“These regulations are an act of pressure for the entire group of footballers, as it goes against free membership without conditions. And it involves serious discriminatory conduct on the grounds of sex, as it only requires membership in the ‘AFE to women professional footballers,’ says the joint statement issued by the unions Futpro and Futbolistas ON. A text, however, that they not only make effective to their affiliates, but to players from other unions or who are not affiliated with any of them. “We demand that women’s fundamental rights be respected,” the text notes.
The 2018 Supreme Court ruling
The End of Career Fund is obtained from the audiovisual rights generated by all Spanish footballers, whether men or women. However, the AFE had appropriated it exclusively. For this reason, in 2018, before the birth of the Futpro union, Futbolistas ON had already filed a lawsuit in which it asked for freedom of affiliation in order to receive the subsidy. The case came to a firm verdict in 2020 following a Supreme Court ruling. “Restricting a benefit financed by the employer’s organization of the sector to those who accredit affiliation to a particular union (excluding those who choose not to belong to any of them or want to join another) is a clear case of prescribed inequality for our protective framework of freedom of association, “the text read.
But, despite this resolution, Futbolistas ON and Futpro maintain that the regulations are still in force and that non-AFE players are denied the right to collect. “We demand that it be revoked imminently,” say the affected groups. While no player outside the AFE has access to it, any player with a 1st Division, 2nd Division A license, and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd RFEF categories can benefit from it.
