FAI delegation meets with FIFA regarding player status
An FAI delegation met with the head of FIFA’s Player Status Committee this morning in Zurich in relation to Article 5.3 of FIFA’s Regulations for the Status and Transfer of Players.
The meeting was called in order to discuss the eligibility of ten eircom League of Ireland players currently affected by the rule, which states that no footballer can play for more than two clubs between July 1st and June 30th of the following year.
Present at the meeting on behalf of the FAI were Fran Gavin, Director of the eircom League of Ireland, Sarah O’Shea, legal advisor to the FAI, and Eoin Hand, Manager of Football Support Services.
The FAI delegation informed FIFA that the eircom League of Ireland was affected by Article 5.3 due to the playing season, which runs from March to November. FIFA said that they now recognise the issues surrounding Article 5.3. The governing body of world football advised the FAI to put a submission to the Player Status Department, who can bring it to the attention of the Executive Committee with a view towards resolving the issue on a permanent basis.
FIFA congratulated the FAI on their actions to date in relation to the eligibility of the ten players affected by the ruling. The FAI had requested clubs not to field the affected players until the situation is resolved, and FIFA stated that this had been the correct course of action.
With regards to the ten players currently affected by the rule, FIFA informed the FAI that no decision could be made before the middle of next week. However, following further submissions from the FAI delegation and given the urgent nature of the situation, they resolved to attempt to have some cases ruled on Friday, March 23rd.
Fran Gavin said: “We were very pleased with the meeting and hopefully FIFA will deal with some of the cases before Friday, with the others being ruled on by the middle of next week. Given the fact that it took twenty days for a ruling to be made on Javier Mascherano before his recent transfer to Liverpool F.C., we are grateful to FIFA for attempting to clear ten cases from our league in such a short period of time. The cases are now in the hands of a FIFA judge, Mr. Slim Aloulou from Tunisia. We are also satisfied that FIFA now understand the difficulties Article 5.3 throws-up for leagues operating over the summer months.” | 
