Although, in 2021 we are likely to see the introduction of new or updated regulations for football agents, the Regulations on Working with Intermediaries (RWWI) is still the main regulatory framework for football players’ agents or so- called intermediaries. These regulations had come into force on 1st April 2015, and since then drastically changed this profession. The document presents minimum standards/requirements that must be implemented by national football associations. It contains 11 separate articles.
1. Scope
2. General principles
3. Registration of intermediaries
4. Requisites for registration
5. Representation contract
6. Disclosure and publication
7. Payments to intermediaries
8. Conflicts of interest
9. Sanctions
10.Enforcement of associations’ obligations
11.Transitional measures
Please note that terms of an ‘agent’ and ‘intermediary’ have been interchangeably used by the author of this article to discuss and describe the regulations, rather than by the FIFA which refers to agents as the intermediary in its official documents.
1. Scope
(1.1 – 1.4)
1.1 The content of this document and the regulations are aimed at associations that engage the services of an intermediary by players and clubs to:
a) Conclude an employment contract between a player and a club, or
b) Conclude a transfer agreement between two clubs
1.2 Associations are required to draw up regulations that are meant to incorporate and enforce principles established in these provisions. Such minimum standards and requirements outlined by FIFA are subject to the mandatory laws and any other national legislative norms.
1.3 National associations are permitted to go beyond these minimum standards/requirements, however;
1.4 Any potential additional provisions beyond the minimum requirements must not affect the validity of the relevant employment contract and/or transfer agreement.
2. General Principles
(2.1 – 2.4)
2.1 According to regulations, clubs are permitted to engage services of football intermediaries when concluding an employment contract and/or transfer agreement between clubs.
2.2 Players and clubs that decided to engage with an intermediary’ services must act with due diligence where ‘reasonable endeavors’ are used to ensure such intermediaries are fit to perform their job.
2.3 Whenever an intermediary is involved in a transaction, he or she must be registered in accordance with the article 3. – Registration of intermediaries
2.4 The engagement of officials as an intermediary by players or clubs is forbidden. To understand who qualifies as the official, the definition is provided in the FIFA Statutes within the section ‘Definitions’ (point 11).
3. Registration of intermediaries
(3.1 – 3.5)
3.1 Each national association is required to run a registration system for intermediaries which names must be published at the end of March of each calendar year as well as the list with single transactions in which they were involved. Intermediaries must be registered with the relevant association every time he or she is involved in a specific transaction.
3.2, 3.3 & 3.4 Clubs and players that engage the services of an intermediary are required to submit the Intermediary Declaration form (specified in the Annexes 1 and 2 of this document). However, national associations may request further information or documents in accordance with additional provisions provided by the relevant association. A player is required to submit such documentation every time an intermediary is involved in forming or renewing the -employment contract (article 1, paragraph 1a.)
3.5 The aforementioned notification of submitting the Intermediary Declaration form and any other relevant documents by players and clubs must be made each time any activity within the scope of article 1 paragraph 1 of these regulations takes place.
4. Requisites for registration
(4.1 – 4.5)
4.1 A concerned association must be satisfied that an agent has an impeccable reputation before such intermediary can be registered by the relevant association.
4.2 If the intermediary is a legal person, the concerned association must also be satisfied that individuals representing the legal entity have an impeccable reputation. According to Cornell University, a legal person refers to human or non-human entity that is treated as a person for limited legal purposes.
4.3 An intermediary contracted by a club or a player, must not have any contractual relationship with associations, leagues, confederations, or FIFA that could result in a potential conflict of interest.
4.4 Associations are considered to comply with their obligations stated in paragraphs 4.1 – 4.3 if they received a signed Intermediary Declaration.
4.5 The representation contract between a player and/or a club & intermediary must be deposited with the relevant FA when the registration of an intermediary takes place.
5. Representation Contract
(5.1 & 5.2)
5.1 To achieve the clarity and transparency, clubs and players are required to specify in a representation contract the nature of the legal relationship they have with an agent in accordance with the scope of article 1 paragraph 1.
5.2 Before an agent is allowed to commence his intermediary’s activities in relation to player’s representation, a written agreement called ‘representation contract’ must be made between parties and should cover the following minimum details of the legal relationship:
o Names of the parties
o Scope of services
o Duration of the legal relationship (a maximum of 2 years)
o Remuneration due to the intermediary
o General terms of payment
o Date of conclusion
o Terminations provisions
o Signatures of parties
In case a player is under the age of 18 (‘minor’), a legal guardian or parent must also sign the agreement in compliance with the national law and legislation.
6. Disclosure and publication
(6.1 – 6.4)
6.1 Players and/or clubs are required to disclose full details and the amount of an agent’s remuneration to their domestic association that were specified in the representation contract between parties. In addition, players and/or clubs may be required to disclose all contracts, agreements and records with intermediaries to relevant bodies leagues, confederations, or FIFA when these documents are needed for investigative purposes. Such disclosure is made upon request and players/clubs must ensure that there is no obstacles from providing the aforementioned documents.
