest possible care.

4

Obligations of clubs

1.
Clubs must ensure that their contact details (i.e. address, telephone number
and email address) and banking details are valid and kept up to date at all
times.

66

ANNEXE 3

2.
Clubs must use TMS for international transfers of players.
3.
Clubs and, if applicable, associations (cf. Annexe 3, article 1 paragraph 6
and article 5) must provide the following compulsory data when creating
instructions, as applicable:
–
–
–
–
–

–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–

–
–
–

Instruction type (Engage player or Release player)
Indication of whether the transfer is on a permanent basis or on loan
Indication of whether there is a transfer agreement with the former club
Indication of whether the transfer relates to an exchange of players
If related to an earlier loan instruction, indication of whether:• it is a return from loan; or• it is a loan extension; or• the loan is being converted into a permanent transfer
Player’s name, nationality(ies) and date of birth
Player’s former club
Player’s former association
Date of the transfer agreement
Start and end dates of the loan agreement
Club intermediary’s name and commission
Start and end dates of player’s contract with former club
Reason for termination of player’s contract with former club
Start and end dates of player’s contract with new club
Player’s fixed remuneration as provided for in player’s contract with new club
Player intermediary’s nameIndication of whether the transfer is being made against any of thefollowing payments:• Fixed transfer fee, including details of instalments, if any• Any fee paid in execution of a clause in the player’s contract with his/her
former club providing for compensation for termination of the relevant
contract• Conditional transfer fee, including details of conditions• Sell-on fees
• Solidarity contribution• Training compensation
Payment currency
Amount(s), payment date(s) and recipient(s) for each of the above listed
types of payments
Own banking details (name of bank or bank code; account number or
IBAN; bank address; account holder)ANNEXE 3 67

–
–
–
–

Declaration on third-party payments and influence
Declaration on third-party ownership of players’ economic rights
Player’s status (amateur or professional) at the former club
Player’s status (amateur or professional) at the new club

4.
Clubs are also obliged to upload at least the mandatory documents to support
the information that has been entered in TMS (cf. Annexe 3, article 8.2
paragraph 1) and provide confirmation of the relevant instruction.
5.
Equally, where matching exceptions arise, clubs are required to resolve themwith the participation of the other club concerned.
6.
The procedure in relation to the ITC request (cf. Annexe 3, article 8.2
paragraph 1) can only be initiated once the club(s) have complied with their
obligations in line with the preceding paragraphs of this article.
7.
Clubs must declare in TMS any payments made. This also applies to payments
made by the player’s new club to the player’s former club on the basis ofcontractual clauses contained in the player’s contract with his/her former cluband despite no transfer agreement having been concluded. When declaring
the execution of a payment, the club making the payment must upload
evidence of the money transfer into TMS within thirty (30) days of the date of
the payment.
If payment is made in instalments, such evidence must be uploaded for thepayment of each instalment within 30 days of the date of each payment.
Where a payment indicated in TMS is no longer applicable (e.g. as a result of acontractual amendment or conditional payment not due), the clubs involved in
the transfer shall request the force closure of the transfer without delay.

5

Obligations of the associations

Associations must use TMS in connection with international transfers ofplayers.

68

ANNEXE 3

5.1 Master data
1.
The start and end dates of both registration periods and of the season, if
applicable for male and female players separately, as well as of possible
registration periods for competitions in which only amateurs participate(cf. article 6 paragraph 4 of these regulations), shall be entered in TMS at least
12 months before they come into force, subject to the temporary exceptions
below. Under exceptional circumstances, associations may amend or modify
their registration period dates up until they commence. Once the registration
period has begun, no alteration of dates will be possible. The registration
periods shall always comply with the terms of article 6 paragraph 2.
a) Associations may, at any stage:i. request to extend or amend their season start date and end date;ii. request to extend or amend their registration periods that have alreadycommenced, provided that their duration complies with the maximum
limit (i.e. 16 weeks) established in article 6 paragraph 2;
iii. request to amend or postpone their registration periods that have notcommenced, provided that their duration complies with the maximum
limit (i.e. 16 weeks) established in article 6 paragraph 2.
b) Any such request will be assessed by the FIFA Administration and is subject
to the guidelines set out in the COVID-19 Football Regulatory Issues FAQs.
2.
Associations shall ensure that club address, telephone, email address, banking
details and training category (cf. Annexe 4, article 4) information is valid andkept up to date at all times.
3.
Associations shall ensure that all affiliated clubs and every player currently
registered with the association have a FIFA ID.
4.
If the FIFA Connect ID Service determines that a player is or appears to beregistered in one or more electronic player registration systems, the member
association(s) involved shall resolve the matter as soon as it becomes apparent,
and update the FIFA Connect ID Service without delay.

