With Orlando Pirates forward Monnapule Saleng involved in a legal dispute with his club, allegedly over an option on his contract, KickOff spoke to a lawyer to educate the football fraternity on Options.
"An option is a common law clause that is inserted in a contract by a football club in order to safeguard its interests," Mpho Nkontlha of Nkontlha Attorneys wrote exclusively to this website.
"Both the FIFA Statues and Regulations on Status and Transfer of players are silent on application and interpretation of an option to renew.
READ | Riveiro's message to Saleng Pirates amid legal saga
"In the absence of legal certainty, football clubs would insert an Option to renew clause that only grants them a unilateral right to exercise extension without new negotiations," Nkontlha wrote.
"There is a saying ''an option is for the club'', this statement seems to be at odds with the public policy as it takes away the right to be consulted.
"In practice an option is actually an additional contract that becomes effective upon expiry of an initial or main contract.
"The contracts are inextricably linked and the full essentialia or terms of the current contract and option are negotiated at the same time.
"The main challenge with this option is, at the time of signature or contract coming into being, no one is able to predict what the value of the player would be upon the expiry of the main contract. The clubs informs you that, in the event they exercise the option,
you will earn what is on the contract at that point in time. A player who earns R100 000 gross in 2025, could be offered R110 000 should the club exercise an option in 2027 to keep him until 2028.
"The value of the player could have risen and his stock could hypothetically quadrupled," Nkontlha, who is also a FIFA accredited agent explained.
"An interested club would offer him R400 000 on a basis that he is a free agent. This is where the problem crops up. An option salary was negotiated for, three years ago and that was once and for all.
"One of the reasons clubs exercises options is to force an interesting club to pay a significant amount of transfer fee, it should also be borne in mind that clubs do not run charities, this is business.
"It is my advice that football agents stick to their guns upon discussion of an option and not be easily swayed at the negotiating table.
"Once you have agreed to the terms and the option, you are bound by the terms of the contract.
"CAS and FIFA had divergent views on validity of options, however implicitly and impliedly, the pendulum swings to, all contracts must be honoured.
READ | Scrutiny work on Pirates done
"Nothing stops the player or their negotiating team to request that certain clauses be taken out of the
contract that is what negotiations are for. "In terms of Court of Arbitration for Sports, an Option is just and fair if the player
concerned knew at the time of signing the original contract that the salary reward deriving from an option ( future/suspensive contract) is defined in the same original contract.
"Options should be agreed to, provided there is a variation clause in the contract to renegotiate the wages upon occurrence of a certain event, such as receipt of a valid offer for the player's services which exceeds what the player currently earns," Nkontlha advised.