Union in Focus: Football Players Association of Finland
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Loading... - Owen Graham
- 26 Jul 2022
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As our name says, FIFPRO is a federation of player unions. Currently, 66 organisations are associated within FIFPRO to support professional footballers worldwide.
Get to know the Football Players Association of Finland Jalkapallon Pelaajayhdistys Ry (JPY), which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this month.
History
The Finnish player union was officially established in 1992, but its origins began a decade earlier. In the 1980s more and more Finnish footballers started playing abroad.
They learned about the activities of player associations in those countries and discussed creating their own organisation. In May 1992 the union was founded and, on 9 July, it was officially registered as an association.
“We decided that the 9th of July would be our official anniversary,” said Executive Director Panu Autio, who took over from Markus Juhola who left the union in March after 28 years.
“When Markus and our lawyer Mika Palmgren started working for us in 1994, they advanced the organisation. Before, the union was very diplomatic, but that changed with their arrival. Palmgren’s legal expertise especially proved its value, providing more legal security for the players, as they officially were recognised as employees.”
One of the union’s main achievements is the creation of the Red Button app. Palmgren and Juhola introduced it in 2013, after Finnish police uncovered several match-fixing cases.
In order to protect players, Juhola and Palmgren created an app to report match-fixing anonymously. This app is now used in various sports worldwide and FIFPRO is distributing it among its membership. Read More...
