Professional football and sport in general in the 21st century is big business. It is not just athletes who benefit from this; player agents/ intermediaries also operate in an increasingly competitive and lucrative industry.
The increase in revenue has definitely seen more people engaged in football including the agents who broker deals on behalf of players. However, some have used the loopholes within the current system to cheat their clients.
It is upon this background that the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) moved to change the current landscape in which agents operate so as to have a streamlined and guided system.
The Football Stakeholders Committee and the FIFA Council unanimously endorsed last year a series of reform proposals concerning football agents with the aim to protect the integrity of football and prevent abuses.
After a thorough consultative process between January and April this year, the draft on the new guidelines is in place already and only awaits for the approval of the FIFA Council that will sit this Thursday, 25th June 2020 before they come into force in September next year.
Luis Villa Boas, the FIFA head of Intermediaries confirmed the new changes on Tuesday during the FIFA Football Law annual meeting held via zoom.
“The new changes are aimed at raising professional and ethics standards of the occupation of agents and also protect players who have short careers.’ He said.
In 2019, player agents earned $653M in fees and commissions. However, because there are a number of players making outcry about the exorbitant shares taken by the intermediaries, FIFA believes it is high time the business is streamlined.
Some of the reforms include;
- Establishment of a cap on commissions to avoid excessive and abusive practices
- Limitation of multiple representation to avoid conflicts of interest
- Reintroduction of a mandatory licensing system for agents to raise professional standards
- Creation of a FIFA Clearing House to guarantee better financial transparency
- Establishment of an effective FIFA dispute resolution system to address disputes between agents, players and clubs
- Disclosing and publishing all agent-related work in transfers, to increase transparency, improve the credibility of the transfer system and support the implementation of new regulations.
According to the 2019 FIFA football global transfer report, a total of 18,042 professional footballers made transfers to the tune of $7.35 billion.