Meeting today at FIFA headquarters in Zurich, delegations of FIFA and UEFA, headed by their presidents, Joseph S. Blatter and Lennart Johansson, agreed to mandate the former Transfer Task Force to continue the negotiations with
the European Commission on the reform of the international transfer system.

‘The responsibility for the transfer negotiations will again be assumed by the Presidents of FIFA and UEFA and delegated to the Task Force’, stated FIFA President Blatter at a media conference following the meeting. ‘The
dialogue in the football family has been restored’, Mr. Blatter added.

UEFA President Lennart Johansson said: ‘We are satisfied with the outcome of the discussions. On behalf of UEFA I would like to thank the FIFA President for his presidential attitude.’

The Task Force, which had originally prepared the so-called Negotiation Document submitted at the end of October 2000, will be chaired by Per Ravn Omdal (Norway), UEFA vice-president and member of the FIFA Executive Committee and also include the Chief Executives of FIFA and UEFA, Michel
Zen-Ruffinen and Gerhard Aigner, as well as the chairman of the FIFA Players Status Committee, Slim Aloulou (Tunisia).

At the meeting it was agreed that the only document, which formally commits FIFA and UEFA in the ongoing transfer negotiations is the Negotiation Document submitted to the European Commission on 31 October 2000. It therefore remains the basis document. The last document sent to the European Commission on 10 January 2001 was an unofficial non-paper and obviously did not bind FIFA or the other parties. It is, therefore, not valid and FIFA will inform the European Commission accordingly.

The Task Force will meet on Tuesday 23 January to discuss the next steps to be taken and to prepare for the further meetings with the European Commission.

For further information, please contact:
Fifa Media Office
Tel: +41 1 254 9800
media@fifa.org