ANNEXE 3 69

Any other association that may be contacted for assistance in this respect isobliged to collaborate.
5.2 Transfer-related information
1.
When entering transfer instructions, clubs shall specify the player involved(cf. Annexe 3, article 4 paragraph 2). TMS contains the details of many players
who have participated in FIFA tournaments. If the details of the player
involved are not already in TMS, the clubs shall enter them as a part of thetransfer instruction. The procedure in relation to the ITC request (cf. Annexe 3,
article 8.2 paragraph 1) may only be initiated once these player details
have been verified, corrected if required and confirmed by the player’s
former association. The former association shall reject the player if the detailsof his/her identity cannot be fully confirmed against its own registration
records. The verification of player details shall be done without delay.
2.
The procedure in relation to the ITC request (cf. Annexe 3, article 8.2
paragraph 2) shall be carried out by the new association at the appropriate
time.
3.
The procedure in relation to the response to the ITC request and the player
deregistration (cf. Annexe 3, article 8.2 paragraphs 3 and 4) shall be carried out
by the former association at the appropriate time.
4.
In case of ITC receipt, the new association is required to enter and confirm theplayer registration date (cf. Annexe 3, article 8.2 paragraph 1).
5.
In case of rejection of the ITC request (cf. Annexe 3, article 8.2 paragraph 7),
the new association is required to either accept or dispute the rejection, as thecase may be.
6.
In case of provisional registration (cf. Annexe 3, article 8.2 paragraph 6) or incase of authorisation for provisional registration by the single judge after the
new association has disputed the rejection, the new association is required toenter and confirm the registration information.

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ANNEXE 3

5.3 Club training
To ensure that all affiliated clubs are able to fulfil their obligations inrelation to this annexe, ongoing training is the responsibility of the relevant
association.

6

Role of FIFA general secretariat

1.
Upon request from the association concerned through TMS, the relevant
department will deal with any validation exceptions and, if need be, refer thematter to the Players’ Status Chamber of the Football Tribunal for a decision,
except for the so-called “player confirmation”, which needs to be dealt withby the association concerned (cf. Annexe 3, article 5.2 paragraph 1).
2.
The association(s) concerned shall be legally notified of the relevant
department’s assessment or the Football Tribunal decision via TMS. Notification
will be deemed complete once the assessment or the decision has been
uploaded into TMS. Such notification of assessments or decisions shall be
legally binding.
3.
Upon request, the relevant department will deal with any validation warnings
and, if need be, refer the matter to the competent decision-making body for adecision.
4.
Within the scope of proceedings pertaining to the application of theseregulations, FIFA may use any documentation or evidence generated byor contained in TMS or obtained by the FIFA Regulatory Enforcement
Department on the basis of their investigation powers (cf. Annexe 3, article 7
paragraph 3) in order to properly assess the issue at stake.
5.
Sporting sanctions of relevance for TMS will be entered in TMS by thecompetent department.
6.
Disciplinary sanctions of relevance for TMS will be entered in TMS by thecompetent department.

ANNEXE 3 71

7.
Association sanctions of relevance for TMS will be entered in TMS by thecompetent department.

7

Role of FIFA

1.
FIFA is responsible for ensuring the availability of and access to the system. FIFAand the FIFA Regulatory Enforcement Department is additionally responsible
for managing user access and defining criteria to be an authorised user.
2.
To ensure that all associations are able to fulfil their obligations in relation
to this annexe, ongoing training and support of member associations is the
responsibility of the FIFA Regulatory Enforcement Department.
3.
To ensure that the clubs and associations are fulfilling their obligations in
respect to this annexe, the FIFA Regulatory Enforcement Department shallinvestigate matters in relation to international transfers. All parties are
obliged to collaborate to establish the facts. In particular, they shall comply,
upon reasonable notice, with requests for any documents, information or any
other material of any nature held by the parties. In addition, the parties shallcomply with the procurement and provision of documents, information or
any other material of any nature not held by the parties but which the parties
are entitled to obtain. Non-compliance with these requests from the FIFA
Regulatory Enforcement Department may lead to sanctions imposed by theFIFA Disciplinary Committee.

8Administrative procedure governing the transfer of players
between associations

8.1 Principles
1.
Any player who is registered with a club that is affiliated to one association may
only be registered with a club affiliated to a different association after an ITC has
been delivered by the former association and the new association has confirmed
receipt of the ITC. The ITC procedure must be conducted exclusively via TMS. Any
form of ITC other than the one created by TMS shall not be recognised.

