The lawyer, an external advisor to FIFA, stresses that measures taken in Spain and the role of Emilio García have been taken “as an example”
MADRID, 30 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The lawyer and expert in sports law Reyes Bellver describes as “incredible” the reforms that FIFA has recently carried out, an organization for which she is an external advisor, because she considers that they “go beyond the regulation of football” and considers that in many Of these, the work carried out in Spain has been taken “as an example” and emphasizes the key role of Emilio García Silvero, director of the organization’s Legal Services and Compliance Division.
At the end of May, FIFA presented its new measures related to conciliation in international tournaments and windows, menstrual cycles or the figure of the non-gestational mother, to further protect players and coaches and reinforce the protection of their well-being with a series of changes in the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RETJ) that came into force on June 1.
“I find the reforms incredible because they go beyond the regulation of football. I have been an external advisor for FIFA for 4 years on different projects and one of them has been the reforms to improve the working conditions of female footballers that are truly updated to the reality of women’s football, to what they need because the players have also been listened to,” said Reyes Bellver in an interview with Europa Press.
The lawyer recalled that she advises the FUTPRO union, where there are players like Irene Paredes, a “non-pregnant mother”, who are “fairly” protected by labor regulations in Spain. “But in FIFA there are 211 federations and each country has its own work reality. You have to adapt and listen to the footballers, but trying to see how this can impact each country,” she clarified.
Bellver uses his “access” to Spanish soccer players to be able to “listen to them” and learn about the situations they are experiencing, and warns that “the clubs are a little unaware of what to do because there are not many cases and they are not prepared.” “We also saw that the coaches were outside of this reform and there are also those who can be mothers, even non-pregnant as was the case of María Pry, and we saw that there was a need,” he remarked.
The lawyer stresses that conciliation measures in international tournaments are something that “female footballers have been demanding for many years” and that in the last World Cup it was “one of the things that the RFEF did well” and “it is a bit of a success story”, but that “it is difficult to make them obligatory because not all federations want to invest money to cover family expenses”, so they have been put on the table “in a somewhat optional way”.
Another of the topics discussed was sick leave due to painful menstruation, which has “a physical impact on the players” and which “was taken as an example” in Spain because “at a work level it is quite different from other countries and very innovative.”
“FIFA is convinced that they have to adapt the regulations on the player’s status because it was made exclusively for men. It was created by FIFA, but it is also very good and it is necessary to publicise a little that the person who is directing it is Emilio García Silvero,” Bellver emphasised.
For this reason, they must “see how they are going to adapt” all these matters because “they are very innovative and very progressive” and that in his opinion “they are born a bit from the Spanish”. “Things that are being done in Spain are taken as an example to take them to an international level. In the end, FIFA has looked at and taken into account examples from our league because I have also put them on the table by being part of this working committee,” he warned.
“EVERYTHING IS GOING VERY FAST BECAUSE IT WAS VERY SLOW BEFORE”
The FUTPRO advisor explains that thanks to this role she can “speak directly” with the footballers and that is why she sees it as key that “the unions are part of these things” and that “all parties can be heard.” “At FIFA they know that it is difficult to adapt some things, like the whole issue of postpartum plans, but they know that they cannot say no either because they are realities and rights. In the end it is positive that there is a bit of consensus,” he acknowledged. .
Regarding the apparent delay in adapting these regulations despite them being common realities in women’s football, Reyes Bellver believes that “it is in line with the path to professionalisation”. “FIFA regulations are for professional players and we are building professional leagues, improving rights for them. And one of the things that needs to be adapted is the protection of their rights at the salary level, so that they are not fired if they become pregnant and that they do not lose salary if they have a day of painful menstruation or any problem with the pregnancy,” she stressed.
“The club has to understand that if it has professional players, it must have a professional staff as well. Professionalization has arrived almost the day before yesterday and everything is going very fast now because it was very slow before. And in the FIFA regulations There was no gender focus and there was a lack of specific protection for women,” the lawyer added.
Bellver insists that “very important changes are being made,” but that “everything cannot be done at once” due to the aforementioned adaptation to so many federations. “In Spain we have this much more adapted to reality and with certain rights, and they are more protected. We are always behind, but the important thing is to go,” he pointed out.
Another problem is that the interlocutor with FIFA at the union level is FIFPRO, the international union to which FUTPRO, the majority women’s football union in Spain, is not associated, because AFE is already there. “The two could coexist, but their regulations are not prepared to accept this. They are working to see if they adapt it because it makes it difficult for us to have that dialogue because FIFPRO is the international organization that has a voice in FIFA,” she said.
“FIFA IS INTERESTED IN ALL POINTS OF VIEW, NOT JUST FIFPRO’S”
That is why her role as a liaison between the governing body of world football and the Spanish footballers affiliated to FUTPRO was key in being able to “listen to them” and convey their demands. “But if not, it is true that it would have been perhaps a little lame, because by not being in FUTPRO, perhaps their specific needs would not have been so widely known,” she argued.
“It is something that has to be resolved because we cannot leave players with a place where they can express their voice and FIFA is interested in hearing all points of view, not just those affiliated with FIFPRO,” said the lawyer, who makes it clear that issues such as the menstrual cycle or the non-gestational mother “do not arise from FIFPRO, they arise much more from FUTPRO.”
Reyes Bellver does not hide that the union chaired by Amanda Gutiérrez “is not only having a national impact” and that it could serve to help build a women’s association at an international level. “It is not forcing anything, it is that if the players truly demand specialized treatment it is because the path and the needs are different. Nothing happens because there are organizations dedicated to the specificities, we need people who are experts in this and for them to be listened to “, he expressed.
“It is globalizing quite a bit and I think it could be a trend, it could lead to more organization and more unions like that and I would see it as something natural and even positive because it can help them to have their voice represented, because right now it is not is, and then they will never have the opportunity to listen to everyone’s needs,” he said.
2024-06-30 09:45:07
#FIFAs #reforms #womens #football #incredible #regulation
