A bolt from the blue ! This Friday, Manchester City announced the extension of its jewel Erling Haaland until 2034! That’s nine and a half years older. The 24-year-old Norwegian goalkeeper arrived at the Mancunian club in 2022 from Borussia Dortmund. In the space of less than two years, Erling Haaland has scored goals and broken efficiency records in the Premier League.
Enough to arouse the desire of very large European clubs like Real Madrid or FC Barcelona. While the player’s contract was initially due to expire in the summer of 2027, Manchester City wanted to strike a major blow by securing their star striker in the long term with an extension until 2034. And undoubtedly avoid the difficulties encountered by its neighbor of FC Liverpool to convince its star Mohamed Salah to extend his contract six months from the end of it.
No impact on depreciation
Thirty-five years ago, Dutch international Gérald Vanenburg signed his first lifetime contract with PSV Eindhoven. Another time. Since then, the vast majority of contracts are for a period of between three and five years. This extension of Haaland, exceptionally long and therefore almost unprecedented in Europe, therefore caused surprise this Friday in the four corners of the Old Continent.
But, is this practice legal? Since the establishment of the Monti system in 2001, article 18 of the regulations governing the status and transfer of Fifa players provides that “the contract of a professional player is established for a minimum period from the date of his entry in force until the end of the season and for a maximum period of five years. Except that this same article then provides that “contracts of a different duration are only authorized if they comply with the national law in force”. In other words, FIFA sets a maximum duration of five years but authorizes the signing of longer contracts if and only if the law of the country in question allows it.
-This lack of restriction should not be confused with the taking into account of the duration of contracts for accounting depreciation. In 2023, UEFA and the Premier League announced that the limit on the duration of amortizations would be five years, including if the contract concerned is longer.
Chelsea, gender specialist
Several examples of contracts lasting longer than five years have existed in recent years. In England, Chelsea are a specialist, having signed eight and a half year contracts with Mykhaylo Mudryk and Enzo Fernandez, a seven and a half year lease with ex-Monegasque Benoît Badiashile and seven year contracts with Wesley. Fofana, six and a half years to Malo Gusto and six years to Marc Cucurella, Christopher Nkunku and Axel Disasi. In Spain, French international Aurélien Tchouameni signed a six-year contract with Real Madrid during the summer of 2023.
In 2018, Iñaki Williams extended his nine-year lease with Athletic Bilbao. No trace, however, in Ligue 1. In France, contracts of such duration could not, in fact, be approved because the National Collective Sports Agreement, in the wake of the Sports Code, specifies that the duration of contracts CDD cannot be longer than five years.
