Theo van Seggelen, the head of FIFPro, the international soccer players’ union, told Andrew Warshaw of Inside WorldFootball that a complete overhaul of how European clubs go about deciding what salaries to give to players is needed.
“We estimate that more than 30 percent of players at smaller clubsEurope-wide are not receiving their salaries,” van Seggelen said. “I’m not just talking about Eastern Europe but also in countries like Spain and Portugal. Partly, it is because of this game ofRussian roulette that is going on at the top of the game, either offering re-contracted players too much money or selling them on at a huge fee. It’s got to change.”
Van Seggelen said thecore of the problem is more and more clubs face financial difficulties but act like nothing has happened.
“Everybody is thinking about himself,” he said, “and no one is respectingcontracts any more.”