London - Foul! Referee! Like millions of
other football fans, insurers have been glued to their TV
screens watching the World Cup - but rather than counting the
number of goals scored, they're counting the number of players walking off the field when the final whistle blows.
That's because the top players in the tournament - from
Germany's Michael Ballack to England's David Beckham - are insured for tens of millions of dollars by clubs that are
increasingly looking to protect their most prized assets -
their players - against injury.
A sport broker for one company, Dominic How, said: "Most clubs insure their players. If they don't insure their
entire squad, they'll probably make sure their highest-value
players are insured. Because losing a 10 million pound
player (about R131m) to injury means it's worth insuring them."
That lesson was illustrated by recent injuries to two stars,
France's Djibril Cisse and England's Michael Owen, who face
months out after being injured while on international duty.
Both players were insured and the underwriters involved in
covering them are now facing major claims.
The managing director of another company, David Evans said: "Owen will definitely be one of the larger losses in the market this year."
Buying cover to protect players
Insurers are coy about the terms of such policies, but
industry sources say the underwriters involved face paying a
hefty slice of Owen's wages, which media reports put at over
100 000 pounds (about R1.3m) a week, for the duration of his months-long layoff.
National teams such as England and Germany are increasingly
buying cover to protect their highly-valued players against
injury too. But these policies are still relatively rare as many
of the poorer nations can't afford them. Even those that can, are unlikely to buy a policy that would cover the biggest stars'
full wages.
A sports insurance broker, Neil Padom said: "There's no obligation for the national teams to provide insurance for the players. If they do so it's more a PR exercise to help create good relations between themselves and the clubs. That may not be for the full amount of the player's wages.
Fewer players are now hit with injuries that end their
careers, thanks to huge strides made in sports medicine over the
past 10 years.
More mundane injuries are also covered
But clubs' cover against paying their biggest stars'
multimillion salaries while they are on the treatment table is
pricey.
Clubs tend to get cover for their players while they're away
from the football pitch too, so crashes in their supercharged
cars or slips on nightclub dance floors are also insured.
More mundane injuries that sometimes rule players out are
also covered.
Evans said: "People get injured in the garden. Guys are
playing with their children and the next thing they turn their
ankles or something, just like the rest of us."-Reuters
