The new Regulations have brought an end to a system – that of licensed players’ agents – that was in place for nearly 25 years.
FIFA first began regulating the activities of players’ agents in 1991, making modifications to the regulations in 2001 and 2008. The 2008 regulations set out the basis upon which licensed agents were permitted to: (i) introduce players to clubs with a view to negotiating or renegotiating an employment contract, or (ii) introduce two clubs to one another with a view to concluding a transfer agreement within one association or from one association to another.
However, FIFA itself admitted that its system of licensed players’ agents was failing, declaring that 70–75% of international transfers were being conducted by unlicensed individuals. Whether the reasons for that failure lie in the agents regulations, or FIFA’s or national associations’ inability to enforce them, FIFA was adamant that change was necessary.
At the 59th FIFA Congress in 2009, FIFA announced that an in-depth reform of the players’ agents system was necessary in order to address several shortfalls that had been identified within the licensing system.
FIFA unveiled its Draft Regulations on Working with Intermediaries, the first draft of which was met with widespread concern. There was to be no form of registration system for intermediaries, which could potentially have resulted in a chaotic free-for-all – individuals and entities would have been free to operate under few rules and with little supervision, hardly the way to foster increased trust and transparency in an industry traditionally criticised for lacking in such attributes.
FIFA stressed however that “the aim of the in-depth review was never to deregulate the governance of the activities of players’ agents, but to propose a new system that is more transparent and simple to administer and implement, resulting, in turn, in better enforcement at national level.”
Five years and an extensive consultation process later, a revised proposal was approved by FIFA’s Executive Committee on 21 March 2014 and ratified by the FIFA Congress on 11 June 2014. The Regulations came into force on 1 April 2015.
The final Regulations still eliminated the licensing system, but rather than leaving the industry relatively unscrutinised, they provide for a shift in the focus of the regulation. Instead of controlling access to the activity of player / club representation, the focus is on regulating the activity itself. The aim is to ensure greater transparency regarding who’s being represented by who, how much they are being paid and by whom. This is consistent with FIFA’s focus on TMS, in which it has invested heavily and which seeks to foster transparency and to devolve greater responsibility to associations.
Players and clubs are free to choose whoever they deem fit and proper to represent them on player contracts and transfers. The chosen intermediary will need to register himself, herself or itself with the relevant national association every time they are involved in a transaction. In order to be registered, the intermediary must meet a set of minimum criteria – the minimum criteria are set out in the Regulations, but can be supplemented and enhanced by each national association.
Importantly, the registration of an intermediary with a national association brings about a regulatory relationship between the two – the intermediary is subject to the Regulations (and all other rules and regulations of FIFA and the national association) and to sanctions for improper conduct. Whilst FIFA is taking a less hands-on approach than under the old agents’ licensing system, it remains the overarching regulatory / supervisory authority, monitoring national associations’ compliance with and enforcement under the new system.
The Regulations came into force on 1 April 2015. From that date, the concept of the ‘licensed agent’ – an individual who passed an exam, was licensed for five years by a national association to conduct agency activity and took out professional liability insurance – was no more.
Instead, there is a new concept in player and club representation: the intermediary – a person or entity that need not pass an exam, does not require a licence or insurance and may have no previous experience or knowledge of player / club representation.
Click here for our commentary on various aspects of the new Regulations.
Click here for guidance notes on key areas of the new Regulations.