ZURICH (AP) — Soccer clubs worldwide have been paid $125 million in money owed to them from transfers of their former players, FIFA said Wednesday, with money routed via its finance house in Paris, and there's a backlog of another almost $200 million.
A further $31.7 million has been agreed but not sent yet.
The payments are being allocated to more than 5,000 grassroots and professional clubs by the FIFA Clearing House.
FIFA published an update on two years of work by the clearing house, which started in November 2022 to bring more transparency to the often murky multi-billion dollar transfer industry. It also tries to ensure smaller clubs get cash they are owed from future sales of players they nurtured.
When Moisés Caicedo made a British transfer record move from Brighton to Chelsea last year, his former clubs in Ecuador were entitled to share millions of dollars from the 115 million pounds ($145 million) fee.
The money routed by FIFA “was a dream,” the president of CD Espoli, Lenín Bolaños, said in the FIFA report, with plans to pay for a practice ground, medical clinic and a gym.
Some parts of the FIFA transfer market rules in place since 2001 are under review after a European court ruling last month in a case brought by former France midfielder Lassana Diarra.
The current FIFA system entitles players' former clubs who trained them between the ages of 12 and 21 to share up to 5% of a future transfer fee.
However, clubs often were unaware a transfer had gone through or did not have the expertise or resources to pursue a claim. Now the online process is managed by the FIFA finance house which notifies buying clubs of approved payments that must be made within 30 days.
The wealthiest buying markets England and Saudi Arabia have paid the most in so-called “training rewards” FIFA said — $50.1 million and $18.7 million, respectively, in the past two years.
The leading net recipients have been clubs in the Netherlands ($8.7 million), France ($7.8 million) and Argentina ($7.1 million).
One reason for the backlog is that clubs are not compliant with the system, the FIFA report said. It said at least 1,600 clubs in more than 100 countries are accredited.
“There are still important challenges ahead and areas for improvement,” FIFA chief legal officer Emilio García said in the 52-page report.
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Chelsea's Moises Caicedo, left, vies for the ball with Arsenal's Gabriel Martinelli during the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Arsenal at Stamford Bridge stadium in London, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law Tuesday, vowing to eliminate “anti-state” forces as he struggles against an opposition that controls the country’s parliament and that he accuses of sympathizing with communist North Korea.
The surprising move harkened back to an era of authoritarian leaders that the country has not seen since the 1980s, and it was immediately denounced by the opposition and the leader of Yoon’s own conservative party.
Following Yoon’s announcement, South Korea’s military proclaimed that parliament and other political gatherings that could cause “social confusion” would be suspended, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.
The military also said that the country’s striking doctors should return to work within 48 hours, Yonhap said. Thousands of doctors have been striking for months over government plans to expand the number of students at medical schools. The military said anyone who violates the decree could be arrested without a warrant.
It was not immediately clear how long Yoon’s martial law declaration could stand. Under South Korean law, martial law can be lifted with a majority vote in the parliament, where the opposition Democratic Party holds a majority.
National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik, in an emergency statement released on his YouTube channel, called for all lawmakers to gather immediately at the National Assembly and urged military and law enforcement personnel to “remain calm and hold their positions.
TV footage showed police officers blocking the entrance of the National Assembly and helmeted soldiers carrying rifles in front of the National Assembly’s main building to restrict the entrance of people.
An Associated Press photographer saw at least three helicopters, likely from the military, that landed inside the Assembly grounds, while two or three helicopters circled above the site.
Cho Kuk, a leader of a minor opposition party, said there were not enough lawmakers present to vote down the martial law declaration, as police blocked the entrance.
The leader of Yoon’s conservative People Power Party, Han Dong-hoon, called the decision to impose martial law “wrong” and vowed to “stop it with the people.” Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, who narrowly lost to Yoon in the 2022 presidential election, called Yoon’s announcement “illegal and unconstitutional.”
Yoon said during a televised speech that martial law would help “rebuild and protect” the country from “falling into the depths of national ruin.” He said he would “eradicate pro-North Korean forces and protect the constitutional democratic order.”
“I will eliminate anti-state forces as quickly as possible and normalize the country,” he said, while asking the people to believe in him and tolerate “some inconveniences.”
Yoon — whose approval rating has dipped in recent months — has struggled to push his agenda against an opposition-controlled parliament since taking office in 2022.
Yoon’s party has been locked in an impasse with the liberal opposition over next year’s budget bill. The opposition has also attempted to pass motions to impeach three top prosecutors, including the chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, in what the conservatives have called a vendetta against their criminal investigations of Lee, who has been seen as the favorite for the next presidential election in 2027 in opinion polls.
Yoon has also dismissed calls for independent investigations into scandals involving his wife and top officials, drawing quick, strong rebukes from his political rivals. The Democratic Party reportedly called an emergency meeting of its lawmakers following Yoon’s announcement.
Yoon’s move is the first declaration of martial law since the country’s democratization in 1987. The country’s last previous martial law was in October 1979.
Associated Press Writer Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.
Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A currency trader passes by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
People watch a TV screen showing South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's televised briefing at a bus terminal in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
People watch a TV screen showing South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's televised briefing at a bus terminal in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
FILE - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol answers a reporter's question during a news conference at the Presidential Office in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Kim Hong-Ji/Pool Photo via AP, File)
