Regarding The Marko Simic Vs Persija Case, This Is FIFA's Policy Regarding Player Salary Arrears

Marko Simic (Instagram.com/@markosimic_77)

JAKARTA - Recently, Marko Simic shocked national football fans and even the world because he unilaterally resigned from Persija Jakarta. This happened because of the polemic related to salary.

Simic admitted that the Kemayoran Tigers had not paid his salary for the past year. When Simic tries to claim his rights, he is left on the bench.

The Croatian footballer even threatened to take this case to FIFA, as world football's body.

Regarding the controversy over the salary arrears experienced by Simic, FIFA actually has a special policy regarding the working relationship between clubs and players, where the rules are recorded in the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP).

Quoted from various sources, for cases such as Simic, FIFA outlined its policy in the latest version of the 14bis RSTP article in March 2022. In the article it discussed Terminating a Contract With Just Cause For Outstanding Salaries or unilateral contract termination with reasons.

In this section it is stated that the players have the right to unilaterally terminate the contract from the club due to the case of arrears in wages. But based on two conditions that have been determined.

The first condition occurs if a player does not receive a salary for at least two months according to the payment date stated in the contract.

If this situation occurs, a player can terminate the contract unilaterally. However, the termination of the new contract can be done after the player has given a written request to the club to complete his obligations with a deadline of 15 days.

The second condition described by FIFA is the condition where the player who receives the salary is not in the monthly system. Then the payment of the minimum amount will be adjusted on a prorated basis of two months according to the contract.

In the next paragraph FIFA also states that the agreement between the player and the club will be adjusted to the provisions in force in each member's country. For this, it is stated in the RSTF edition published in 2021.

Even though there is a two-month minimum rule as a condition for unilaterally terminating the player's contract, the club still has no right to delay payment of salaries repeatedly.

Furthermore, if you look at the latest edition of the RSTF published by FIFA regarding the COVID-19 situation guide, there are no provisions for renewal or contract approval based on the regulations applied by the associations of each country as a member unilaterally.

There are only two provisions recognized by FIFA in the latest RSTF, namely the RSTF itself and the labor laws that apply in each country.

If a player is proven unable to pay the player's salary according to the time in the contract the effects can be very serious. This is as stipulated in articles 9 and 24 of the March 2022 edition of the RSTF.

One of them is the prohibition to register new players from anywhere until the rights of the players in arrears have been fulfilled according to the decision of the FIFA Football Tribunal.

Other forms of sanctions for clubs according to Article 9 are warnings or warnings, fines, cancellation of match results, being deemed to have lost a match, revocation of competition participation rights, deduction of points, demotion to a lower division, transfer bans, and the return of several titles. champion.