Instead of Training... Between Protecting Clubs' Investments and Players' Right to Professionalism

The professionalization of football has become one of the most significant developments in the sport in recent years. Regulations now mandate that players wishing to participate with first teams sign professional contracts. Amidst this transition, the training compensation issue has emerged as one of the most controversial topics, given its direct impact on the future of young players and club investments.

The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) defines training compensation as a financial compensation aimed at covering the costs of a player’s training and distributing the financial benefits resulting from their transition to professional status or their transfer between clubs. This compensation serves as a means to protect clubs that invest in player development, yet it can simultaneously be viewed as an obstacle to a player’s freedom to transfer and pursue a professional career.

Training compensation is due upon signing the first professional contract or when a professional player transfers between clubs, up to the age of 23. The value is typically calculated for the period between the ages of 12 and 21, although it is possible to prove that training ended earlier if the player regularly participated with the first team or the national team.

Regulations specify certain cases where a club is not entitled to training compensation, such as terminating the contract without just cause, the player reverting to amateur status, or the club refusing to register the player as a professional.

According to Article 65 of the Kuwaiti Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, training compensation is determined based on years of training, with a specific amount allocated for each year according to the player’s age.

Based on the table, the value of training compensation for the years from age 12 to 21 is calculated as follows:

Age 12: 5,000 KWD, Age 13: 5,000 KWD, Age 14: 6,000 KWD, Age 15: 6,000 KWD, Age 16: 8,000 KWD, Age 17: 8,000 KWD, Age 18: 10,000 KWD, Age 19: 10,000 KWD, Age 20: 12,000 KWD, Age 21: 12,000 KWD.

Consequently, if a player spends the entire period with a single club, the total reaches 82,000 KWD. However, actual entitlement is linked to the period the player spent in training at each club and the conditions specified by the regulations.

At the international level, FIFA follows a different system for determining training compensation value, classifying clubs into categories. The training cost value is determined according to the club’s category, taking into account the level of investment in player development and the quality of training provided to young players.

There are cases where the training period ends before the player reaches the age of 21. Rulings by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the specific rules of FIFA’s Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players indicate that a player’s training period may end before reaching this age, provided it is established that the player has actually completed their training.

Indicators that can be relied upon in this regard include the player’s regular participation with the first team, their call-up to the senior national team, or their transfer to the first team via loan, depending on the circumstances of each case.

Thus, reaching the age of 21 is not the sole decisive criterion for the end of the training period. A player may have completed their training earlier. If it is proven that the training period ended while the player was still under 21, and they subsequently transferred to another club, training compensation is calculated based on the actual eligible training period, not automatically for the entire period up to the age of 21.

This highlights the importance of determining when a player can be considered to have completed their training, and what evidence can be used to prove it. This is a matter that may be disputed between the former and new clubs, requiring an assessment of the circumstances of each individual case.

The training compensation is not necessarily paid to a single club; rather, it is distributed among the clubs that contributed to the player’s development, according to the duration spent at each. The player’s passport serves as the primary reference for determining these periods, as stipulated in Article 39 of the Professional Regulations of the Kuwait Football Association. This article underscores the importance of the passport in establishing the player’s personal details and sporting record, as well as the length of training at each club—factors that may become points of contention when calculating the amounts due.

Training compensation remains an issue that requires further regulation and clarification to achieve a balance between protecting clubs’ investments and ensuring the player’s right to pursue a professional career. While the compensation serves as a mechanism to safeguard clubs’ interests, it should not become a constraint that restricts the player’s freedom to develop his sporting career.