A sports lawyer is threatening to sue the Football Association (FA) for failing to insure club footballers against loss of earnings arising from injuries, the Gazette can exclusively reveal.

The FA requires all clubs to have at least £5m of public liability insurance. However, it leaves injury cover to the discretion of individual clubs. Cash-strapped amateur clubs often choose not to pay the extra premiums, leaving seriously injured players unable to claim compensation for loss of income.

Paul Mulderrig, of north-west England firm Mulderrigs, said many of his clients ‘with good cases in law’ had seen their futures blighted by the FA’s refusal to act. ‘There’s lots of money in the game so it’s a red herring to claim a mandatory scheme would be too expensive. We’re left with no option but to sue the FA itself.’

Mulderrig added that the £4.5m in compensation received by Ben Collett – whose promising professional career at Manchester United was ended by a reckless tackle – made such cases seem straightforward. ‘But it’s actually a very difficult area of law in terms of proving liability and quantum.’

Mark Turnbull, a personal injury solicitor at national firm Thompsons, said: ‘The FA alone has the authority to insist upon universal injury cover. As things stand, you have a compensation lottery where, depending upon the insured status of the other party, one individual gets compensated and another with an identical injury gets nothing.’

Gareth Williams, sports unit partner at Manchester firm George Davies, supported the call for the FA to provide mandatory cover. He said: ‘After all, if small clubs are given a choice between spending on facilities or on an accident that might never happen, then you know what they’ll choose.’

Norfolk FA has a mandatory injury insurance scheme for all its club players. Its football administration officer Richard King explained: ‘Around ten years ago, one of our players had his leg amputated after breaking it in a game. It persuaded us that insurance cover was essential and Norfolk FA was able to negotiate a good deal with an insurer.’

A spokesman for the national FA told the Gazette it was ‘continually reviewing its policies in this area.’