'Footballers are Workers and Football Clubs are Businesses' say most Yorkshire clubs

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 1st Sep 2000

Diana Wallis, Lib Dem Euro-MP for Yorkshire and the Humber welcomed the prospect of an end to 'football transfer scrambles' and the protection of the freedom of movement for footballers in the EU.

In a move that could see transfer fees for older players abolished, and a set 12-month period for football contracts, FIFA (the world football governing body) has agreed to compromise with the European Commission.

Commenting on FIFA's compromise proposal to the European Commission, Diana said:

"I wrote to all football clubs in my Yorkshire and the Humber constituency earlier this year, when my Committee was looking into the matter, asking them if they regarded themselves as businesses, and the vast majority of them said 'yes.'

"If football clubs are businesses, then footballers are workers - employees of that business. As such they should be as free as all other workers in the EU to move to different employers.

"This is a good move. It will also incorporate the prospect for fixed term contracts, with players moving between clubs only at the end of the season, ending the regular scrum and scramble that so accompanies transfer squabbles.

"We don't want to leave clubs entirely in the lurch, what needs to be protected is the investment that clubs make in their young players and in their academies. This agreement includes that provision with some sort of compensation for players up to the age of 24."