FFA, PFA finally come to agreement

Football Federation Australia (FFA) and the Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) have finally agreed to a four-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

The previous CBA expired in June as the two parties failed to come to an agreement, with the issue affecting the Australia national teams and played out in public.

But a deal was finally struck on Friday, covering the A-League and national teams the Socceroos and Matildas.

The deal includes an increase to the commercial and licensing player payments pool for the Socceroos, a pay rise for the Matildas and an increase to the A-League salary cap.

FFA chief executive David Gallop was happy the deal was done.

“From the outset FFA’s objective was based on affordability and certainty in total player payments,” he said.

“We’ve worked with the Hyundai A-League clubs to achieve this outcome without straying from the fair and reasonable options put forward early in the process.

“Working through and achieving the Whole of Game CBA with the PFA has been a challenge and produced difficult moments but we are glad the deal is now finally done.

“Crucially, we are also pleased this deal protects the interests of the club owners, whose ongoing investment in the Hyundai A-League is critical to the growth of the game.

“We will now work together to ensure four years of sustainable growth for the game.”