FIFPro, the World Players’ Union, will launch the ‘FIFPro Summer School’ next month at its headquarters, in Hoofddorp, the Netherlands.
This first-of-its-kind Programme, which is designed to educate officials from newly formed players’ associations is aimed at enhancing the management and administrative standards of FIFPro’s new members, which would inevitably assist in protecting the integrity and professionalism of the FIFPro brand on a global scale.
The idea for such a course was the PFA’s winning entry at the 2007 FIFPro Brainwave competition. The FIFPro Brainwave is an annual competition organised to enhance the three basic tenets of FIFPro – Unity, Commitment and Communication.
With FIFPro set to accord candidate membership status to a host of new players’ associations from Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and South America, there is a clear need to ensure that officials from these fledgling bodies are well-equipped with the necessary expertise and communication skills to provide professional footballers in those countries with proper representation.
From 12-14 August, representatives from India, which is already a FIFPro candidate member, Indonesia, Ecuador, Poland, Egypt, South Africa and Cameroon will be attending the ‘FIFPRo Summer School.’ Along with these officials, Brendan Schwab and Clinton Ooi from the PFA will also be participating.
“The FIFPro Summer School is a good way of teaching us how to solve the problems that footballers’ face, whether it is about their contracts with clubs or in dealing with other matters,” said VennardHutabarat, the Players’ Representative from Indonesia.
From left: VennardHutabarat and Arya Abhiseka.
Hutabarat, a former professional footballer who is in the midst of establishing the Indonesian PFA (APPI) also stated that he and colleague, Arya Abhiseka were looking forward to exhanging experiences with fellow attendees from Africa, Eastern Europe and South America.
The three-day intensive course from 12 to 14 August will include some interesting and informative presentations on the organisation and structure of FIFPro, which will be conducted by FIFPro Secretary-General, Theo van Seggelen, football’s regulatory legal framework is a topic which will be presented by FIFPro lawyer, Wil van Megen and Schwab, the PFA Chief Executive and General Counsel, will speak on the strategy for establishing new players’ unions.
The PFA’s Brendan Schwab will be presenting a paper on ‘Building a Players’ Union from the Ground Up’.
The Summer School will conclude with the participants and lecturers listening to the experiences and difficulties faced in organising and creating players’ unions in Indonesia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Poland.
