Professional footballers in the UAE have been risking their livelihoods by playing without mandatory health insurance cover, and "70 per cent of the contracts signed during the past two years contain clauses which contravene Fifa regulations". According to Dr Salem al Shamsi, the chairman of the players' status and transfer committee, players have been "manipulated by clubs, and contracts have included a number of irregularities".
He added: "Seventy per cent of the contracts signed during the past two years contain clauses which contravene Fifa regulations. We are determined to change this situation now. The times have changed. We are in a professional era [the new Pro League has just finished its first season], where the laws of supply and demand apply. " These claims were discussed at a meeting of the general assembly of the UAE Football League (UFL) at the World Trade Centre in Dubai where Mohammed al Mahmoud, the former vice chairman of the UFL, promised the system
