Carlos Gonzalez Puche: "I'm leaving behind a legacy"

About the author
Carlos Gonzalez Puche is a symbol of the player union movement in South America. As the founder of ACOLFUTPRO and its executive director until 30 June, the Colombian leader is retiring after 22 years of defending the rights of professional footballers in his country and across the region. He served on the FIFPRO global board, was a member of the EDI Committee, and played a vital role in collaborations with the ILO, among many other contributions to the global players' union movement.

By Carlos Gonzalez Puche

I remember as if it were yesterday what happened 22 years ago, on 26 March 2004, to be exact, at the Colombian national team's training camp in the city of Armenia: ACOLFUTPRO, the Colombian union of professional footballers, was born as a result of what I will recount below.

In 1977, I had the good fortune to meet Carlos Alberto Della Savia, who, along with Carlos Pandolfi, was one of the leaders of the strike that – through conciliation – led to the enactment of Law 430 of 1975 (the Professional Football Player Statute) in Argentina. As a law student, I caught the union bug thanks to this mentor, who explained every detail of the process he had gone through and how, because of his role as a leader, he was stigmatised by the clubs, which refused to hire him, forcing him to seek refuge in Colombia alongside Pandolfi.

I experienced firsthand the abuse suffered by players in Colombia due to their employers' disregard for their rights. I was fortunate enough to make my professional debut for the club I support and had always dreamed of playing for: Millonarios de Bogota. It was the club where I completed my entire development, won the reserve league championship and made my debut in 1980. Knowing full well that making a living playing football was a gamble, I never stopped studying.

In 1981, our on-field results were not the best, which led the club president to present a letter for the entire squad to sign, citing "poor performance" as grounds for dismissing us. As a law clerk, I encouraged my team-mates not to give in to the pressure to sign it, because football is a team sport and it is unacceptable to use such justifications to terminate employment contracts. From then on, I was labelled a union activist, and that president made sure I could not play professional football during 1983. It was not until 1984 that the club's mafia-linked owners loaned me to Club America de Cali, which went on to win the Colombian league championship. However, for reasons unrelated to my performance, I was once again prevented from playing in 1985.

In 1986, I graduated with a law degree with a thesis titled The Transfer and Assignment of Players in Colombian Law, in which I demonstrated that footballers, as club assets, were effectively slaves.

Driven by my determination to ensure that no footballer would ever again be treated as I had been, together with my colleague Felipe De Vivero, we challenged the Sports Law and succeeded in having the Constitutional Court, through its landmark ruling C-320 of 3 July 1997, recognise footballers as workers, based on the application of the Bosman ruling. Building on that decision, through Ruling T-302 of 1998, I succeeded in freeing four footballers from Club Independiente Medellin.

Because of these achievements, Luis Garcia, a former Colombia international, approached me in 2003 to lead the creation of an association dedicated to defending footballers in the world's most dangerous country for union activity. He had the support of leading players such as Ivan Cordoba, Mario Yepes and Juan Pablo Angel.

It was a suicide mission, considering that most clubs at the time were owned by drug traffickers.

Overcoming fear and raising awareness among footballers that they were rights-holders, with legal and regulatory mechanisms to defend those rights, was a titanic task. The risks were enormous and threats from these individuals were immediate. Convincing players that together we were stronger required setting successful precedents to prove that we were right.

The first such precedent came with the release of Juan Carlos Henao, goalkeeper for Once Caldas, the 2004 Copa Libertadores champions. We supported him so that he could sign for Brazil's Santos in January 2005.

On 7 July 2005, we presented our first list of demands calling for decent working conditions. After the Colombian Football Federation and DIMAYOR refused to negotiate, the Ministry of Labour mediated, resulting in ACOLFUTPRO being recognised as the representative of footballers in Colombia through official records dated September 21 and 28.

Because our rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining were being violated – rights that, under ILO Conventions 87 and 98, the Colombian government was obliged to guarantee – we filed a complaint with the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association. As a result of Complaint No. 2481, we were vindicated, and the Colombian authorities were required to protect our rights.

In Colombia, there has never been a genuine willingness on the part of management to engage in dialogue. It was therefore always clear to me that the only way to defend ourselves was through the courts, securing recognition of footballers' rights, landmark rulings and legislation that has protected our profession. That is my greatest legacy.

Throughout this entire process, FIFPRO's support has been essential. As a member of FIFPRO South America and later of the FIFPRO global board, I was able to support the efforts of most unions across the Americas.

The memories and achievements are countless and will remain indelibly etched in my memory. I think of the opening of the Footballers' House in Bogota in 2018 and the sports complex in 2023; helping draft Law 1445 of 2011, which established specific obligations for professional clubs, requiring them to respect our rights in order to operate; and standing alongside footballers and former footballers when the President of Colombia signed the law.

With great pride and emotion, I will always remember 8 March 2019, when ACOLFUTPRO organised a press conference that gave a group of courageous women footballers the opportunity to denounce the sexual harassment, abuse and inequality they had suffered at the hands of team officials during call-ups to the Colombia U-17 and senior national teams. Their admirable resolve and conviction marked a historic milestone that changed the lives of women footballers in the country.

Amid all the turmoil I have experienced – which has involved risks and personal and family sacrifices – I am left with the satisfaction of a job well done, knowing that today the rights of footballers in Colombia are respected. I have learned that the reality in every country is different and that it can be difficult for others to understand the particular circumstances of the country where I live, where those who do not share the same views are regarded as enemies rather than counterparts.

My greatest frustration is that the collective dispute over our demands– which were negotiated with league officials over the past two years, with mediation from the Ministry of Labour, the ILO and FIFA – has still not been resolved. Despite reaching consensus on the document that would have settled the dispute, league officials have refused to sign it.

I know that I am leaving behind a legacy, a path and an example. And I will continue to fight with everything in my power to contribute to and defend the rights of women's and men's footballers.