Recovering debt owed to your club.

Unfortunately in football there are occasions when players leave clubs without paying their debts and sometimes leaving clubs in financial difficulty. At Oxfordshire FA we operate a system to collect football debts on behalf of our affiliated clubs and leagues.

Under FA Regulations, football debts are defined as those costs where actual monies have been expanded arising directly from football activity and such would include:

• Match Costs (e.g. match fees)
• League Costs (e.g. repair to cups etc.)
• Fines from discipline cases (cautions, dismissals, misconduct charges)
• Playing expenses (e.g. pitch hire)

The following are not considered to be football debts:

• Kit/ Equipment
• Club subscriptions
• Signing on fees
• Internal Club fines (except for those imposed as a result of discipline cases)
• Fund Raising schemes
• End of season trip costs

There are strict timelines and criteria under which football debts can be chased and we're unable to deal with any debts that do not conform with FA regulations. We therefore recommend that all Clubs familiarise themselves with the procedures, the key points of which are highlighted below:

Reasonable Steps

It is incumbent of the creditor (i.e. the club) to take reasonable steps to recover the debt before requesting us to take action. Reasonable steps should include:

• Writing to the player to inform him of the monies owed and keeping all records of such requests.
• Not playing the player as soon as it becomes obvious that there is an issue with recovering monies.

Timescale

We should be approached as soon as it is clear that here is a problem. In all cases this should be within 28 days of formal payment being requested and 112 days of the debt being incurred.

Requesting Debt Recovery

When requesting our help to assist with recovering a football debt from a player, the creditor must supply the following information:

• Full Name, Date of Birth and last known address of the individual responsible for the debt
• Evidence of the debt (e.g. discipline case references)
• Evidence of the efforts and communications made by the Club to recover the debt before requesting our assistance with debt recovery.