On Monday December 2010, according to Fifpro news ( the world players Union,) the President of Slovenia Football federation, Ivan Simic, resigned as president of the football federation because the footballers supported the Players’ Union.
According to Dejan Stefanovic, president of the Slovenia Footballers Union, in August 2010, after the world cup in South Africa, all the Slovenia national team players fully transfered their economic rights to the players Union, much to chagrin of the federation president who refused to negotiate with the players’ union
” The union was more than willing to talk with the federation, the union wrote several letters in order to negotiate with the federation, but never received any feedback. For example the players union prepared a memorandum of understanding (mou,) with the federation. It also created a 50 page proposal for a collective bargaining agreement for the national team players based upon models used by footballers Associations in Australia, Denmark and the Netherlands”
” Simic was head strong and kept refusing to negotiate with the players union. Several times he tried to persuade the players of the national team to put aside the union and negotiate directly with him. He even installed former national team player, Zlatko Zahovic as technical director at the federation, but even the intervention of the former Benfica player could not persuade the players, all of them stood by their decision to let the players union fully negotiate on their behalf ”
Speaking further, the president of the players union, Stefanovic said ” the players of the national team transferred their rights to the union, because they had the intention to secure the respect of their players rights based upon models of other Fifpro members Union. They also wanted to show their solidarity with the Slovenia Footballers playing in Slovenia by including a request for a guarantee fund, an independent arbitration and other requirements up to FIFA standards”
” In the end the federation president decided to resign on November 17th 2010, just three days before the national team of Slovenia faced Georgia in a friendly match. Simic realized that that he was in a war he could not win. He had promised all kinds of sponsorship deals, but without the permission and cooperation of the national team players ‘ According to the players union president, Simic resignation shows that the unity of the national team players prevailed over unilateral actions of the federation. It also shows that a president can not place himself above the players, if he does, it can lead to his exit, it also shows that we ,( the union) has a very strong relationship with all the players in the national team,’
The players union president concluded ” our wish and our prospect is that we can collaborate with the new federation president and we can agree on a new collective bargaining agreement for the national team and conclude it together with a guarantee Fund for the Slovenia players in Slovenia”
Courtesy – Fifpro news
