SOCCER / JULIE CART : Free Agency a Concern to This Sport, Too
And then there were two.
Marcelo Balboa, after a long holdout, signed with the U.S. National team last week. That leaves goalkeeper Brad Friedel and forward Jean Harbor as the only two players in camp without national team contracts.
Harbor is a special case. His rights are retained by the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the American Professional Soccer League. Harbor, the APSL’s all-time scoring leader, said last week he will not sign a National team contract; rather, he will divide his time between the two teams.
After all, Harbor said, the check from Tampa Bay pays the bills.
Friedel is quite another matter. The UCLA All-American said it is his intention to not sign a contract and retain his own rights. Friedel has been paid on a per diem basis, while waiting for news of his appeal to play for the English club, Nottingham Forest.
Under English football rules, Freidel is not eligible for a work permit, and his appeal is mired in the bureaucracy. Freidel said there is also interest from other European teams.
That’s why he is reluctant to sign a contract with the national team. Should Freidel be “sold” to a European team, the U.S. Soccer Federation would receive 90% of the transfer fee, with only 10% going to the player.
Transfer fees in professional soccer are in the millions of dollars for the top European players and can be in the mid to high six figures for sought-after Americans. Friedel would like to remain a free agent, able to benefit from his sale.
“The deal I have on the table with Nottingham,” he said, “blows anything here out of the water. I want to represent my country and play in the World Cup, but I will not give my rights to the national team. By all means, I want to play. But not under any conditions. I believe that in 15 years I’ll look back and say that I did this the right way.”
Few of the players who signed this year’s contract did so happily. But few had options and the USSF knew it. Many players have been displeased with the restrictive clauses in the new contracts, particularly those that cover endorsements.
For example, the USSF has a deal with Adidas that requires all national team members to wear the company’s apparel and footwear.
Naturally each player is expected to wear the national uniform, whoever the manufacturer. However, as is the case in most professional sports, soccer players can greatly increase their incomes by signing their own endorsement deals, possibly with rival companies. Those companies require loyalty. This is precisely the issue that caused such a conflict for many Dream Team members at last summer’s Barcelona Olympics.
The USSF does not allow its players to wear any other product, even though the athletes do not directly benefit from the contract. Few national teams have such restrictive policies concerning shoes. The United States and Germany are two.
Friedel is in a good position to stand by his principles; he’s playing well in a position that is pivotal to the success of the team. However angered USSF officials may be at Freidel’s resistance to toe the line--or sign on it, as the rest of the team did--they need him.
It’s not a rebellion, merely a small assertion of one athlete’s rights. But in American soccer’s take-it-or-leave-it atmosphere, Friedel’s decision to remain a free agent may be revolutionary.
Notes
There doesn’t appear to be a huge problem with performance-enhancing drugs in soccer, as has plagued some sports. But recreational drugs are popular. Caught in the latest bust was Claudio Caniggia, of Argentina and AS Roma. He reportedly tested positive last month after an Italian league game. Caniggia was investigated for cocaine use in 1989 and joined his current club last year on a $10-million transfer fee. Suspension for cocaine use ranges from one to two years.
Argentine captain Diego Maradona served a 15-month suspension for cocaine and two other AS Roma players--Andrea Carnevale and Angelo Feruzzi--were suspended for a year in 1991 after they tested positive for stimulants. They said they had taken diet pills. . . . An announcement is expected soon as to who will fill the position of goalkeeping coach for the U.S. National team. Also expected to be announced soon is the appointment of volunteer coach Sigi Schmid to a full-time position. Schmid’s agreement allows him to work with the national team while continuing to coach at UCLA next season. He will join the team full-time after the collegiate season. . . . Sometime national team member Roy Wegerle has been sold to Coventry City from the Blackburn Rovers in the English Premier League. . . . 1992 Olympian Erik Imler, playing in his first full international match March 23 against El Salvador, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. Imler will have surgery soon and is expected to be out six to eight months.
