Corona: Transfer period is apparently postponed - FIFA still loads responsibility on the clubs

Transfers during the current season? This scenario should be avoided. However, FIFA is responsible for the other problems.

• Sport * is severely affected by the Corona crisis.
• Not only the Bundesliga is experiencing a stress test *.
• There is a real transfer chaos in the summer.

Update from April 6: The start of the transfer period in summer 2020 should be postponed . The Premier League, Champions League and Europa League should not be able to end their seasons by the cut-off date on June 30 , which is why FIFA , the international football association , is about to make this far-reaching decision.

As the AFP news agency reports, transfers should not take place until the seasons currently interrupted by the corona pandemic have ended. Nevertheless, FIFA has made a commitment to all clubs beforehand.

Because a difficult legal question gives those responsible great headaches. What happens to the players whose contracts end on June 30th . Adjusting the transfer window does not create a solution here.

FIFA in the corona crisis: Association asks clubs to act - but does not present a solution

The clubs are therefore asked by FIFA to extend expiring contracts until the end of the current season . In some cases, however, this could be easier said than done. What if a player doesn't want to extend? In this case the association does not present an approach .

FIFA also appeals to clubs and players to agree on wage cuts , the agency reports, which should limit the financial damage to the corona crisis .

Football transfers despite Corona? The whole system starts to shake

First report from March 18: Munich - FIFA has recognized the seriousness of the situation. In its most recent statement on the corona crisis , the world association announced that it would discuss "necessary changes" to the transfer system with the international football family. The reason for this extraordinary process: contracts should be protected - in the interests of the players, but also in the interests of the clubs.

Transfers despite Corona? What happens if you play longer? Clubs want to hurry up

The postponement of the European Championship is supposed to give the leagues and associations air to play the current season over - but numerous contracts end on June 30th . For the football world, it is the magic date in times of the virus. The leagues and player union FIFPRO have therefore made a joint statement with UEFA to end "all national and European club competitions" by 30 June . The responsible ministry has now corrected that the state of Baden-Württemberg bans all football games until June 15.

Corona could extend season: "This is really a problem"

But what if Corona prevents that? If you have to play longer? Then professionals whose contracts expire in the summer could switch clubs on the home stretch of the season - unless FIFA decides otherwise soon. "So if a Bayern Munich professional approaches the club and says: I'm going to Inter Milan now, then Bayern could not keep this player," says the renowned labor lawyer Johan-Michel Menke in an interview with SID. DFB President Fritz Keller emphasized: " This is really a problem , because the clubs have to agree with their players."

Menke is a specialist, he successfully represented Bundesliga club FSV Mainz 05 in the spectacular case of Heinz Müller. He estimates that an average of six to seven players per club could be affected. The clubs would have to approach each one individually "and ask them for a new time limit - and the player would have to agree". If a star wants to go, he should "change from an employment law perspective," emphasizes Menke. As of now.

Transfer chaos because of Covid-19: “No transfer window in the summer like in the past

Menke also sees FIFA challenged. "The world association will act as quickly as possible and may have to ban club changes first," he says. Some national associations have already asked FIFA to do so. Especially since the transfer window is currently open in some leagues such as the North American MLS, the Japanese J-League or in Brazil, but also in Sweden or Norway. Quite a few fear chaotic conditions. "My common sense also says that summer will not be a transfer window like in the past ," said Oliver Mintzlaff, Managing Director of RB Leipzig , on Wednesday.

Football: Financial disaster due to pandemic - in the end the state has to come up

Corona , however, presents the clubs with completely different labor law challenges. For example, they must continue to pay their players "as long as the games are only canceled for overall protection," explains Menke. Leave of absence is possible, "but only with the consent of the players ". The same applies to short-time work , which the lawyer of the business law firm Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek considers "a very good instrument", especially for smaller clubs below the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga, to ensure financial survival.

If a professional suffers from the virus * and / or is in quarantine, he is entitled to continued wages - initially for six weeks. If necessary, the state has to pay for this, including the top stars' million-dollar salary . However, Menke recommends that all or part of their salary be waived - for the benefit of their clubs.

How much the whole world is shaken by the pandemic, national coach Joachim Löw does not remain hidden. "The earth resists man," is his ominous thesis.

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