Stephan Appiah Trapped in Legal Limbo

November 11th, 2008 | by: Daryl | Comments(3)

Ghana captain Stephen Appiah’s career is on hold. He’s out of contract, and the likes of Juventus and Arsenal are rumoured to be keen, but right now everyone’s busy arguing over money.

The problems started with a knee ligament injury in 2007. Appiah was with Fenerbahçe at the time, but the club apparently botched his treatment, leading Appiah to go back to Italy (he’s a former Juve and Udinese player) for rehab.

All’s good for Appiah now ligament wise, but his legal situation is a mess. FIFA ruled that Appiah is a free agent and able to sign for any club, but Fenerbahce are still demanding a transfer fee if and when he signs up for another team. Because if I nearly ruined a player’s knee, I’d want to get paid for it too.

If FIFA had any balls, they’d be able to just say no to Fenerbahce. But instead they’re busy hearing appearls and counter-appeals that leave Appiah with nothing to but wait. FIFPro (the world player’s union) recently published a scathing attack on FIFA for their snail-pace:

Appiah’s case is far from unique and is of great concern to FIFPro’s African division, as its Secretary General Stéphane Burchkalter underlines:

“When confronted with administrative slowness which they do not understand and which they will eventually stop accepting in light of the athletic and professional penalties that come as a result, will the players not one day soon be more likely to bring their disputes to civil tribunals instead of taking them to sports judicial bodies?

“Does FIFA understand all the risks involved? Does FIFA understand the increasingly delicate position in which national players’ unions and FIFPro find themselves, after having always encouraged professional players to take their grievances to FIFA’s judicial body and now facing increasing, and daily, discontent from their members who feel forgotten, or even abandoned?”

FIFA of course rebuffed those attacks with a statement, but their claim that…

“Having given the right to be heard to both parties, the case related to claims from both parties on a breach of employment contract will be submitted to the Dispute Resolution Chamber at the next possible meeting for a formal decision to be taken.”

…makes it sound like FIFA is agreeing with FIFPro. Basically Appiah has to sit around and wait for Appiah’s case to go through the Dispute Resolution Chamber. And he’s been waiting since April 2008.

Sure, someone could sign him now. But who’s going to sign a player when they don’t know how much he’ll cost? Could be free, could be millions of euros.

I’m siding with FIFPro here. If FIFA believes that Appiah is a free agent (as they claim to) then the organization should grow some balls and just tell Fenerbahce to forget and let Appiah get on with his career.