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ANNEXE 3

2.
At the very latest, the ITC must be requested by the new association in TMS on
the last day of the relevant registration period of the new association.
3.
The former association must upload a copy of the player passport (cf. article 7)
when creating an ITC in favour of the new association.
4.
The former association must upload a copy of any relevant documentation
pertaining to disciplinary sanctions imposed on a player and, if applicable,
their extension to have worldwide effect (cf. article 12) when creating an ITC in
favour of the new association.
8.2 Creating an ITC for a player
1.
All data allowing the new association to request an ITC shall be entered into
TMS, confirmed and matched by the club wishing to register a player during
one of the registration periods established by that association (cf. Annexe 3,
article 4 paragraph 4). When entering the relevant data, depending on theselected instruction type, the new club shall upload at least the following
documents into TMS:
– a copy of the contract between the new club and the professional player,
if applicable;– a copy of the transfer or loan agreement concluded between the new cluband the former club, if applicable;– copy of proof of the player’s identity, nationality(ies) and birth date, suchas passport or identity card;– proof of player’s last contract end date and reason for termination, if
applicable.
Where third-party ownership of players’ economic rights has been declared(cf. Annexe 3, article 4 paragraph 2), the former club shall upload a copy of therelevant agreement with the third party.
Documents must be uploaded in the format required by the relevant FIFA
department.
If explicitly requested, a document not available in one of the four official
languages of FIFA (English, French, German and Spanish), or a specificallydefined excerpt of it, must be uploaded in TMS together with its respective
translation in one of the four official languages. Failure to do so may result in
the document in question being disregarded.

ANNEXE 3 73

2.
Upon notification in the system that the transfer instruction is awaiting an ITC
request, the new association shall immediately request the former association
through TMS to deliver an ITC for the player (“ITC request”).
3.
In the case of an international transfer of a player who had professional status
at his former club, upon receipt of the ITC request, the former association
shall immediately request the former club and the professional player toconfirm whether the professional player’s contract has expired, whether earlytermination was mutually agreed or whether there is a contractual dispute.
4.
Within seven days of the date of the ITC request, the former association shall,by using the appropriate selection in TMS, either:a) deliver the ITC in favour of the new association and enter the deregistration
date of the player; orb) reject the ITC request and indicate in TMS the reason for the rejection,
which may be either that the contract between the former club and theprofessional player has not expired or that there has been no mutual
agreement regarding its early termination.
At the same time, the former association shall upload a duly signed statement
in one of the four official languages of FIFA (English, French, German andSpanish) in TMS supporting its argumentation for the rejection of the ITC.
The latter possibility applies to the international transfer of players who had
professional status at their former clubs only.
5.
Once the ITC has been delivered, the new association shall confirm receipt andcomplete the relevant player registration information in TMS.
6.
If the new association does not receive a response to the ITC request withinseven days of the ITC request being made, it shall immediately register theplayer with the new club on a provisional basis (“provisional registration”). The
new association shall complete the relevant player registration information in
TMS (cf. Annexe 3, article 5.2 paragraph 6).

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ANNEXE 3

7.
The former association shall not deliver an ITC for a professional player if acontractual dispute on grounds of the circumstances stipulated in Annexe 3,
article 8.2 paragraph 4 b) has arisen between the former club and theprofessional player. In such a case, upon request of the new association, FIFA
may take provisional measures in exceptional circumstances. In this respect, it
will take into account the arguments presented by the former association tojustify the rejection of the ITC request (cf. Annexe 3, article 8.2 paragraphs 3 and
4). If the Football Tribunal authorises the provisional registration (cf. article 23),
the new association shall complete the relevant player registration informationin TMS (cf. Annexe 3, article 5.2 paragraph 6). Furthermore, the professional
player, the former club and/or the new club are entitled to lodge a claim withFIFA in accordance with article 22. The decision on the provisional registration of
the player shall be without prejudice to the merits of such possible contractual
dispute.
8.
A player is not eligible to play in official matches for his/her new club until the
new association has either:a) entered and confirmed the player registration date in TMS upon receipt of
the ITC for the player (cf. Annexe 3, article 5.2 paragraph 4); orb) completed the player registration information in TMS upon receiving no
response to the ITC request for the player within seven days of the ITC
request being made or upon authorisation of FIFA to provisionally registerthe player (cf. Annexe 3, article 5.2 paragraph 6).
8.3 Loan of professional players
1.
The rules set out above also apply to the loan of a professional player from aclub affiliated to one association to a club affiliated to another association, as
well as to his/her return from loan to his/her original club, if applicable.
2.
When applying for the registration of a professional player on a loan basis, the
new club shall upload a copy of the pertinent loan agreement concluded withthe former club, and possibly also signed by the player, into TMS (cf. Annexe 3,
article 8.2 paragraph 1). The terms of the loan agreement shall be represented
in TMS.

