An invented case: If Ferran Torres , who has been in the Valencia academy for six years (now he is 20), ended his contract on June 30 and another Spanish club wanted to sign him with the freedom letter, he should only pay 90,000 euros in concept of training rights. Now a real case: Eva Navarro and Ona Batlle end their contract with Levante on June 30. They are 19 and 20 years old and have only had two at the granota club, which signed them for their first team and already with a professional contract in both cases. Well, if a Spanish club wants to sign them with the letter of freedom, they must pay 500,000 euros for each of them.

The disproportion between one case and another, needless to say, is absolute. The reason must be found in the historic first collective agreement for women's football, signed just two months ago. The article referring to the training rights that a club can claim for a sub'23 footballer who has just signed a contract was copied almost word for word from the men's soccer agreement. The difference, more than substantial, is that FIFA limits the maximum amount that a men's soccer club can claim for this concept, which in the case of the Spanish League is 90,000 euros. In women's football, on the other hand, the body that governs world football has not developed any regulations, so there is no limit.

In short, a women's soccer club can request whatever it wants for the training rights of its footballers. The only self-limitation is the requirement to increase the player's salary by 7% of the amount claimed by her if she finally renews her contract. In this way, in the first 'Compensation List' of Spanish football, Levante decided to ask for 500,000 euros for Navarro and Batlle, Athletic 250,000 for Damaris Egurrola and Maite Oroz and Barça 100,000 for five of their players. Logroño, Madrid CFF and Espanyol, for their part, are asking for considerably more reasonable amounts, ranging from 10,000 to 20,000 euros. As a reference, the highest amount ever paid by a Spanish footballer was the 50,000 euros that Barcelona paid to Atlético for the transfer of Mapi León.

In practice, amounts such as those requested by Levante, Athletic and Barcelona impede the freedom of movement of sub'23 footballers in the Spanish market, forcing them to renew their contracts with their current club or to emigrate abroad, where the obligation does not apply. to pay compensation for training rights. The collective agreement, tremendously beneficial for soccer players in many aspects, has left this black hole that, for now, has not been rectified and the conflict can end in the National Court if there is no agreement that seems difficult right now.

The judicial path of the conflict

"It is not a question of my daughter or the rest of the players on the list, this affects all the players under 23 years of age in the coming years. All young Spanish talent should be very concerned with all this. There should not be no precedent ", says Pablo Egurrola , father of Damaris, player for whom Athletic claims 250,000 euros and who has already taken the firm decision not to continue his career at the Bilbao club.

The situation is generating surreal situations, like that of Eva Navarro. Last summer, the Tacón (future Real Madrid) wanted to pay the 50,000 euros of its termination clause to sign it, but she decided to stay at Levante. Now that the contract ends and that in theory it is free to decide its future, the club that wants it must pay 500,000 euros. "Some have withdrawn their offers due to the uncertainty generated. Now she values ​​any possibility, both going abroad and continuing in Spain, although she has not yet decided if she wants to continue in Levante. Both she and the rest have earned the right to decide their future and they are not allowing it, "explains José Manuel Espejo , Navarro's representative. If he chose to go abroad, he should do it for four years, since the training rights would remain in force in Spain until he turned 23 and is now 19.

Several of the affected soccer players demand that AFE, within the framework of the joint commission with the Association of Clubs, negotiate the inclusion of an annex that limits the amounts that the clubs can claim. The majority union, however, argues that it is not possible. "The text of the agreement will take place when a negotiation process opens, now we are not at that time. We have to work with the content that we have in the agreement," explains Tania Tabanera, AFE women's soccer delegate.

The minority union, Futbolistas ON, however, has taken another position and publicly acknowledged that it was a mistake to accept the inclusion of the article as it stands. Likewise, it claims the nullity of the 'Compensation List', since it was notified to the joint commission on March 4, when the agreement states that it must be done before day 1. It also claims that, since it was not published in the BOE , the agreement does not apply to Athletic and Barcelona, ​​clubs that are not part of the Club Association.

Some of the affected players feel totally unprotected by AFE, which understands that "they are individual conflicts and must be resolved as such", either through an agreement with the clubs, or by going to court, and in no case collectively, as they claim. footballers. Rabanera also states that at first they sought an agreement with the clubs, but that the leak of the conflict made it difficult. "We demand that they solve this situation by negotiating with the employers an annex with stipulated amounts," explains Egurrola, who has extensive experience in the union world of his time as a professional pelotari. AFE affirms that this is not possible and now the players, if the joint commission does not resolve the conflict at the request of the ON footballers' claim, are considering requesting the mediation of SIMA and, as a last option, go to the National Court. "If it were necessary to defend their rights, of course we will," Egurrola guarantees.

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