At a conference in Hoofddorp, the Netherlands FIFPRO revealed the latest assessments of their shared learnings alongside national football associations.
Key findings were presented at the gathering. Topics included player safety, player education, and contracts at the heart of the ‘Raising Our Game Europe 25’ campaign.
ROGE25 is co-funded by the EU’s Erasmus+ programme. Led by FIFPRO’s European office in association with the University of Bordeaux, it has collaborated with 12 European player unions. Previous successes include the ‘Player Workload Monitor‘ programme that tracked injuries, rest periods and physical health linked to workload amongst 1,500 active players.
Leaders from UEFA, the European Club Association, and Serie A all gathered at the conference alongside leading players and representatives from 25 player unions at FIFPRO’s headquarters to exchange information about the project.
Caitlin Fisher, one of the project’s leads, informed the group that FIFPRO had now identified 11 important conditions for players to address the uneven standards across women’s football. These conditions were mapped out in a guidebook that will now assist football associations and collaborators.
What is new for ROGE25 in 2024?
The project has also seen the development of an ‘Index for Player Conditions’ to benchmark the implementation of these standards in domestic leagues across the world. The index rates the conditions from a score of 100, allowing associations to identify the extent to which player support is lacking, and to track progress.
Ilaria Pasqui, a commissioner at Serie A Femminile, said the women’s game in Italy is ‘still young’. The club licensing system is still less than 10 years old. She also added that football in other continents is even further behind.
“The FIFPRO index could be extended to other continents like Africa, Asia and South America” Pasqui concluded.
A ‘safe workplace’ scored lowest on the ROGE25 scale
Results from the ROGE25 of the ‘Index for Player Conditions’ saw that across the 12 participating European player unions the lowest combined scores were for a ‘safe workplace’, ‘wages and compensation’ and ‘player health’.
Reflecting on these issues, Antria Michail, a Cyprus national team player since 2006, spoke about the difficulties of being a semi-professional footballer in her country, calling for the stark need for stronger support.
“If I have a daughter, would I want her to play football? There’s no way I would want my daughter to be a footballer.”
The 32-year-old added that players need protection against being dropped from the team when they speak out about substandard conditions.
Will ROGE25 make a positive impact going forward
At this point, it’s safe to say that this level of collaboration and raw honesty amongst football associations is healthy for the sport. The ROGE25 project may not bring about significant change directly. However, the passion for development is clear to see from FIFPRO.
There is no outlined date for implementation across other continents just yet. Though, there is a definite need for projects like ROGE25 in all footballing continents.