ANNEXE 3 75

3.
Loan extensions and permanent transfers resulting from loans shall also beentered in TMS at the appropriate time.

9

Sanctions

9.1 General provision1.
Sanctions may be imposed on any association or club that violates any of theprovisions of the present annexe.
2.
Sanctions may also be imposed on any association or club found to haveentered untrue or false data into the system or for having misused TMS for
illegitimate purposes.
3.
Associations and clubs are liable for the actions and information entered bytheir TMS managers.
9.2 Competence
1.
The FIFA Disciplinary Committee is responsible for imposing sanctions inaccordance with the FIFA Disciplinary Code.
2.
Sanction proceedings may be initiated by FIFA, either on its own initiative or at
the request of any party concerned.
3.
The relevant FIFA department may also initiate sanction proceedings on its
own initiative for non-compliance with the obligations under its jurisdiction(specifically with respect to the defined Administrative Sanction Procedure(cf. FIFA Circulars 1478 and 1609)) and when authorised to do so by the FIFA
Disciplinary Committee for explicitly specified violations.

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ANNEXE 3

9.3 Sanctions on associations
In particular, the following sanctions may be imposed on associations forviolation of the present annexe in accordance with the FIFA Disciplinary Code:– a reprimand or a warning;– a fine;– exclusion from a competition;– return of awards.
These sanctions may be imposed separately or in combination.
9.4 Sanctions on clubs
In particular, the following sanctions may be imposed on clubs for violation of
the present annexe in accordance with the FIFA Disciplinary Code:– a reprimand or a warning;– a fine;– annulment of the result of a match;– defeat by forfeit;– exclusion from a competition;– a deduction of points;– demotion to a lower division;– a transfer ban;– return of awards.
These sanctions may be imposed separately or in combination.

10

Time limits

With respect to proceedings and investigations conducted by the FIFA
Regulatory Enforcement Department, electronic notifications through TMS
or by email to the address provided in TMS by the parties are considered validmeans of communication and will be deemed sufficient to establish time limits.

ANNEXE 3A 77

ANNEXE 3A
Administrative procedure governing the transfer of players between
associations outside TMS

1

Scope

The present annexe governs the procedure for the international transfer of all
futsal players.

2

Principles

1.
Any player who is registered with a club that is affiliated to one association
shall not be eligible to play for a club affiliated to a different association unlessan ITC has been issued by the former association and received by the new
association in accordance with the provisions of this annexe. Special forms
provided by FIFA for this purpose or forms with similar wording shall be used.
2.
At the very latest, the ITC must be requested on the last day of the registration
period of the new association.
3.
The association issuing the ITC shall also attach a copy of the player passport to it.

3Issue of an ITC for a professional

1.
All applications to register a professional must be submitted by the new clubto the new association during one of the registration periods establishedby that association. All applications shall be accompanied by a copy of thecontract between the new club and the professional. Equally, a copy of thetransfer agreement concluded between the new club and the former club shallbe provided to the new association, if applicable. A professional is not eligible
to play in official matches for his new club until an ITC has been issued by theformer association and received by the new association.

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ANNEXE 3A

2.
Upon receipt of the application, the new association shall immediately request
the former association to issue an ITC for the professional (“ITC request”). An
association that receives an unsolicited ITC from another association is notentitled to register the professional concerned with one of its clubs.
3.
Upon receipt of the ITC request, the former association shall immediately
request the former club and the professional to confirm whether the
professional’s contract has expired, whether early termination was mutuallyagreed or whether a contractual dispute exists.
4.
Within seven days of receiving the ITC request, the former association shall either:a) issue the ITC to the new association; orb) inform the new association that the ITC cannot be issued because thecontract between the former club and the professional has not expired orthat there has been no mutual agreement regarding its early termination.
5.
If the new association does not receive a response to the ITC request
within 30 days of the ITC request being made, it shall immediately registerthe professional with the new club on a provisional basis (“provisional
registration”). A provisional registration shall become permanent one year
after the ITC request.
6.
The former association shall not issue an ITC if a contractual dispute has arisen
between the former club and the professional.
In such a case, upon request of the new association, FIFA may take provisional
measures in exceptional circumstances. In this respect, it will take into accountthe arguments presented by the former association to justify the rejectionof the ITC. If the Football Tribunal authorises the provisional registration(cf. article 23) the new association shall complete the relevant player
registration information in TMS. Furthermore, the professional player, theformer club and/or the new club are entitled to lodge a claim with FIFA in
accordance with article 22. The decision on the provisional registration of theplayer shall be without prejudice to the merits of such possible contractual
dispute.

