The Australian players' union says it will not waver from its demand for two seats at an expanded Football Federation Australia congress, reiterating concerns over a lack of accountability on the FFA board.
On the eve of Wednesday's congress discussions involving a joint FIFA and Asian Football Confederation delegation, Professional Footballers Australia have called for players and clubs to have a greater say. The PFA suggests the players and clubs are responsible for 85 percent of FFA revenue, but currently boast just 10 percent of the influence at its membership tier.
More than 60 percent of FIFA's member nations have player representation at its congress and PFA chief executive John Didulica says the union will stand firm in its request for two seats at the expanded FFA membership.
Combined with the players and the clubs, their proposal will see the professional tier have less than the majority of influence and will allow the state member federations to have 52 percent of the votes. Didulica took aim at the FFA's current administration of the game as not servicing its stakeholders appropriately.
"Nobody owns football. At its most simple, it is two kids and a ball. At its most complex, it is an aggregate of interdependent people, interests and entities working together to put on a show. The more aligned these complex interests are through the right governance or "ownership" model the stronger the sport will be," he said.
"In whichever way you frame a governance debate - economic, social, historical - Australian players have an inherent right to, firstly, be heard and, subsequently, to be appropriately recognised within the congress. As with every stakeholder, the degree of recognition must be based on policy, not power politics, and anchored in principles."
The joint FIFA and AFC mission involving former Georgian Football Federation president Nodar Akhalkatsi and AFC's Ravi Kumar will meet with the PFA, A-League clubs, state member federations in Sydney on Wednesday. It will be the final attempt to assist the FFA in what has thus-far been a catastrophic attempt to expand its congress to become more democratic and inclusive.
Currently, the membership tier of the FFA has only 10 seats, one for the clubs and nine for the state members federations. FIFA have ruled it is insufficiently inclusive of the stakeholders of the game and confirmed they will disband the FFA board should it fail to have a new expanded congress approved and sitting by November.
Fairfax Media understands a push for the A-League clubs to be given five extra seats and the PFA to gain two is gathering momentum. Didulica reiterated the PFA's commitment to that "9:6:2" model that will include one of their two seats reserved for female players.
"There are five principles the players consider fundamental: an independent board with the right mix of skills and diversity, clear accountability from the board to the stakeholders, FFA compliance with FIFA requirements including gender equity, alignment between community football and the professional game, and those entities comprising the congress having institutional integrity," Didulica said.
"For example, for the clubs and players who drive 85 per-cent of FFA revenue to have absolutely zero voice in the appointment of the directors (who ultimately allocate the money) speaks to an accountability deficit that the clubs, the players and FIFA have all acknowledged needs to be rectified."
