The recent and unrelenting spate of nonpayments of salaries and allowances, as well as, unprofessional contractual deals between players and football clubs in Nigeria has continued to draw the ire of concerned football stakeholders and enthusiasts.
Ayodele Thomas, Chairman of Football Intermediaries Association of Nigeria (FIAN), is miffed and bitter that footballers and club owners seem careless about proper representation and professional commitments between both parties.
Speaking with journalists, Thomas expressed disappointment with the manners club owners treat players. He noted that clubs in Nigeria take undue advantage of apparent non or improper representations of players before they join these clubs.
” It is a shame that the majority of players in Nigerian football don’t employ the services of football Intermediaries to represent them before they join the clubs. Most times, no proper contracts are signed between the coaches, players, and the clubs.
” Some of these deals, are unfortunately done verbally between the parties. And that is unprofessional and inimical to the interests of the parties concerned and of course, the growth of the game in Nigeria,” Thomas remarked.
Thomas, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of TopPro Sports Management, went ahead to reveal plans by FIAN to collaborate with the players’ union, Professional Footballers Association of Nigeria (PFAN), on the need for proper representation of Nigerian footballers.
” There are plans to collaborate with PFAN on the proper and professional representation of Nigerian players and of course, put an end to the shameful and slave-like treatments of Nigerian footballers by club owners,” he added.
