Every year, billions of dollars are spent across the globe in Football transfers. The so-called ‘transfer fee’ that the clubs pay to acquire a player does not solely go to a team or the player concerned but there are many other things that have to be kept in mind. One of the things that is given special focus in transfer deals nowadays is the payment that the club makes to the agent of the player. And this amount is only growing disproportionately over the years.
According to FIFA president Gianni Infantino, in 2019 alone, $ 7 Billion were spent in football transfers across the globe and from it, $ 700 went to agents’ commissions ! Those are some daunting numbers indeed.
In order to decrease the power of these famous football agents and to prevent them from creating a monopoly, FIFA is thinking of some measures that it can take to a) significantly decrease the commissions of Agents involved in a transfer and b) to lessen the powers of some famous Agents like Mino Raiola.
In the sports leagues of the USA (NBA, NFL, MLS, MLB and NHL) agents cannot exert much power as they are regulated by the leagues who keep a record of every transaction. The agents are not allowed to take a commission of more than 5% of the transfer fee. FIFA is thinking about a similar approach.
Ligue 1 club Fiorentina has come out in support of this measure by FIFA and they have released a press release jotting down 10 important proposals that FIFA and UEFA might implement to allay the dominance of these Football agents to assure equal rights in the financial domain of the sport. They have requested that these measures be considered so that they can be implemented at most by May 2022.
Fiorentina’s 10 proposals to promote Sustainability in the Football
- A limit on the percentage of the transfer, where the commissions to the agents must not exceed 5% of the player’s transfer value;
- A single commission, the attorney may have the mandate from only one of the parties, just as the commission will be paid only by one of the parties, preferably by the Purchasing Club;
- Individual powers of attorney, in each transfer, the agent can only represent the player;
- A new solidarity system for zero parameters, to protect the clubs which, despite having invested in the continuous training of players, still see some of them leave at the end of the contract and therefore without there being a transfer fee paid at the last Club (zero parameter). In particular, this mechanism should remunerate the last Company with which the player had the contract in place, using as a basis for calculation: a) the value of the player recognized by the market b) the salary that the the player will take from the new club c) any commissions paid to the agent with reference to this agreement;
- Only the clubs authorized to negotiate, during the duration of the player’s contract, only the selling club will be able to negotiate the transfer price with the buying club, unless the selling club grants written authorization to the player’s agent to participate in negotiations;
- Longer duration of contracts, the FIGC should find a solution with the possibility of extending the players’ contracts up to at least 6 years (5 + 1), as is already the case in the Premier League (although it is considered appropriate to consider the possibility that contracts in the order of millions of euros can last up to 10 years);
- A limit on commissions, where the commissions to prosecutors on players’ contracts should not exceed 3% of the player’s gross salary.
- Other sources of income for the agents, who will be able to collect further commissions from other agreements to be entered into with the players (such as intellectual property rights, media rights or sponsorship agreements) as long as these do not contravene the contractual commitments between the player and the Club.
- Setting up organizations that would track and monitor the payments made to agents.
- There should be absolute transparency in the commissions paid to the prosecutors and it must be reported on an annual basis by the clubs to FIFA, UEFA, FIGC and also to the concerned national tax authorities.
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