Cap on Agents Commissions?

The Association of Football Agents (AFA) General Meeting was held at Barnet Football Club, London on Wednesday 6 June 2018.

Hosted by AFA Chairman, Mike Miller, the speakers were Jon Smith; Nick De Marco; and, Mel Stein (on behalf of the AFA) and Roberto Branco Martins (on behalf of the European Football Agents Association (EFAA)).

They set the scene and outlined the variety of issues with regards to FIFA's plan to implement a new set of rules and regulations for the football agent business.

In the audience were around 150 Football Agents plus representatives from the FA, PFA and FIFA. We were told that the FA and FIFA were there purely to observe.

Some of the issues highlighted by the speakers were:

The lack of any clear proposals (as yet)

The involvement of the EFAA, the AFA and Football Agents in the process

A potential of a cap on agents commission (the 3% maximum was discussed again)

Dual representation agreements

Accreditation

Self-regulation

It was great to see people from FIFA in the flesh and this was a first for me and also a first for an AFA meeting. I tend to only associate FIFA with the World Cup, diktats, sound bites, and the odd corruption scandal and, oh yes, they were the ones who de-regulated Football Agent activity in 2015.

The host invited questions and comments from the floor.

Inevitably, the questions and comments were aimed at the FA and FIFA and whilst they were only there to 'observe' - thankfully they did respond.

Two things that stood out from these exchanges. Firstly, it would have been better for the representatives from the FA and FIFA to share their views in the first instance and, secondly, the guy (my apologies to him but if you noted down his name it would be good to know) from FIFA was well versed in 'caps' in sporting scenarios around the world. He had done his homework.

In my opinion, I can see FIFA going for a cap on agents commissions - for them the rest is just window dressing.

It is generally accepted that the 3% cap is too low and does not reflect the marketplace and in any case it could be subject to legal challenge.

An interesting fact emerged from the Transfer Matching System (TMS) that put the average figure of agents commissions at 6.72%.

Now if FIFA were to put a ceiling on agents fees of say 8-10% with anything above that figure being referred to some sort of panel or committee then maybe it could be palatable.

This would allow for those high profile, big money deals. where it is reported that the agent pocketed extraordinary amounts of money, to be scrutinized.

As an aside, I would also like to see agents allowed to sign longer representation contracts (there is currently a 2 year maximum) particularly when they have negotiated longer term contracts.

However, for the AFA and football agents in general, it is important that all the issues raised are taken into account and any set of new rules and regulations actually works in practice.

We are a legitimate and important part of the football industry and our voices need to be heard.

Tony Sharkey is a Football Agent at ASA and also owns ASA Football Agent Education & Training which provides a comprehensive programme of education and training for aspiring and new football agents. He wrote this article on 18 June 2018.