FFA, PFA finally come to agreement

A new collective bargaining agreement was finally
struck between Football Federation Australia and the
Professional Footballers Australia.

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."