Minimum Fee for Player Transfer (Zambia Rugby Union) - progressive or not?

What is a Player Transfer?

A transfer involves a player moving from one team to another, usually in exchange for a transfer fee. In an ideal situation players are typically contracted to clubs or teams for a specific period of time, and transfers may occur at the end of a contract or through negotiation between the player, the clubs, and their respective governing bodies.

How does a Transfer work?

Most players will have an agent to represent them and if a club is interested in buying that player they may need to talk to player's agent then agent will discuss with his player about the offer. Player can be signed only when transfer windows open.

In Zambia the agent will usually be the CLUB Executive who will decide the fee and the player may be privy or not to the transfer fee and may or not be a beneficiary of the transfer fee.

What is a Player Loan deal?

A loan involves a particular player being allowed to temporarily play for a club other than the one he is currently contracted to. The Club that has the player on loan will take care of any allowances due to the player and other needs.

The Loan terms may stipulate or have a clause such that the player cannot play against his parent team and if his current team want him to play against his parent team then they need to pay some agreed amount.

Who is a Free Agent/ Released player?

Player who are not bounded through contract by any club is termed as free agent. So if any club want to sign him, they need not pay anything until and unless his agent demands something.

Players become free agent either they released by their former team with mutual agreement before their contract expire or their contract expire.

What does the ZRU Constitution says about Player Transfer?

Section 17 of the Zambia Rugby Constitution outlines:

17. Registration of Players and Officials

a. Players and Officials (i.e. Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Club Captain, Coach) must be registered annually before the start of each season on the prescribed forms kept by the Secretary of the Union, signed by the player or official and counter-signed by the Club Chairman and Club Secretary.

Additional players may be registered during the season, provided they have not been registered by any Member of the Union for that season.

b. A registration fee for each player may be charged and payable to the Union. This fee will be inclusive of any costs the Union may deem necessary.

c. Any transfer of a player must be accompanied by a fresh registration form as in Clause a) above, but no additional registration fee will be payable.

What is the current status of the Rugby Player transfer fee in Zambia?

The 2024 Zambia Rugby Union Annual AGM proposed a minimum fee that ended in deadlock and the ZRU Executive then proceeded after consultations and ruled that the new transfer fees would be a minimum fee of Kwacha Seven Thousand Five Hundred (K7,500.00) and a maximum of Kwacha Ten Thousand (K10,000.00).

In the 2024 season we are not aware of any club making a purchase of a player or any transfer fee being effected yet and we are looking forward to see which player and club will make this historical breakthrough transfer.

We are so curious in knowing what determines that a player in the 2024 season belongs to a particular club. A few questions need to be asked.

When a particular season in this case 2023 ended what was the status of the players?

Do the players automatically belong to the club they played for in the previous season?

Is the mere registration of the player to ZRU sufficient to declare a player belongs to them without their consent?

How many Clubs can currently afford this minimum amount?

This problem of where players belong to can be solved by introducing player contracts binding them to clubs for specific period. A contract does not have to be in exchange for a salary or allowance but simply an agreement of commitment to the club and the club to the player. In the absence of these contracts the players are simply free agents.

The Clubs should remember that the relationship between themselves and the players is mutual benefit with neither party owing the other more or less. The player does his part by playing for the team and help them win games and the club in turn invests their knowledge and skills in the player and so the debts are paid on each side.

Whatever decisions we make should always ensure that the game continues to grow and that player welfare is at the center of it all and as such only important that the player gets a percentage of this fee.

It is also important that the ZRU will publish this information after every transfer window and that this will be included in the audited accounts at the Annual AGMS.