ANNEXE 3A 79

7.
The new association may grant a player temporary eligibility to play until theend of the season that is underway on the basis of an ITC sent by fax. If theoriginal ITC is not received by that time, the player’s eligibility to play shall beconsidered definitive.
8.
The foregoing rules and procedures also apply to professionals who, uponmoving to their new club, acquire amateur status.

4

Issue of an ITC for an amateur

1.
All applications to register an amateur player must be submitted by the new
club to the new association during one of the registration periods establishedby that association.
2.
Upon receipt of the application, the new association shall immediately request
the former association to issue an ITC for the player (“ITC request”).
3.
The former association shall, within seven days of receiving the ITC request,
issue the ITC to the new association.
4.
If the new association does not receive a response to the ITC request within
30 days, it shall immediately register the amateur with the new club on aprovisional basis (“provisional registration”). A provisional registration shallbecome permanent one year after the ITC request.  
5.
The foregoing rules and procedures also apply for amateurs who, uponmoving to their new club, acquire professional status.

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ANNEXE 3A

5

Loan of players

1.
The rules set out above also apply to the loan of a professional from a club
affiliated to one association to a club affiliated to another association.
2.
The terms of the loan agreement shall be enclosed with the ITC request.
3.
Upon expiry of the loan period, the ITC shall be returned, upon request, to theassociation of the club that released the player on loan.

ANNEXE 4 81

ANNEXE 4
Training compensation1

Objective

1.
A player’s training and education takes place between the ages of 12 and 23.
Training compensation shall be payable, as a general rule, up to the age of
23 for training incurred up to the age of 21, unless it is evident that a player
has already terminated his training period before the age of 21. In the latter
case, training compensation shall be payable until the end of the calendar year
in which the player reaches the age of 23, but the calculation of the amountpayable shall be based on the years between the age of 12 and the age when
it is established that the player actually completed his training.
2.
The obligation to pay training compensation is without prejudice to any
obligation to pay compensation for breach of contract.

2

Payment of training compensation

1.
Training compensation is due when:a) a player is registered for the first time as a professional; orb) a professional is transferred between clubs of two different associations(whether during or at the end of his contract)
before the end of the calendar year of his 23rd birthday.
2.
Training compensation is not due if:a) the former club terminates the player’s contract without just cause(without prejudice to the rights of the previous clubs); orb) the player is transferred to a category 4 club; orc) a professional reacquires amateur status on being transferred.

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ANNEXE 4

3

Responsibility to pay training compensation

1.
On registering as a professional for the first time, the club with which the player
is registered is responsible for paying training compensation within 30 days ofregistration to every club with which the player has previously been registered(in accordance with the players’ career history as provided in the player passport)
and that has contributed to his training starting from the calendar year of his
12th birthday. The amount payable is calculated on a pro rata basis according
to the period of training that the player spent with each club. In the case of
subsequent transfers of the professional, training compensation will only be
owed to his former club for the time he was effectively trained by that club.
2.
In both of the above cases, the deadline for payment of training compensation is
30 days following the registration of the professional with the new association.
3.
An association is entitled to receive the training compensation which inprinciple would be due to one of its affiliated clubs, if it can provide
evidence that the club in question – with which the professional was
registered and trained – has in the meantime ceased to participate inorganised football and/or no longer exists due to, in particular, bankruptcy,
liquidation, dissolution or loss of affiliation. This compensation shall bereserved for youth football development programmes in the association(s)in question.

4

Training costs

1.
In order to calculate the compensation due for training and education costs,
associations are instructed to divide their clubs into a maximum of four
categories in accordance with the clubs’ financial investment in training
players. The training costs are set for each category and correspond to theamount needed to train one player for one year multiplied by an average“player factor”, which is the ratio of players who need to be trained to
produce one professional player.

ANNEXE 4 83

2.
The training costs, which are established on a confederation basis for eachcategory of club, as well as the categorisation of clubs for each association, arepublished on the FIFA website (www.FIFA.com). They are updated at the endof every calendar year. Associations are required to keep the data regarding
the training category of their clubs inserted in TMS up to date at all times(cf. Annexe 3, article 5.1 paragraph 2).

5

Calculation of training compensation

1.
As a general rule, to calculate the training compensation due to a player’s
former club(s), it is necessary to take the costs that would have been incurredby the new club if it had trained the player itself.
2.
Accordingly, the first time a player registers as a professional, the training
compensation payable is calculated by taking the training costs of the
new club multiplied by the number of years of training, in principle fromthe calendar year of the player’s 12th birthday to the calendar year of his
21st birthday. In the case of subsequent transfers, training compensation
is calculated based on the training costs of the new club multiplied by the
number of years of training with the former club.
3.
To ensure that training compensation for very young players is not set at
unreasonably high levels, the training costs for players for the calendar yearsof their 12th to 15th birthdays (i.e. four calendar years) shall be based on the
training and education costs of category 4 clubs.
4.
The Dispute Resolution Chamber may review disputes concerning the amountof training compensation payable and shall have discretion to adjust thisamount if it is clearly disproportionate to the case under review.

