FIFA Football Agent Regulations - Financial implications

the new controversial and highly debated FIFA  football agent regulations have now come into  

the force on the 9th of January 2023. but what  does that mean financially the regulations have  

been hotly debated for quite some time and were  approved by FIFA on the 16th of December 2022.  

they've now come into effect from the 9th of  January 2023 but there is a transition period  

up to the 1st of October 2023. the provisions  around becoming a football agent have already come  

into effect but the remainder of the regulations  including the cap on agent fees and other items  

that we'll go into in this video don't apply  until the 1st of October so what impact is it  

going to have financially first of all let's  look at this from the agent's perspective the  

agents will be required to pass an exam and pay  a license fee of 600 US dollars that fee is an  

annual fee and therefore will need to be paid  each year by the agent the agent is also going  

to have a requirement to comply with continual  professional development requirements or CPD this  

will be an ongoing requirement into perpetuity  the agents will also need to agree to abide by  

the FIFA regulations the upcoming summer transfer  window in 2023 is the final transfer window where  

the previous regulations would apply and that  would mean that there are no caps on agent fees  

but thereafter there are significant changes to  the agent's regulations presently an agent can  

represent more than one party that could be the  Buying Club the selling club and the player under  

the new regulations the agent can represent the  Buying Club and the player but the selling Club  

cannot be included in that Arrangement one of the  most significant changes in the regulations is the  

cap on commissions this could have a significant  financial impact on the industry as a whole  

on agents remuneration and potentially on the  transfer fees and the wages which they're measured  

against we'll put a link to the FIFA regulations  below the video for those that are interested to  

read about this further but in brief the agent's  fee is going to be capped at either five percent  

or three percent of the player's remuneration  depending on the level of that remuneration it's  

five percent for the amount up to two hundred  thousand dollars per annum and three percent  

thereafter so most football players are going to  earn in excess of two hundred thousand dollars per  

annum so the agent fee is going to be largely  capped for anything in excess of two hundred  

thousand dollars a year at three percent that  percentage will double to either 10 or 6 depending  

on the level of the individual's remuneration if  the agent is representing more than one party IED  

engaging club or the Buying Club and the player  in that dual representation contract in the event  

that the agent is representing the releasing  Club their commission will be capped at 10 of  

the transfer fee because obviously the wages paid  are going to be negotiated by the acquiring Club  

one of the significant financial change to the  regulations is the individual or the party that  

is going to pay that agent fee a new client  pays principle is going to come into Force  

and that means that the engaging party that's  dealing with that agent will have to pay the agent  

for those Services it's common practice presently  that clubs would pay agent fees for players on  

their behalf and that can muddy the waters between  Club services and player services that are being  

provided by the same agent and that will have  significantly different Financial consequences  

particularly in the tax space so the change in  regulations will clarify that position and if the  

player is being represented by the agent it's on  the player to pay that fee and that will have to  

come out of their past tax salary in the UK that  would mean that the payee and National Insurance  

would have been withheld by the club before being  paid to the player and the player would then have  

to pay the agent thereafter FIFA will hope that  this will help to control the wages Market the  

remuneration that's being paid to agents and  hopefully contribute to the control mechanism  

around transfer fees but it could have effects  if you put a cap or a limit on the people who are  

negotiating the contracts with regards to their  remuneration with a variable within that equation  

then that variable could well increase and that  could have the opposite of the desired effect if  

the player has an arrangement with their agent and  they're expecting to be paid a certain amount with  

a cap in relation to their salary the player may  turn around to the club and request an increase  

in that salary especially since the player is  being advised by the agent whose remuneration  

is going to be restricted equally from a selling  club's perspective if the agent can only receive  

10 of that transfer fee from the outgoing player's  point of view that agent May well look to inflate  

that price to therefore increase the amount of  compensation that they're going to receive so  

it's going to be an interesting period of time in  the area of agent fees as we move into these new  

regulations what are your thoughts when it comes  to agents remuneration should there be cats or  

would it have potentially the opposite effect and  inflate an already inflated market when it comes  

to transfer fees and player wages leave your  thoughts in the comments below if you like the  

video hit like And subscribe for more my name is  Neill Wood and I'm a Football Finance Professional