- International Labour Organization’s new technical brief provides an important framework for addressing challenges in sports and improving conditions for professional athletes
- It analyses risks encountered by athletes in relation to the ILO’s fundamental principles and rights at work and how they apply to international labour standards
- As well as highlighting workplace risks faced by athletes, the technical brief also examines best practice to help sports bodies and player organisations find solutions to issues
The International Labour Organization’s (ILO) new technical brief on professional athletes and the fundamental principles and rights at work provides an important framework for addressing challenges in sports and improving conditions for professional athletes.
The ILO’s technical brief underscores how professional athletes, in addition to being celebrated competitors, are also workers in the world of sports. At present, there is no universal definition of a “professional athlete”.
The technical brief analyses particular risks encountered by athletes in relation to the ILO’s fundamental principles and rights at work and how they apply to international labour standards. The full technical brief can be downloaded HERE.
As well as highlighting workplace risks faced by athletes, the framework also examines best practice to support sports bodies and player organisations in finding solutions – from social dialogue and workplace policies to legal assistance programmes and psychological support services.
It emphasises the critical importance of collective bargaining as a means for employer and employee representatives to negotiate terms and conditions of employment in their sector, and also addresses other key topics such as forced labour, child labour, discrimination, gender equality, and occupational health and safety.
Professional football leagues and player unions operating under the Global Labour Agreement (GLA) have pledged their support to the technical brief and are urging football bodies to embrace the ILO’s recommendations.
Alexander Bielefeld, FIFPRO’s Director Global Policy & Strategy (Men's Football), said: "The technical brief by the ILO highlights important elements for the well-functioning of the professional football industry – both from a perspective on specific workforce issues in our sector, as well as on the level of fundamental principles such as collective bargaining rights. This is also fully in line with recent case law emerging in relation to the sports sector as an economic activity."
FIFPRO’s recent work is referenced several times within the best practice categories of the ILO’s technical brief, including its campaign to warn young African footballers about fake agents, its collaboration with FIFA to introduce social media protection services to combat abuse of players, its collaboration with Football Benchmark to track the health and workload of professional players, and more.
FIFPRO, WLA welcome ILO's technical brief on athletes' fundamental principles and rights at work
The Global Social Dialogue in Professional Football
Signed in September 2022, the Global Labour Agreement (GLA) establishes a new international bargaining framework between World Leagues Association and FIFPRO in which both entities and their respective members act as employer and employee representatives.
The GLA is born out of a shared commitment by WLA and FIFPRO to take greater responsibility as social partners to provide collectively agreed solutions to the challenges of the football industry and contribute to its growth. For more on the GLA, visit glafootball.org.
