For many years several European players' unions have been organizing provisions for players who find themselves without a contract. Credit is due to the Italian players union AIC for having been the first to take the initiative. Since 1985 AIC organizes training sessions for out-of-contract players at the national training centre in Coverciano. Because the training sessions don't begin until the end of July it is unfortunately not possible for Team AIC to participate in the FIFPro Tournament.


Italian national trainingscenter in Coverciano

The French players union UNFP has a long history of training sessions for professional footballers looking for a new club. In the same way as the Italian players the French out-of-contract players are accommodated for several weeks to enable them to train twice a day. Aime Jacquet, who later became manager of the French national team who were world champions in 1998, was once the trainer of Team UNFP. In the 1990's the French Team UNFP was even allowed to participate in the national cup competition; the team reached the quarter-final. UNFP organized one training session in the South, near St. Étienne and one in Northern France, at the Clairefontaine national training centre.


French national trainingscenter in Clairefontaine

In recent years unions in South America, such as Chile and Brazil, have also organized matches and training sessions for out-of-contract players. Due to a different organization of the season these training sessions normally take place in January.

In 2004 the Dutch players union VVCS took the initiative to organize international matches for out-of-contract players. During that summer a match was played against the team from the Belgian players union and home and away against the French Team UNFP.


The Belgian and Dutch team of out-of-contract players before the match, July 2004

During the away match in Clairefontaine Louis Everard of VVCS, Tijs Tummers of FIFPro and Manuel Piumi of UNFP thought up the idea of an international FIFPro Tournament. This idea was presented to the board of FIFPro, who immediately embraced it. The FIFPro Tournament fits in well with the social image of this international representative of professional footballers.


Dutch Team VVCS vs. the French Team UNFP, July 2004

The first edition of this tournament took place the following year in Senlis in France. Out-of-contract players from the players' unions of France (with two teams, representing North and South), England, Portugal and the Netherlands played each other in July 2005. Unfortunately the Belgian team had to cancel at the last moment due to a traffic accident, luckily with only minor injuries.


France South vs. France North at the FIFPro Tournament 2005

The FIFPro Tournament 2005 was visited by many international scouts and clubs and turned out to be a great success. French players signed contracts in Poland and Bulgaria, a Portuguese player signed for the French team Montpellier. The result was magnificent for the Dutch team: no less than eleven players found a new professional club. That France North won the tournament was of secondary importance.



In 2006 the second international FIFPro Tournament took place in Rijnsburg in the Netherlands. Germany and Slovenia participated for the first time with a team of out-of-contract players.


Beppe Signori

In 2007 the FIFPro Tournament was held in Lisbon, Portugal. Switzerland and Italy were participating for the first time. In the end the Italian pros without a contract beat a strong Slovenian side in the final. The winning goal was scored from a beautiful free kick by their famous captain Beppe Signori.

In 2008 host of the FIFPro Tournament was for the second time Rijnsburg, Holland. New in this edition was a Scandinavian team with players from Denmark and Finland. Holland won the tournament as two years before, leaving Slovenia as runners up again. 


A Scandinavian team with players from Denmark and Finland participated for the first time in the FIFPro Tournament in 2008.