"ILO welcomes first global agreement on working conditions and rights of professional football players", 26 Sep 2022

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has welcomed the signing of the first ever Global Labour Agreement (GLA) covering the working conditions and rights of professional football (soccer) players.

The agreement creates a new international bargaining framework between the World Leagues Forum (WLF), which represents 44 national professional football leagues comprising some 1,100 clubs, and FIFPRO, which represents more than 60,000 professional footballers as employees in the international football industry, through 66 national player unions in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. The signing ceremony was witnessed by the ILO’s Director-General, Guy Ryder...

The GLA acknowledges that collectively-agreed standards will improve labour relations in professional football and contribute to its viability and growth. The agreement will provide a platform for discussing rules for protecting players’ health and safety and a commitment to improve the representation and involvement of domestic leagues, their member clubs and players’ unions.