RIYADH — The Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) has made a significant policy change that permits clubs to negotiate with players while they are on national team duty.
This shift is a divergence from prior procedures and comes as a result of changes made to the rules established by the Professional Committee for Player Affairs.
The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) frequently schedules national team camps within the permitted registration periods; thus, the federation made this alteration to allow clubs to take full advantage of such times.
This move becomes especially important in view of the present overlap between the ongoing summer registration session and the Saudi national team camp scheduled from September 3 to 12 in Newcastle.
The Asian Cup for national teams, which is scheduled to take place from January 12 to February 10, 2024, coincides with the winter registration period for the current season, which begins on January 1 and ends on January 30 of the same year.
As a result, teams will only have 12 days before the start of the European competition to negotiate with players.
Due to this modification, the Board of Directors of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation has decided to remove provisions from the rules governing player professionalism and transfers that previously forbade direct negotiations with clubs both before and after a player was named to a national team.
The clause in Article 10 that prohibited negotiations with clubs both before and after a player was named to the national team has been eliminated.
The Professional Committee for Player Affairs no longer has the authority to penalize clubs for signing players with certain restrictions under paragraph 17 of Article 11 of the regulations.
The statement emphasizes that despite the conflict with FIFA's calendar and national team training camps, this decision is intended to give clubs more flexibility to make use of the authorized registration periods.
Player agents will be a key component of the negotiation process, which will be conducted in accordance with practical factors.
