Unauthorized charge needs to be refunded!

After speeches of president SFA FRANTIŠEK LAURINEC on the fight against unauthorized managers, action is needed


At the last conference of SFA, which took place 11 days ago, the President of the Association, František Laurinec in the 2000 Regular Report on SFA activity pointed out the necessity to fight against unauthorized managers in Slovak football. Officially there are 4 people that have a player’s agent license from the SFA in our country at the present time. The first pioneer is Juraj Vengloš who was joined by another three, Peter Židovský, Milan Lednický and Jozef Tokoš on September 26, 2001 when the first exams for agents took place. One of the conditions to take the exam was a deposit of 5000 Swiss francs that was not refundable, into the SFA account. But this condition is the most problematic one. The fact that for example, the conditions and rules of FIFA, the federation did not have any right to demand this amount of money from applicants! This amount also discouraged the fourth applicant Milan Valent, the manager of SFA, from taking the exams to get the license. This is not the goal of FIFA who are fighting to make transfers of players more transparent.

FIRST EXAMS IN SLOVAKIA

Players Agents Regulations determining posts of players’ agents were accepted by FIFA on December 10th, 2000 with validity since 1st March 2001. Based on this, players agents exams should be organized twice a year by the National Associations. Until that time it was FIFA itself who dealt with the matter.

The first exams in Slovakia were taken on the September 26th, 2001, the same date as in other countries. Announcements on the exams could have been found in the official report of SFA, published in our daily, in two advertisements added by the association published in the Sport. Reminder: Chairman of the SFA examination commission was General secretary Mikuláš Tarči, SFA sport director Vladimír Wänke and Vincent Rechtorík, lawyer and chairman of the SFA conciliate commission were there with him as well.

WERE APPLICANTS DISCOURAGED BY MONEY?

Interest in taking the exams was unexpectedly big at the beginning. Although nineteen applications were sent, only six of them sent all materials required (one of the pre-requisites was e.g. the certificate of good behaviour), because for some of them the need to deposit 5000 Swiss francs on the account of SFA was the decisive factor. On the exam day, only four applicants actually came!

Moreover Milan Valent disclaimed the possibility to get the players agents SFA license because of not meeting financial requirements. „I was interested in getting a license agent therefore I paid the stated amount of money to the account of SFA. There was no other way..

If I didn’t pay - despite being sure of the incorrectness of the fee amount on the behalf of FIFA regulations – I wouldn’t have been allowed to take the exam“ declared Jozef Tokoš, one of the players agents license applicants.

His point is also proved by the Players Agents Regulations, article 5, a paragraph where it says the following: National Associations can require a fee covering the costs related to the exams preparation. What does that mean? - National Associations can only require a fee up to cover the costs of exams preparation.

Peter Židovský, the new Slovak manager, has a similar attitude towards the whole situation. „I am of the same opinion as Jozef Tokoš. I know that according to FIFA Players Agents Regulations, the financial requirements of the National Association for taking the exam should be only up to the costs of exam preparation. And when I think about it, the Association’s costs with exam preparation could not have been 5000 Swiss francs. Consequently I am going to demand back the money that does not belong to the Association. Every crown is useful, so I would be foolish, not to ask for the money back that I am entitled to.“

The next pre-requisite set by the SFA was the possibility to demand a re-examination if the applicant did not succeed in the first exam, but only after depositing other 2500 Swiss francs!

This was the case of Milan Lednický. He is also in favour of the attitudes of his colleagues quoted above and adds: „If it is proved that the SFA was not authorized to require mentioned fee for taking the exam, I will definitely demand them to pay the appropriate amount back.“

FIFA WAS ORIENTED TOWARDS OPENNESS

FIFA decided to change Players Agents Regulations from last year mainly because of making the transfer process more clear.

This effort was declared alongside a bank guarantee of 100 000 Swiss francs for example, to provide an insurance contract guaranteeing some assurances to potential clients in the case of agent’s mistake.

It gives an opportunity for more people interested in getting the player’s manager license. FIFA and national associations are interested in fighting against unauthorized agents, as František Laurinec, the SFA president holding his second term, declared at the last conference. Players should only be represented by people with a valid official manager license from a competent national association.

That is why they took difficult exams and according to the regulations they are still controlled by the association. Both, players and clubs can be penalised with high fines if they use an unauthorized agent who does not have a license to act in the transfer process. If the rule is broken, the first step is a warning, then a financial penalty up to 10 000 Swiss francs can be imposed and the most extreme sanction is the suspension of activity up to twelve months!

TOKOŠ APPEALED TO FIFA

Before having passed the exam successfully on September 21st, last year, Jozef Tokoš, one of the applicants, addressed a letter to the authorized FIFA body, particularly to the commission for players’ status to warn them on incorrect SFA methods. Particularly, he was referring to the improperness of the sum of 5000 Swiss francs for taking the exams set up by SFA. According to him, costs of preparing the exam could have hardly reached the sum stated by SFA.

As soon as the chairman of legislative department of the FIFA commission Gianpaolo Monteneri sent a follow-up letter to Jozef Tokoš approving his view, he mailed to the SFA, as well.

They also wrote: „From our point of view, the text of the related regulation is clear. National Associations can charge only adequate fees covering costs related to exam preparation. The aim of the regulation is to free National Associations from costs related to the written exam. Each candidate should pay the fee as an allowance for the outlay involved. National Associations should not profit from the exam preparations.“

The last sentence clearly proves the incorrectness of the SFA actions towards potential players’ agents license applicants.

IN ADDITION

National associations are obliged to follow FIFA rules and regulations. One of them claims that officials cannot set a fee for taking exams needed to get a license from the SFA. They have to follow costs related to the written exam preparations.

Officials from the SFA argue that the fee amount is not actually mentioned in any FIFA regulation. A counter argument that the size of the fee is common in the surrounding countries cannot be accepted either. According to their sources from Poland and Hungary, the fee is 50% higher there, but on the other hand, for example in the Czech Republic it is about two thirds lower (50 000 Czech crowns).

By the way, it is also striking that further exams take place on Friday and the requirements for applicants remain unchanged, despite the fact that the Association knows about the incorrectness of the process, considered to be against FIFA regulations.

We addressed SFA employees, but nobody authorized, wanted to give a statement and they again passed the problem among them without dealing with it. This unwelcome act could be interpreted in many ways, for example as an act of discriminating against some applicants with regard to their social situation. There should be no barriers or discrimination posed by National Football Associations in getting the license for applicants who meet the strict exam criteria. Otherwise, how could we believe the words of the president of the Slovak Association about the fight against unauthorized managers.