Reform of sports work: the CDM says yes. Constraint abolished from next season

Go ahead. One of the last acts of the government chaired by Mario Draghi is the approval of the reform of sports work through a corrective legislative decree. After having collected the opinion of the competent committees, the executive said yes to the reform that Undersecretary Valentina Vezzali had worked on in recent months, surrounded on some points by a part of the world of sport, in particular by the Football Federation. It starts on January 1, 2023, so no postponement.

THE GHOSTS”

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But what is this reform? In particular, it affects a whole world – amateur sportsmen, technicians, instructors, teachers – who work in sport without the necessary protections (social security payments, insurance coverage, maternity protection) with a kind of second-class status compared to all the others. A real “people” brought to the fore by the tragic moment of the pandemic when they finally became aware of these “ghost” figures, all under the umbrella of the 10 thousand euro tax-free threshold reserved for those who work in sports. The story began even earlier with the Giorgetti-Valente reform which, after a long process, comes to approve the implementing decrees, including that on sports work. The Conte 2 government, at the request of the then minister of sport Vincenzo Spadafora, in the dramatic era of the closures, extended the bonuses from 600 and 800 euros per month to these 209 thousand (many were those who requested them) workers. For some, a badly spent figure because the same amount went indiscriminately to those who earned 200 euros a month and those who received 800 (for a differentiation it would take months before disbursement). Precisely that situation prompted the government to approve a decree precisely to open up the protections of this category. With characteristics deemed too expensive for federations, organizations and especially sports clubs. So Vezzali reopened the table, involved the various interlocutors, to the point of launching a more balanced text that met with different consents, except on some points.

THE NEW STANDARDS

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The text rewrites the discipline of amateur sports work. The tax-free threshold drops from 10 thousand to 5000. Under this figure neither social security nor tax withholdings are applied, obviously imagining that the worker does not live exclusively on that contribution. For those who receive between 5 thousand and 15 thousand euros a year, no tax withholdings are applied but only social security withholdings. Finally, for amounts over 15,000, both withholdings are applied. To help companies, the new decree provides for another rule: until 31 December 2027 the social security contribution is due within the limits of 50 percent of the taxable contribution and the pension benefit is reduced in an equivalent manner.

REQUESTS FIGC

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But what was the Football Association asking for? in particular, an extension of the aid provided to help the sustainability of women’s football (start-up to professionalism) to all clubs and not only to those under five million in turnover (thus losing the teams that are organized within clubs professional men’s football). The other claim was the postponement of the new contracts to 1 July 2023 to avoid having to change the regime in the middle of the competitive season. Finally, the constraint, the most divisive game. The FIGC, with other federations, was pushing for a transitional rule that would only be definitively abolished from 1 July 2025. But there have been no changes on this, we will start on 31 July 2023, in practice with the new season. Likely to return to office with the new government. In the meantime, however, the die is cast and the whole world of sports clubs will have to work to be ready for the appointment on January 1st.