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ANNEXE 4

6

Special provisions for the EU/EEA

1.
For players moving from one association to another inside the territory of the
EU/EEA, the amount of training compensation payable shall be establishedbased on the following:a) If the player moves from a lower to a higher category club, the calculation
shall be based on the average training costs of the two clubs.
b) If the player moves from a higher to a lower category, the calculation shallbe based on the training costs of the lower-category club.
2.
Inside the EU/EEA, the final calendar year of training may occur before thecalendar year of the player’s 21st birthday if it is established that the playercompleted his training before that time.
3.
If the former club does not offer the player a contract, no training
compensation is payable unless the former club can justify that it is entitled tosuch compensation. The former club must offer the player a contract in writing
via registered post at least 60 days before the expiry of his current contract,subject to the temporary exception below. Such an offer shall furthermore beat least of an equivalent value to the current contract. This provision is without
prejudice to the right to training compensation of the player’s previous club(s).
i.

The contract offer may be made by electronic mail, provided that theformer club obtains confirmation from the player that he has received acopy of said offer and can provide such confirmation in case of any dispute.

7

Disciplinary measures

The FIFA Disciplinary Committee may impose disciplinary measures on clubs orplayers that do not observe the obligations set out in this annexe.

ANNEXE 5 85

ANNEXE 5
Solidarity mechanism

1

Solidarity contribution

1.
If a professional moves during the course of a contract, 5% of any compensation
paid within the scope of this transfer, not including training compensation
paid to his former club, shall be deducted from the total amount of thiscompensation and distributed by the new club as a solidarity contribution to
the club(s) involved in his training and education over the years. This solidarity
contribution reflects the number of years (calculated pro rata if less than oneyear) he was registered with the relevant club(s) between the calendar years of
his 12th and 23rd birthdays, as follows:a) Calendar year of 12th birthday: 5% of 5% of any compensationb) Calendar year of 13th birthday: 5% of 5% of any compensationc) Calendar year of 14th birthday: 5% of 5% of any compensationd) Calendar year of 15th birthday: 5% of 5% of any compensatione) Calendar year of 16th birthday: 10% of 5% of any compensationf) Calendar year of 17th birthday: 10% of 5% of any compensationg) Calendar year of 18th birthday: 10% of 5% of any compensationh) Calendar year of 19th birthday: 10% of 5% of any compensationi) Calendar year of 20th birthday: 10% of 5% of any compensationj) Calendar year of 21st birthday: 10% of 5% of any compensationk) Calendar year of 22nd birthday: 10% of 5% of any compensationl) Calendar year of 23rd birthday: 10% of 5% of any compensation
2.
A training club is entitled to receive (a proportion of) the 5% solidarity
contribution in the following cases:a) a professional player is transferred, either on a definitive or loan basis,
between clubs affiliated to different associations;b) a professional player is transferred, either on a definitive or loan basis,
between clubs affiliated to the same association, provided that the training
club is affiliated to a different association.

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ANNEXE 5

2

Payment procedure1.
The new club shall pay the solidarity contribution to the training club(s) pursuant
to the above provisions no later than 30 days after the player’s registration or, incase of contingent payments, 30 days after the date of such payments.
2.
It is the responsibility of the new club to calculate the amount of the solidarity
contribution and to distribute it in accordance with the player’s career history
as provided in the player passport. The player shall, if necessary, assist the new
club in discharging this obligation.
3.
An association is entitled to receive the proportion of solidarity contribution
which in principle would be due to one of its affiliated clubs, if it can provide
evidence that the club in question – which was involved in the professional’s
training and education – has in the meantime ceased to participate inorganised football and/or no longer exists due to, in particular, bankruptcy,
liquidation, dissolution or loss of affiliation. This solidarity contribution shall bereserved for youth football development programmes in the association(s) inquestion.
4.
The Disciplinary Committee may impose disciplinary measures on clubs that do
not observe the obligations set out in this annexe.

ANNEXE 6 87

ANNEXE 6
Rules for the Status and Transfer of Futsal Players

1

Principle

These rules are an integral part of the FIFA Regulations on the Status andTransfer of Players.

