FIFA Must Think Outside The Box' To Control Transfer Fees

It was another of those off-field moments that didn’t receive too much attention at the time, but will profoundly influence the game for years. The January transfer window will certainly be affected.

- MIGUEL DELANEY

On 30 November, an Arbitral Tribunal in the United Kingdom ruled that Fifa would not be able to impose a cap on agent commissions for football transfers in the territory. The decision immediately freed the various agencies to start consulting with clubs on January plans knowing what budgets they could work within, and have forced the global governing body “back to the drawing board”.

Potential alternatives, like limiting the number of possible transfers, strengthening homegrown player rules to spread talent and even salary caps have since been floated but all ideas are naturally at a very early stage. Fifa would argue this reflects how the impetus behind the agent reforms was simply to control transfer spending to improve competitive balance in the sport. In other words, to ensure it is less dictated by money and more teams stand a chance of winning.

The logic behind that was that the current agent industry incentivises transfer money, which further concentrates talent at the wealthiest clubs, increasing financial disparity. One of the examples put forward is that, if Erling Haaland or Kylian Mbappe were to move, the agent fees would cost £50m. Only five clubs in the world could feasibly afford that. That, they argued, is why caps on commissions are essential. Fifa have since released figures that show a 42.5 per cent increase in agent service fees from 2022 to 2023, at $888.1m, with the commissions surpassing $1m in the women’s game for the first time.