FIFA RSTP-2001

About the 2001 editionFirst edition

This document is the oldest available edition of these regulations and was approved by the Executive Committee on the basis of article 61 of the FIFA Statutes. According to article 46, the regulations were first approved in April 1991 and were amended in December 1991, December 1993, December 1996, May 1997, September 1997 and July 2001; the present text is the result of the last amendment. Contracts concluded before 1 September 2001 remained subject to the previous edition (in force from 1 October 1997), unless the club and the player expressly agreed that contracts concluded after 5 July 2001 would be subject to the new text.

Principal themes of this text

1. Two categories of player and registrationPlayers are either amateur or non-amateur (articles 1 and 2). A non-amateur player must have a written contract of a minimum of one and a maximum of five years (article 4). Registration is possible only in two periods per year, and a player may not be registered for more than one transfer in any one season (article 5).
2. International transfer certificateRegistration of a player with the new association is conditional upon an international transfer certificate from the former association, to be issued within 7 days of the request; where there is a contractual dispute, the certificate is not issued until a decision has been notified, and the requesting association may, after 14 days, seek the assistance of the FIFA general secretariat (article 6). Charging a fee for the issue of the certificate is prohibited (article 8).
3. Protection of minorsThe international transfer of a player under 18 is in principle permitted only where the player's family moves to the country of the new club for reasons not linked to football; within the European Union and the European Economic Area, special conditions were provided for sporting and academic training (article 12).
4. Training compensationThe training of a player was taken to occur between the ages of 12 and 23, and compensation is payable to the training clubs on the first non-amateur contract and on every transfer up to the age of 23; after the age of 23 no compensation is due (articles 13 to 20). The method of calculation is set out in the implementing regulations.
5. Contractual stabilityThe protected period is three years (two years for contracts concluded after the age of 28). Unilateral termination without just cause within this period gives rise to sporting sanctions and compensation; for a player, a four-month suspension and, in aggravating circumstances, a maximum of six months, and for a club, a ban on registering players for up to 12 months (articles 21 to 24). Termination for "sporting just cause" is also provided for in article 24.
6. Solidarity and release for national teams5% of the transfer compensation is distributed among the training clubs (article 25). Clubs are obliged to release a player for five international matches in a calendar year and for the matches of the final competition stages (article 36).
7. Dispute resolutionThe Dispute Resolution Chamber of the FIFA Players' Status Committee decides on the termination of contracts, with appeal to the Arbitration Tribunal for Football (TAF); the Players' Status Committee may not hear a dispute where more than two years have elapsed since the event giving rise to it (articles 42 to 44).