FIFPro is in favour of the abolition of transfer windows

FIFPro, the Professional Players Organization wants to go back to the original situation in which transfers are possible during the entire season.

FIFA's original idea in 2001 was to prevent players from changing clubs at any arbitrary moment by the introduction of a transfer window. This should provide for a more stable competition and labour market. In order to meet the clubs' concerns for exceptional cases the so called transfer period was introduced at that time.

It must now be concluded that little has come of the original idea to regulate the competition. Since the introduction of the mid-season transfer period this has effectively immediately degenerated into an extra transfer period. FIFPro already had its reservations at that time against the FIFA-plan for transfer windows, but finally agreed to the conditions. Now that it is evident that the original idea has failed, FIFPro is in favour of abolishing the mid-season transfer period. FIFPro wants to return to the situation prior to 2001 when players had the freedom to change clubs during the season, up to a date in March to preclude falsification of the competition during the deciding phase of the season.

"Football resembled a department store in January where from one day to the next the sales suddenly begin. Football is not helped by such ridiculous situations. Furthermore, no justice is done in the current situation to the EU regulations for free movement of labour and to the laws on competition. FIFPro is therefore in favour of dropping the idea of a mid-season transfer period and returning to the original situation," said FIFPro's Secretary General Theo van Seggelen.