Player transfer is a complex process of signing and selling players as per the club’s or player’s requirement. Technically, it’s a business transaction between two clubs or in case a player is not attached to any club, it’s between the player and the seeking club, but there’s a lot more involved in the process regarding the contract length, financial terms including bonuses, sell-on clauses, image rights and so on. This requires a specific subject matter expertise and the professionals who make a career out of this are called agents or intermediaries who as stipulated by FIFA, need a licence to operate and further an exam to pass in order to procure a licence apart from other standard documentations. During the Jan-Dec period of 2023, FIFA received 19,827 licensing applications out of which 10,887 took the exam on one of the two exam dates and 40.4% passed the exam.
Agents are an integral part of the transfer system who facilitate the transfer either on behalf of the engaging or releasing club, or on behalf of players. The whole process of examination and licensing is designed to make a transfer legitimate, smooth and add value for all stakeholders.
In this blog, we will explore the numbers related to agents in player’s transfer.
Agents Acting for Club or Player
As per FIFA’s Global International Transfer report 2024, a total of 22,779 transfers happened in 2024 which involved a grand total of 5,123 clubs from around the world. Although most transfers did not include a transfer fee, only 16.2% of clubs involved had a transfer fee built-in, which according to FIFA is a record in itself. The fees involved, a staggering $8.59bn, 11% lower than that recorded in 2023.
As per FIFA Annual Report on Football Agents for 2024, in men’s football, club agents were involved in a total of 2,185 international transfers which is a new record and represents an increase of 6.7% over 2023. In case of women’s football, club agents were present in a record number of 184 transfers which is a 47% increase over 2023 figures.
In terms of geographical allocation, almost 85.4% of club agents were employed by UEFA or European football and remaining 14.6% spread across all other continents.
In value terms, a sum of $709.6mn were spent on club agent service fees for men’s football in 2024, which is 20.2% decrease over that spent in 2023. For women’s football contrarily, the sum spent on agent services fees at $3.06mn was a whopping 123% increase over 2023!
In both the cases, the far greater number of agents were employed by the engaging club than the releasing club.
- In men’s football, 75% of the agents were employed by engaging clubs.
- In women’s football, it is 96%.
Similarly, in case of agents acting on behalf of players, 2024 saw a 7.5% decline in the number of transfers 3,105, over 2023 which recorded 3,360 transfers. That is, after consecutively rising for the last 4 years.
According to the FIFA Agents Report 2024, over the last four years, the number of transfers in men’s football facilitated by player agents have increased by 24% and the same in women’s football, a whopping 106%!
Another interesting insight about player agents is they tend to appear more frequently in transfers with higher player salaries, in particular for younger players. In 2024, the FIFA Agents Report statistically points out the dominating presence, >50% of transfers, of player agents in cases where the player’s total fixed remuneration starts from $1mn.
Agents in the English FA System
Data from the English FA suggest a whopping amount of £1bn was paid by Premier league clubs to agents as fees in the last 3 years. Contrast with the lower tiered leagues in English football:
- EFL Championship paid £142mn as agent fees in 3 years.
- League One and League Two paid £15.3mn and £5.3mn respectively in three year cumulatively.
In 2023/24, the total amount paid by Premier League clubs was £410mn, 29% increase over 2022/23 figure.
In Conclusion
As global football continues to evolve with the growing changes, the role of football agents remains crucial in facilitating player transfers. If you are interested in pursuing the career as an agent, in that case, at SBI, we have specialised programs on the Agent preparation course.
Starting 7 April 2025, our 2 months online course will prepare you with the knowledge and practice that you need – guided by Malle Koido, a licensed FIFA agent in the UK who’s successfully coached many professionals to pass the exam. You can read all the details here
