Football insurance 'huge'

2006-06-28 20:12

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

- Reuters