World: Biba wants to use FIFA protection clause to prevent Barcelona from signing Nico, but the clauses are not applicable in Spain

June 27, according to La Liga president Tebas, Athletic Bilbao discussed FIFA's so-called "protection clause" during a meeting on Wednesday to prevent Barcelona from signing Nico Williams.

So what is "protecting rights"? This concept means that players are protected during the first three years of the contract. If the player is over 28 years old, this deadline will be reduced to two years. Nico, 23, signed a contract valid until 2027 in 2023. That is to say, he is currently in the second year of his contract period and is still in the protection period.

The next is to refer to Article 17 of the FIFA Player Identity and Transfer Regulations on the consequences of termination of the contract without a legitimate reason, which states that compensation must be paid when a player terminates his relationship with the club without a legitimate reason (such as in Nico Williams).

In addition, if the player is in the protection period, he will face the penalty of "not being able to participate in any official matches for four months". This means that Nico Williams will not play for Barcelona until December 2025 or January 2026, and can only represent the Spanish national team during this period.

For clubs that induce players to terminate their contracts, the clause also prohibits them from registering new players at home and international levels, which means that Barcelona will not be able to register new players until the summer of 2028.

However, according to Tebas, the terms cited by Athletic Bilbao do not apply to La Liga, as Royal Spanish Act 1006 is higher than FIFA's provisions, which regulates the labor relations of professional athletes and stipulates the terms of the agreement as a contractual clause that allows players to terminate the contract early.

In order to achieve this, the amount of termination agreed upon by both parties, namely 58 million euros, must be paid. As national laws take precedence over FIFA's provisions, it is impossible to apply the clauses Athletic Bilbao hopes to invoke to prevent Nico from leaving or punishing players and Barcelona.