Based on the CFA's position, in view of the current epidemic situation, from the overall consideration, in early April released the list of clubs accessing the third level league for the 2022 season, and synchronized the announcement of the club's unpaid wages processing program and the corresponding penalties, made clear the three key time points for dealing with unpaid wages, which in fact is the relaxation of the deadline for dealing with unpaid wages for the various clubs. A reality that cannot be ignored is:
If the implementation of the old standard continues, the 2022 season of the Chinese Super League is afraid that there will only be four clubs left, the rest of the clubs in arrears will be eliminated, and the entire Chinese Super League may face collapse.
This is undoubtedly for the current special period of special measures taken, hoping that the Chinese soccer community can be united to tide over the difficulties. A reality that cannot be ignored is:
If it is mandatory to follow the old standard, those soccer clubs that owe wages may simply file for bankruptcy and the subject disappears, which means that it is almost impossible for players who are owed wages to recover their outstanding wages.
This has not happened in the past in Chinese soccer. The CFA, as the highest management authority, has taken the measure of relaxing the deadline also to prevent the occurrence of large-scale bankruptcy and to consider the interests of clubs and players.
However, after the introduction of this measure, on the contrary, has become some clubs take the opportunity to make trouble on the pretext, such as the previous "QiYuXi arbitration case" involved in the Heilongjiang BingCheng club, on the use of the CFA on the clubs of unpaid access to the temporary measures, that the Association should also be responsible for the Arbitration Committee should not be awarded only the QiYuXi free agency. Other players, including Dai Weijun, who filed an arbitration request for reinstatement of free agency in the case of unpaid wages, were also opposed by the club. I am afraid that this is somewhat confusing the legal concept.
2. Is the subordinate law superior to the superior law?
When discussing whether a player should apply for arbitration and be granted free agency three months in arrears, it is necessary to make one point clear, that is, with regard to the provision that a player can apply for free agency three months in arrears, this provision is formulated by FIFA and is very clear in the relevant rules.
FIFA made this decision in order to maximize the protection of the players' legal rights and interests
.. Between players and clubs, players, as the weaker party, are prioritized for protection by FIFA. It is also the legal right of a player to make a request for free agency after being owed wages for three months. This is a universal rule in world football, and clubs or owners in any country or region of the world that are involved in soccer activities should clearly abide by such a rule. Therefore, the provisions of FIFA in this regard can also be regarded as the "supreme law" of the soccer sector.
In terms of jurisprudence, the access notice issued by the CFA in early April and the three key points in time for dealing with unpaid wages is only a special treatment for the current special period in a specific scope (i.e., Chinese soccer) and is a "subordinate law". Moreover, this notice does not mean that the players can be deprived of their right to ask for "free agency" in violation of FIFA's "higher law", which are two completely different concepts. According to basic legal knowledge.
When a conflict arises between a "subordinate law" and a "superior law", it is fundamental that the "superior law" prevails over the "subordinate law". principle
(Note: The principle of precedence of the higher law over the lower law means that the higher normative legal document should be applied in case of conflict with the lower normative legal document. (Note: The principle of precedence of the higher law over the lower law means that in the case of a conflict between a normative legal document of a higher degree of effectiveness and a normative legal document of a lower degree of effectiveness, the normative legal document of a higher degree of effectiveness should be applied.) This principle mainly applies to normative legal documents of higher or lower rank.)
Further, the access notice issued by the CFA is merely a method of dealing with the original salary arrears, and is not the same as the situation of salary arrears having ceased to exist. Even if a player is granted free agency, the original club still needs to make up for the unpaid wages. It would be unreasonable to ask the Arbitration Committee not to award the player back his free agency with the help of the CFA's method of dealing with the original salary arrears.
This is like the CFA previously temporarily exempted the Chinese Super League team Wuhan, Chongqing, and the Central League team Zibo Cuju transfer ban, in fact, by the "ban on the registration of new players disciplinary action" in addition to the three clubs, Shanghai Shenhua club was also subjected to the same disciplinary action, but to the Shenhua issued disciplinary action by FIFA, while the three clubs are issued by the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The three clubs were issued by the CFA. In view of the actual situation in China, the CFA temporarily exempted these three clubs from the ban, but Shenhua's ban was not exempted because FIFA enforces the "higher law" and the CFA can only enforce the "lower law" and cannot violate the "higher law". The reason is that FIFA enforces the "higher law" and CFA can only enforce the "lower law" and cannot violate the "higher law". Therefore, after the CFA temporarily waived the ban, Shenhua Club had negotiated with the CFA to see if it could do the same as the other three clubs. The response was:
Shenhua's ban only FIFA has the power to waive it.
With regard to the issue of unpaid wages, the same situation actually applies. After the CFA issued a notice of access to unpaid wages, many players reached a consensus with their original clubs, understood the club's current predicament, signed supplementary agreements, and no longer demanded arbitration to resume their free agency, which is the players' right. However, many players failed to reach a consensus with their original clubs and resolutely demanded the restoration of their free agency, which is also the right of the players, because the fact that the wages are owed and have been owed for more than three months exists and will not be negated because of the treatment program permitted by the CFA.
3. Failure of the Football Association, expression not known
In terms of the approach taken by the FA in the epidemic itself, there is actually no problem, because the "postponement of the handling of salary arrears" and the "players' proposal for free agency arbitration" are in themselves two separate pieces of work, and there is no causal relationship between them. However, I am afraid that the key to the reason why the Football Association has been criticized after issuing the document in early April is that:
There is a problem of "incoherence" or lack of detail in the notification issued by the Football Association.
If you add a sentence when issuing the notice, such as "deferring the processing of arrears of wages does not affect the players to propose free agency arbitration", the whole issue will not be so complicated, because it is completely in the implementation of the "superior law is superior to the subordinate law" of the basic common sense of the law, and will not be like the current situation. Now, so that people with ulterior motives to use "finger pointing". It should be noted that, due to the lack of performance of Chinese soccer, the current social image and social status is extremely low, resulting in the existence of certain disputes will be subject to stronger criticism and attack.
Unfortunately, over the years, the CFA has not been "failure is the mother of success". Therefore, for the CFA, the introduction of any document, notice, even the slightest word, must be repeatedly scrutinized. The reason for this controversy and for the outside world to use, to quote the classic line in the world, "
Is it bitter? Chew and swallow!
