The Fifa Fund for Football Players launched on 1 July 2020World players’ union Fifpro says it has received claims for almost $60m (£43.75m) from players whose clubs have not paid their wages.
Around 1,400 players have made claims, to be paid from the Fifa Fund for Football, which was set up in February 2020, according to Fifpro’s ‘Shaping the Future’ report
The fund had set aside £3.8m to cover players affected by unpaid wages between July 2015 and June 2020.
Another £12.3m, split into yearly allocations, is allocated up to 2022.
The fund, set up in response to a growing number of clubs – 50 in five years – who had gone bankrupt, is specifically to support players who have not been paid and had no chance of recovering the outstanding amounts due.
Fifpro says the problem is growing, with Greece and Turkey known to be particular hotspots, and called on football governing bodies around the world to help tackle it.
“The confederations should be doing something similar to ‘Fund for Football’,” a Fifpro spokesman told BBC Sport.
“Typically, clubs go bust and then start up again, leaving players in the lurch.”