Introduction: the training allowance
In 2014, Kevin De Bruyne secured a transfer from Chelsea to Wolfsburg. In addition to the transfer fee of more than 24 million euros, Wolfsburg would also owe a training fee of 650,000 euros to KRC Genk, the team where De Bruyne received his training. Training club Tubize also received a compensation of 750,000 euros for the transfer of Eden Hazard from Lille to Chelsea.
These examples show that the payment of training fees is an established practice in football. Clubs in smaller football countries profile themselves as training clubs that purchase talented players at a young age and train them further in the hope of selling them to a larger club and receiving a training fee in addition to the one-off transfer fee in the event of a later transfer.
This model seems to work well at first glance. The training club has the prospect of compensation, the player receives quality training and the recruiting club can use the services of a talented player, without having to invest in this player’s training itself. However, the existing system of training compensation entails legal problems, both for the player and for the clubs involved.
This four-part series explains the existing problems and offers alternatives to the existing system of training compensation in football.
Definition and related terms
The training allowance in the football is governed by Article 20 and Annex 4 of FIFA Regulations on the status and transfer of players (hereinafter RSTP). A training allowance can be described as a monetary compensation to cover the costs incurred for the training of a player, payable to each training club at the time of signing the first professional contract and for each transfer up to and including the end of the season in which the player turns twenty-three. The years of training that are taken into account are those from 12 to 21 years, unless the concrete facts show that a player has ended his training period earlier. The specificities are further explained in the next section.
A training allowance must be distinguished from a transfer allowance. This is a financial compensation that is due in the context of the premature termination of the employment or service agreement by mutual consent. The amount of the transfer fee is often linked to the economic value of the player and is negotiated between the current and the acquiring club.
Compensation for breach of contract also differs from training compensation. Article 17 RSTP contains the criteria that must be taken into account to determine the amount of damages in the event of breach of contract. The applicable national law and the remaining duration play a role in this, among other things.
Closely related to the training allowance is the solidarity contribution. 5% of a transfer fee paid for a player upon transfer to another club must be distributed among all a player’s training clubs, in proportion to the duration of the training efforts made. However, this contribution is in no way related to the training costs. It is a mechanism whose sole purpose is to create solidarity between the wealthy and the less wealthy clubs.
A final distinction that must be made is between the training compensation and the training clause. The latter is a clause under which the employee, who follows training at the expense of the employer during the execution of his employment contract, undertakes to repay part of the training costs to the latter if he leaves the company before the end of the agreed period. However, the training clause is difficult to apply in the football sector for various reasons. Firstly, it can only be stipulated in an agreement of indefinite duration. However, these are not common in the football world. Secondly, the compensation that may be requested if the employee leaves the company before the end of the training is payable by the employee himself. This is in contrast to the training fee, which must be paid by the acquiring club. Finally, the clause must already determine the costs of the training in advance. However, FIFA believes that the training costs of a footballer are difficult to estimate a priori.
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