2

Scope

1.
The Rules for the Status and Transfer of Futsal Players establish global andbinding provisions concerning the status of futsal players, their eligibility toparticipate in organised football, and their transfer between clubs belonging
to different associations.
2.
The Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players shall apply without
alterations to futsal players unless a diverging provision in this annexe
expressly provides for a different rule applicable to futsal.
3.
The transfer of futsal players between clubs belonging to the same associationis governed by specific regulations issued by the association in accordance witharticle 1 of these regulations.
4.
The following provisions in these regulations are binding for futsal at national
level and shall be included, without modification, in the association’s regulations:articles 2-8, 10 , 11, 12bis, 18, 18bis, 18ter, 19 and 19bis.
5.
Each association shall include in its regulations appropriate means to protect
contractual stability, paying due respect to mandatory national law andcollective bargaining agreements. In particular, the principles in article 1
paragraph 3 b) of these regulations shall be considered.

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ANNEXE 6

3

Release and eligibility of players for association teams

1.
The provisions in Annexe 1 of these regulations are binding.
2.
A player may only represent one association in both futsal and eleven-a-side
football. Any player who has already represented one association (either infull or in part) in an official eleven-a-side or futsal competition of any category
may not play an international match with another association team. This
provision is subject to the exception in article 5 paragraph 3 and article 9 of
the Regulations Governing the Application of the FIFA Statutes.

4

Registration

1.
A futsal player must be registered with an association to play for a club aseither a professional or an amateur in accordance with the provisions of article
2 of these regulations. Only registered players are eligible to participate inorganised football. By the act of registering, a player agrees to abide by the
Statutes and regulations of FIFA, the confederations and the associations.
2.
A player may only be registered for one futsal club at a time. A player may,
however, also be registered for one eleven-a-side club during this time. It is
not necessary for the futsal and the eleven-a-side club to belong to the same
association.
3.
PlaPlayers may be registered with a maximum of three futsal clubs during one
season. During this period, the player is only eligible to play official matches
for two futsal clubs. As an exception to this rule, a player moving between two
futsal clubs belonging to associations with overlapping seasons (i.e. start of theseason in summer/autumn as opposed to winter/spring) may be eligible to play
in official matches for a third futsal club during the relevant season, provided
he has fully complied with his contractual obligations towards his previous
clubs. Equally, the provisions relating to the registration periods (article 6 ofthese regulations) as well as to the minimum length of a contract (article 18

ANNEXE 6 89

paragraph 2 of these regulations) must be respected. The number of elevena-side clubs with which the same player may also be registered during one
season is specified in article 5 paragraph 3 of these regulations.

5International Futsal Transfer Certificate

1.
Futsal players registered with one association may only be registered with afutsal club of a new association once the latter has received an International
Futsal Transfer Certificate (hereinafter: IFTC) from the former association. The
IFTC shall be issued free of charge without any conditions or time limitation.
Any provision to the contrary shall be null and void. The association issuing the
IFTC shall deposit a copy with FIFA. The administrative procedures for issuingan International Transfer Certificate (ITC) for eleven-a-side football shall be
likewise applicable to the issuing of an IFTC. These procedures are set out inAnnexe 3a of these regulations. The IFTC must be distinguishable from the ITC
used in eleven-a-side football..
2.
An IFTC is not required for a player under the age of ten.

6

Enforcement of disciplinary sanctions

1.
A suspension imposed in terms of matches (cf. article 20 paragraphs 1 and
2 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code) on a player for an infringement committed
when playing futsal or in relation to a futsal match shall only affect the player’s
participation for his futsal club. Similarly, a suspension imposed in terms ofmatches on a player participating in eleven-a-side football shall only affect theplayer’s participation for his eleven-a-side club.
2.
A suspension imposed in terms of days and months shall affect a player’s
participation for both his futsal as well as his eleven-a-side club, regardless ofwhether the infringement was committed in eleven-a-side football or futsal.

90

ANNEXE 6

3.
The association with which a player is registered shall notify a suspension
imposed in terms of days and months to the second association with which thisplayer may be registered, if the player is registered for a futsal and an elevena-side club belonging to two different associations.
4.
Any disciplinary sanction of up to four matches or up to three months thathas been imposed on a player by the former association but not yet (entirely)
served by the time of the transfer shall be enforced by the new association atwhich the player has been registered in order for the sanction to be served atdomestic level. When issuing the IFTC, the former association shall notify the
new association in writing of any such disciplinary sanction that has yet to be(entirely) served.
5.
Any disciplinary sanction of more than four matches or more than threemonths that has not yet been (entirely) served by a player shall be enforced by
the new association that has registered the player only if the FIFA Disciplinary
Committee has extended the disciplinary sanction to have worldwide effect.
Additionally, when issuing the IFTC, the former association shall notify the new
association in writing of any such pending disciplinary sanction.

