Football body to insure national players' salaries

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is working on plans to provide insurance cover to protect the salaries of players injured on national duty.

AIFF secretary-general Alberto Colaco, who is keen on resolving the insurance issue before he lays down his office after the Nehru Cup in August, told IANS that some companies have shown interest in the insurance scheme.

The AIFF is in dispute with Mohun Bagan over who should pay to insure players on national duty, and pay their wages should they be injured.

The Kolkata club was reluctant to release their players for the ongoing national camp in Dubai, citing the case of their deep defender Deepak Mondal who limped off the 2007 Nehru Cup with an injured knee and missed the rest of the season.

“We will bear the insurance premium for all the 26-27 players in the national squad,” Colaco said.

Colaco said the insurance cover would help clubs release their players for India’s Asian Cup preparation.

The AIFF-Mohun Bagan tussle is similar to the battle between the international federation FIFA and the European clubs over compensation for releasing the players for international duty.

It was eventually resolved last year when FIFA and the apex body of European federations UEFA agreed to pay compensation to clubs for their stars playing in the finals of the World Cup and Euro championship.

The debate over club or country went to court when Belgian club Charleroi argued that they deserve compensation because their star player Morocco's Abdelmajid Oulmers suffered injury playing for his national team, damaging the club’s chances of winning the league title. Worse, it said, they also had to pay his wages while he was out of action.

Newcastle United also claimed huge compensation from FIFA for their star striker Michael Owen getting sidelined after a serious knee injury while playing for England against Sweden in the 2006 World Cup.

The English clubs now receive a maximum of $162,000 a week from the FA’s insurance policy, but it was only half of that when Owen was injured, and at that time the striker’s weekly salary was $194,000.

FIFA rules stipulate players must be released for international football without financial compensation, but it has now introduced the compensation clause to help the clubs.

Last updated on Jul 11^th, 2009 at 16:48 pm IST--IANS