SAFA urged to grant training and development fees for amateur players

Mogodi, who is also the owner of ABC Motsepe League side Dube Continentals says urgent clarity and action is required.

These fees — known as training compensation and solidarity contributions — are intended to reward clubs that invest time and resources into developing young players....

"The competitions committee of SAFA, the technical staff, SAFA's legal department, and the PSL must look at this matter. The figures must be clarified and the problem must be solved," asserted Mogodi. 

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Grassroots clubs and academies are raising the alarm over millions of rands lost due to professional clubs failing to pay mandated fees for players they helped develop.

Mogodi says through the legal and constitutional standing committee at SAFA, this ambiguity needs to be clarified so that amateur clubs can get what is due to them when transferring players to professional clubs.

The failure of professional clubs to pay development and solidarity fees to amateur teams and academies that produce talented players, has been the dominant talk at the lower levels of the game in the country.  

Academies like School of Excellence and Remember Elite Sports Academy (RESA), produce a number of players for professional clubs but continuously complain about not being properly compensated, something Mogodi says needs to change.

"Academies like SOE and RESA work tirelessly to try and pay their staff and develop the kids, but they aren't benefiting. This must be addressed through a collaboration between SAFA and the PSL.  

In the South African context, when it comes to domestic transfers, the transferee club must pay the training compensation within 30 days of registering the player.

According to SAFA rules, failure to pay that money is misconduct.

But there are often cases where that rule is not enforced and Mogodi says this is where the relevant bodies need to step in.