It’s Not about a “phone book”

(Published in the Slovak daily Sport)

The so-called phone book affair involving Dukla Banská Bystrica players is, as a Sport Daily commentator recently put it, a storm in a teacup, not a genuine scandal. Still, the debate revealed confusion over an important issue: when exactly can a coach or club executive call a player with an offer? Some claimed there’s nothing in the regulations that answers this. That’s incorrect. It’s not enough to read just the Slovak Football Association (SFZ) rules. FIFA regulations must be considered too.

FIFA’s Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players are clear. Article 18, paragraph 3, first sentence states: “A club intending to conclude a contract with a professional must inform the player’s current club in writing before entering into negotiations with the player.” Another section (Article 1, paragraph 3a) confirms that Article 18 is binding at the national level and must be adopted into national rules without modification. Even though SFZ failed for years to formally include this in its own statutes, that doesn’t change the fact that since 2005, this FIFA rule has been directly binding, even for domestic transfers within Slovakia. Any contact aiming to initiate a player’s move to another club, even indirect probing, counts as negotiation. Any other interpretation is meaningless.

This provision exists for a reason: to respect the contractual stability between players and clubs and to prevent unscrupulous poaching. Clubs that themselves are eager to poach often try to protect their own players with clauses banning them from negotiating with others without the club’s consent. Players are usually contractually prohibited from discussing moves behind their current club’s back. On the flip side, there are dozens of ways a recruiting club can discreetly convey interest to a player via their agent or a family member, for instance.

A different regime applies during the last six months of a player’s contract. In that period, the player is allowed not only to negotiate but also to sign a pre-contract with a new club. That was exactly the situation in Jozef Adámik’s move from Dukla to Spartak, which I was involved in managing.

In Jurčo’s case, Spartak approached Michalovce properly, something rare in Slovak football. A Spartak representative spoke directly with Michalovce’s, and permission to contact the player was granted. The only small flaw was that the approval wasn’t in writing. Still, even if the letter of the rule was missed, the spirit of the FIFA regulation was respected. In Banská Bystrica, however, the fact that a player on loan at Dukla was contacted before a match between Dukla and Spartak is seen as a breach of basic sports ethics, a perception that’s difficult to argue against.

Although the rule requiring written permission before negotiating with a player is almost universally ignored in Slovakia, it’s taken very seriously in England. Fines in the hundreds of thousands of pounds have been imposed more than once. Another rule strictly enforced in England but neglected in Slovakia: it’s forbidden for players and clubs to negotiate through an individual who doesn’t hold a licensed player agent certificate.