MIRROR
While clubs grow more frantic in search of players and wantaway stars become increasingly desperate to find new destinations with a week to go before the deadline, another component of the transfer circus is in a rush to maximise income.
From the end of this window, or more specifically October 1, agents will face a cap on the amount of money they can make from a transfer as a swathe of new regulations, the FIFA Football Agent Regulations, come into effect.
They are designed to clean up a section of the industry that has required additional control – but those it affects financially are far from pleased.
Here is an explainer of what’s going to be different, why and how it has affected this window.
So what’s changing?
During last year’s World Cup in Qatar, FIFA’s Council approved a number of reforms that would be implemented in full by October 1 of this year.
They include:
- Anyone wishing to act as an intermediary must now have a licence-approved by the governing body. An exam must be taken for new agents to receive that licence while the governing body has promised continuous educational programmes
- Agents will also have to pay a $600 (£475) registration fee per year.
- Intermediaries will be banned from representing both clubs and players in the same transaction to clamp down on conflicts of interest
- Fees will be paid via a FIFA clearing house to ensure transparency
- A cap on the amount agents can earn from a transaction, linked to the cost of the move
That cap is bad news for agents, right?
For those involved in jumbo deals with huge commissions, yes. It effectively means agents can no longer extract huge fees from blockbuster moves – most famously the £41m made by Mino Raiola for Paul Pogba’s second transfer to Manchester United.
In March it was revealed that the Premier League had paid more than £318m in agent fees between February 2022 and January 2023. Expect that figure to come down significantly under the new regulations.
