FIFA partially suspends new regulation of football agents

FIFA partially suspended the new football agent regulation in December 2023 after some courts in European countries took precautionary measures under controversial clauses.

“FIFA has seen fit to suspend this rule until the Court of Justice of the European Union rules on the validity of some of its rules. Depending on the decision made, there will or will not be a need to adapt it. In December last year, FIFA was expecting a decision for about six months,” Gonçalo Almeida, a lawyer and judge of the Chamber of Agents of the football court at football’s world governing body, told Lusa.

Approved in December 2022 by the FIFA Council in Qatar, the document came into force partially in January 2023 and fully in October, with the organization led by Gianni Infantino promoting “a balanced and sensible instrument to protect the integrity of football and the proper functioning of the transfer system.”

Reducing the maximum commission agents receive from client transfers and wages, banning multiple representation or compulsory licensing are some of the effective new measures, the legality of which is being questioned by the sector.

In May, in one of several lawsuits brought by agents and trade associations across Europe, a court in Dortmund, Germany, granted an injunction and called on FIFA to violate certain provisions.

“FIFA refers to this preliminary decision in a circular published on 30 December 2023, deciding to suspend the application of the new regulation on certain points, namely the salary cap and payment rules, as well as the prohibition of double representation and the obligation to report certain information and transactions to FIFA or pay commissions through the Clearinghouse, which is not yet actually operational for this purpose,” emphasized Gonçalo Almeida.

The organization, based in Zurich, Switzerland, appealed to the Court of Justice of the European Union but upheld other measures, including requiring every candidate agent to pass a knowledge test to obtain a license.

“The purpose of the circular is to avoid markets with different rules for the exercise of a profession. Rules must be cross-cutting at a global level to avoid inequalities and the resulting advantage of some markets over others. Imagine that an agent will not be in a certain market and will have salary caps. They will probably prefer to make a deal with that federation’s club in which they can charge 10%, 15% or more [em comissões]”, to the detriment of another jurisdiction that has a salary cap and other more restrictive rules,” he compared.

The “vast majority” of the 211 member associations followed FIFA’s recommendation and suspended clauses equivalent to their domestic agent rules unless they conflicted with mandatory provisions arising from national law.

The new regulation is the result of a complex consultation process involving all major stakeholders in world football since 2018, and was ratified on Portuguese soil by the leadership of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) in June last year, despite differences within the National Football Federation. Association of Football Agents (ANAF).

“There has always been openness and flexibility [da parte da FIFA]. Now that no agreement had been reached, there was a need to move forward. [com mudanças]on pain of punishment because this activity, which is vital to the football industry, remains unregulated,” he recalled.

In the summer of 2023, Gonçalo Almeida was appointed judge of the Chamber of Agents of the FIFA Football Court and began to perform duties on this platform for a period of four years, established by the new rules for agents for the resolution of international disputes.