7

Respect of contract

1.
A professional under contract with an eleven-a-side club may only sign a second
professional contract with a different futsal club if he obtains written approval
from the eleven-a-side club employing him. A professional under contract with afutsal club may only sign a second professional contract with a different elevena-side club if he obtains written approval from the futsal club employing him.
2.
The provisions applicable to the maintenance of contractual stability are set
out in articles 13-18 of these regulations.

ANNEXE 6 91

8

Protection of minors

International player transfers are only permitted if the player is over the ageof 18. The exceptions to this rule are outlined in article 19 of these regulations.

9

Training compensation

The provisions on training compensation as provided for in article 20 andAnnexe 4 of these regulations shall not apply to the transfer of players toand from futsal clubs.

10

Solidarity mechanism

The provisions on the solidarity mechanism as provided for in article 21 andAnnexe 5 of these regulations shall not apply to the transfer of players to andfrom futsal clubs.

11FIFA competence1.
Without prejudice to the right of any futsal player or club to seek redress
before a civil court for employment-related disputes, FIFA is competent to deal
with disputes as stipulated in article 22 of these regulations.
2.
The Football Tribunal shall adjudicate on all disputes as stipulated in article 23of these regulations.

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ANNEXE 6

12Matters not provided for

Matters not provided for in this annexe shall be governed by these regulations.

13

Official languages

In the case of any discrepancy in the interpretation of the English, French,
Spanish or German texts of these regulations, the English text shall beauthoritative.

ANNEXE 7 93

ANNEXE 7
Temporary rules addressing the exceptional situation deriving fromthe war in Ukraine

1

Scope of application

This annexe applies to all employment contracts of an international
dimension concluded between players or coaches and clubs affiliated to the
Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF) or the Football Union of Russia (FUR),
as well as to the registration of all players – regardless of their nationality –previously registered with the UAF.

2

Employment contracts of an international dimension withclubs affiliated to the UAF

1.
Notwithstanding the provisions of these regulations and unless otherwise
agreed between the parties, a contract of an international dimension
between a player or a coach and a club affiliated to the UAF shall beconsidered automatically suspended until 30 June 2022.
2.
The minimum length of a contract established under article 18 paragraph
2 of these regulations, does not apply to any new contract concluded by
the professional whose contract has been suspended in accordance withparagraph 1 above.

3

Employment contracts of an international dimension withclubs affiliated to the FUR

1.
Notwithstanding the provisions of these regulations and unless otherwise
agreed between the parties, a contract of an international dimension
between a player or a coach and a club affiliated to the FUR can beunilaterally suspended until 30 June 2022 by the player or the coach,provided that a mutual agreement with the club could not be reached
before or on 10 March 2022.

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ANNEXE 7

2.
The minimum length of a contract established under article 18 paragraph
2 of these regulations does not apply to any new contract concluded by
the professional whose contract has been suspended in accordance withparagraph 1 above.

4

Consequences of the suspension

A player or coach whose contract has been suspended as per article 2paragraph 1 or article 3 paragraph 1 above does not commit a breach ofcontract by signing and registering with a new club. Article 18 paragraph
5 of these regulations does not apply to a professional whose contract has
been suspended as per article 2 paragraph 1 or article 3 paragraph 1 above.

5

Registration

1.
Notwithstanding the provisions of article 5 paragraph 4 of these regulations,a player whose previous registration was in the UAF or FUR, may beregistered with a maximum of four clubs during one season and is eligible toplay official matches for three different clubs.
2.
A club may register a maximum of two professional players who havebenefited from the exceptions set out in this annexe.

6

Registration periods

1.
Notwithstanding the provisions of article 6 paragraph 1 of these regulations,a player whose previous registration was in the UAF or in the FUR, has
the right to be registered by an association outside a registration period,
provided that such registration occurs before or on 7 April 2022.

ANNEXE 7 95

2.
Notwithstanding the provisions of Annexe 3, article 8.2 paragraph 7 inconjunction with Annexe 3, article 8.2 paragraph 4 b), in case the UAF or FUR
reject an ITC request for a professional within the scope of this annexe, FIFAis competent to immediately authorise the provisional registration of theplayer at the new association for his new club.

7

Protection of minors

Notwithstanding the provisions of article 19 of these regulations, any
minors residing in the territory of Ukraine who wish to be registered witha new club shall be automatically deemed to fulfill the requirements of the
exception provided in article 19 paragraph 2 d) of these regulations.

8

Training compensation

1.
No training compensation is due for any player whose previous registration
was in the UAF or FUR and whose contract has been suspended in order tobe registered with a new club in accordance with this annexe.
2.
No entitlement to training compensation will arise for any club not affiliatedto the UAF or FUR who has registered a player following the suspension of
the player’s contract in accordance with this annexe.

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Fédération Internationale de Football Association