February 01, (THEWILL) – FIFA convened a two-day meeting in Montevideo with agent associations from all around the world, as part of its comprehensive consultation process over the FIFA Football Agent Regulations.
FIFA’s representatives met with organisations representing agents from the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Europe to address crucial aspects in respect to the current draft regulations.
Leaders from the Unión de Agentes Intermediarios de Fútbol de América, the Professional Football Agents Association, the African Football Agents Association, and the Asian Football Agents Association were among those in attendance, with some attending in person and others participating virtually.
The meeting was an opportunity to confirm that various agent ideas had been integrated into the new legal framework governing agents’ activities, which is likely to be approved later this year.
These include the creation of the Agents Chamber to resolve specific disputes, the restriction of agent licences to natural persons only, the payment of agent fees through the FIFA Clearing House, the imposition of sanctions on clients who work with unlicensed agents, and the formation of the Football Agent Working Group, which will be made up of representatives from professional football stakeholders and recognised agent organisations.
In addition, the agent associations from the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Europe represented at this meeting recognised the need to raise the ethical and professional standards of their profession, noting that several of their proposals were reflected in the FIFA Football Agent Regulations third draft.
Finally, during the meeting, agent associations from all over the world emphasised the importance of FIFA launching programmes to promote their members’ holistic development.
Luís Villas-Boas Pires, FIFA’s Head of Agents, said: “We would like to thank the participating agent associations for the extremely positive dialogue. There is a common objective in terms of raising the ethical and professional standards of this occupation, protecting players and promoting contractual stability and solidarity.
“This is ultimately about safeguarding the integrity of the sport and ensuring the proper functioning of the transfer system.”
Since 2017, FIFA has taken substantial moves toward developing a fairer and more transparent transfer system, with the FIFA Council supporting three reform packages in line with the FIFA President’s strategy, The Vision 2020-2023: Making Football Truly Global.
This reform initiative includes the revised FIFA Football Agent Regulations. Following a lengthy process that began in 2018, FIFA shared the third draft with football stakeholders in December 2021 in order to gather final comments before the regulations are finalised and put into effect later this year.
FIFA’s proposed football agent structure is in line with recent reports from the European Parliament on EU sports policy and the Council of Europe on football governance, both of which have praised and backed FIFA’s attempts to modernise the present transfer system.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
