What you should know
We strongly advise players to join their local player association
Your local association can assist you with making a claim. They can also give you important advice about your contract before you sign with a club.
Most complaints by players are about unpaid wages
Our survey of 14,000 players in 2016 found that 41 percent of players had been paid late in the previous two seasons - and in one country this was as high as 95 percent. We also found more than 700 players (6 percent) had been isolated from the rest of the squad, a tactic used to make players rescind their contract.
Since 2018, the rules have been changed
From 1 June 2018, FIFA agreed to change rules so that players have a legal justification to leave a club if they give 15 days' notice after not being paid for two straight months. Clubs can also no longer write so-called "grace periods'' into contracts which allow them to pay player wages late, and players can start legal proceedings with a view to leaving a club which is behaving in an “abusive way” towards them.
Alex Dos Santos: "I was worried something would happen to me"
At the end of last year, Brazilian footballer Alex Dos Santos felt trapped in his apartment in Indonesia. A dispute over unpaid wages with his former club escalated to the extent that he was scared of going outside.
Latest news and statements
Catalina Quezada: "We feel like game changers for Chilean football"
Catalina Quezada is a 27-year-old defender, who made history in Chilean women's football on 1 July 2022, alongside her team-mates Nicole Marinelarena, Constanza Villanueva and Alexandra Cruz, by becoming the first professional women's players to win a labour lawsuit against a club in their country.