6.2 All above-mentioned documents should be attached to the transfer agreement or the employment contract, e.g. for the purposes of the player’s registration. In addition, clubs and players that engage an intermediary’s services, a full name and a signature must be provided on the transfer agreement or the employment contract. In case, no intermediary was involved in an a given transaction, a relevant documentation which was submitted to the association must specifically disclose that there was no agent involvement.
6.3 As discussed in article 3 paragraph 1, associations must publish a list of registered intermediaries with single transactions that they were individually involved in. Such information shall be made available to the public at the end of March of each calendar year, e.g. via an official website of the concerned association. Furthermore, an association must provide a consolidated figure totaling the amount of an intermediaries’ remuneration received for services provided for clubs and players, respectively. For instance, between 1st February 2017 and 31st January 2018, a total payment of £1,795,954 was made to players’ intermediaries in the Scottish Premier League, whilst club’s intermediaries received £2,141,051 in total.
6.4 Associations should also make to their registered players and affiliated clubs any information relating to transactions that have been found to be in breach of these provisions that is of relevance for the pertinent irregularities.
7. Payments to intermediaries
(7.1 - 7.8)
7.1 The amount of the agent’s remuneration should be calculated as the percentage of the player’s basic gross income for the duration of the contract.
7.2 Agents representing clubs should receive a payment of the lump sum agreed in the representation contract prior to the conclusion of the relevant transaction. Such payment might be made in instalments if agreed between parties.
7.3 Players and clubs might adopt following standards that may be a subject to relevant national and international laws and mandatory provisions. Such standards are described as recommendations:
a) the total remuneration of an agent that acts on behalf of a player should not exceed 3% of the player’s basic gross income for the duration of the entire of the employment contract.
b) the total amount of remuneration per transaction due to intermediaries who have
been engaged to act on a club’s behalf in order to conclude an employment contract with a player should not exceed 3% of the player’s basic gross income for the entire duration of the employment contract.
c) the total amount of remuneration for an agent that acted on behalf of the club was involved to conclude the transfer agreement should not exceed 3% of the transfer fee.
7.4 Clubs must ensure that all payments made between one club and another with relation to transfer fees, training compensation, or solidarity contributions are not made ‘to’ and ‘by’ intermediaries. In addition, intermediaries are not allowed to own any interest of the future transfer fees or transfer compensation.
7.5 Any payment for the services of an intermediary should be exclusively made by the player and/or club to the intermediary.
7.6 It is possible that the club can make a payment on behalf of the player for using the services of an intermediary. In such case, after the conclusion of a transaction, a player must give a written consent for the club to pay player’s agents fees in accordance with the terms agreed in the representation contract between concerned player and the agent.
7.7 Officials are prohibited from receiving any payments from an intermediary’ fees paid for using the services of a specific intermediary in connection with the relevant transaction.
7.8 If an intermediary represents a minor player, one that is under the age of 18, clubs and players are not allowed to make any payments to such intermediary.
8. Conflict of interest
(8.1 – 8.3)
8.1 Clubs and players must use ‘reasonable endeavor’ to ensure that there is no conflict of interests or at least the conflict of interest is unlikely to exist between the parties prior to engaging with the services of the intermediary.
8.2 No conflict of interest is deemed to exist if the intermediary discloses in writing any actual or potential conflict of interest he might have with other parties involved in concluding a specific transaction, and if he or she obtains a written consent from all other parties involved before engaging in any activities in connection with the relevant transaction.
8.3 When an intermediary is appointed to represent both the club and player, both parties should disclose in writing which party will remunerate the agent and ensure that all the documentation specified in article 8 paragraph 2 is provided for the concerned association.
9. Sanctions
(9.1 & 9.2)
9.1 Associations are responsible for the imposition of sanctions on any party under their jurisdiction that violates the provisions of these Regulations, their statutes or regulations.
9.2 Associations are obliged to publish accordingly and to inform FIFA of any disciplinary sanctions taken against any intermediary. The FIFA Disciplinary Committee will then decide on the extension of the sanction to have worldwide effect in accordance with the FIFA Disciplinary Code.
10. Enforcement of association’s obligations
(10.1 & 10.2)
10.1 FIFA shall monitor the proper implementation of these minimum standards/
requirements by the associations and may take appropriate measures if the relevant principles are not complied with.
10.2 The FIFA Disciplinary Committee shall be competent to deal with such matters in accordance with the FIFA Disciplinary Code.
11. Transitional measures
(11.1 & 11.2)
11.1 These provisions, which were approved by the FIFA Executive Committee on 21 March 2014, supersede the Players’ Agents Regulations last amended on 29 October 2007 and come into force on 1 April 2015.
11.2 With the coming into force of these provisions, the previous licensing system shall be abandoned and all existing licences will lose validity with immediate effect and shall be returned to the associations that issued them.
Bibliography:
FIFA (n.d.). Regulations on Working with Intermediaries (online). Available at https://resources.fifa.com/image/upload/regulations-on-working-with-intermediaries-2367763.pdf?cloudid=cr6dquxm2adupv8q3ply