Agent Fees Illegal

I have been annoyed with this for some time. When negotiating a contract on behalf of a player, the agent works for the player and has an interest in getting his player the best possible deal. Simultaneously being paid directly by the club interested in hiring his employer effectively puts the agent on two sides of the table. On the one side, the club can bribe him to get his player to accept a worse deal. On the other side, he can push for the club to give his player a better deal.

In my country, this practice is illegal.

Agent fees in FM should be dropped completely.

Whilst I do agree with you to some extent the fact is the way agents works in FM is similar to the way they work IRL and until that changes its unlikely to change in FM.

The agent is only paid by the buying club at the time of a transfer- all the rest of the time he gets a representation fee from the player, which the game doesn't show. To me it is a daft setup ( the player should pay the agent all the time IMO) but while it is a fair representation of what happens in real life, it will have to remain in the game. It is hard to see that it can be illegal when it is controlled and regulated by FIFA, but if you have documentary evidence of illegality in your country, raise it in the relevant leagues specific forum of the Bugs forum.

Because FIFA is a paragon of virtue' date=' and can't be bribed, am-I-right?

[url']http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2764423/FIFA-bribes-enquiry-stay-secret-leading-anger-accusations-corruption.html[/url]

The agent is only paid by the buying club at the time of a transfer- all the rest of the time he gets a representation fee from the player, which the game doesn't show. To me it is a daft setup ( the player should pay the agent all the time IMO) but while it is a fair representation of what happens in real life, it will have to remain in the game. It is hard to see that it can be illegal when it is controlled and regulated by FIFA, but if you have documentary evidence of illegality in your country, raise it in the relevant leagues specific forum of the Bugs forum.

Controlled and regulated by FIFA? Well we can all relax in the knowledge that the process is completely transparent and aboveboard then...

Doesn't matter what you think of FIFA in this case, agents are allowed to charge these fees, they have become an integral part of transfers and refusal to pay will often see a player go elsewhere. Clubs pay them each year, to agents representing players and to agents they employ to act on their behalf.

FIFA shelved their internation agent rules way back (2008, I think) in favour of letting the individual FAs handle it, but I do have documentary evidence that it is illegal in Norway at least. The controcersial agent Jim Solbakken is currently under investigation for exactly this kind of thing - wearing two hats during negotiations. It's a grey area in some countries, I guess.

Still really stupid, the way it's being done in FM, though. I don't agree that it's a fair representation of real life; a club cannot pay a player's agent directly, he doesn't work for them.

This is an issue that I've brought up for several years. I finally got a response (after about 3 years of bringing it up) and was told that it was difficult to have multiple agent systems in the game. Might be annoying, but doesn't seem like it's about the change anytime soon. It's illegal in my country as well as agent fees are set to a fixed rate of what their representative player makes. Agents are paid by the player and not the club. I think this is a fairly rare occurrence though.

May I ask what countries we are talking about here?

FIFA shelved their internation agent rules way back (2008, I think) in favour of letting the individual FAs handle it, but I do have documentary evidence that it is illegal in Norway at least. The controcersial agent Jim Solbakken is currently under investigation for exactly this kind of thing - wearing two hats during negotiations. It's a grey area in some countries, I guess.

Still really stupid, the way it's being done in FM, though. I don't agree that it's a fair representation of real life; a club cannot pay a player's agent directly, he doesn't work for them.

While it might not be how it works in Norway, it certainly is in England. Perhaps FM needs to change agent rules in future versions to reflect specific countries rules and laws.

Quoting from the daily mail will automatically lose you any argument

If agent fees IRL work the same way they do in FM, it's a pretty shockingly corrupt system. In most American sports like baseball/basketball/football, the agent just collects a percentage of the player's wages, so their interests are always aligned. It's insane that when negotiating a transfer in the soccer world, an agent negotiates a fee with the buying club almost completely independently from the terms of the contract he gets for the player.

If agent fees IRL work the same way they do in FM, it's a pretty shockingly corrupt system. In most American sports like baseball/basketball/football, the agent just collects a percentage of the player's wages, so their interests are always aligned. It's insane that when negotiating a transfer in the soccer world, an agent negotiates a fee with the buying club almost completely independently from the terms of the contract he gets for the player.

It's the same in Canada. I think agent fees are fixed at 15% of their client's wages (paid by the client, not the club), but can't be sure. Think that percentage is a mixture of contract and endorsement percentages.

It is like that IRL but got to say they are a pain in the a**e on FM, agents are money grabbing bar stewards

I'm not if anyone has seen this. probably to the the guys and ladies at SI this is old news, but it seems starting of April 1, 2015 the new FIFA's new Regulation For Players' Agents will come into affect.

Personally I haven't read it all, but there are a couple of interesting points to mention. First is there will be no longer need for agent's licensing, it all be open to anyone wish to do so. Which can be good or bad depending on your point of view.

But what I read says this on payments to Intermediaries:

PAYMENTS TO INTERMEDIARIES

As concerns payments being made to intermediaries, the Regulations on Working with Intermediaries undoubtedly provide for a stricter approach:

- in an attempt to provide for an overall rationalisation of fees paid to intermediaries, the new Regulations set – as a recommendation – a limit of 3% of the agreed player’s basic gross income (for the entire duration of the relevant employment contract) or of the eventual transfer fee paid (in the event of conclusion of a transfer agreement);

- furthermore, the new Regulations prohibit any payment to intermediaries when the player concerned is a minor;

- also payments to intermediaries related to any interest they would hold in any transfer compensation or future transfer value of a player are explicitly prohibited by the new Regulations; by doing so, FIFA seeks to ensure that payments to be made by one club to another remain within the club circuit instead of moving on to intermediaries.

Similarly to the old Players’ Agents Regulations, any payment for the services of an intermediary shall be made exclusively by the intermediary’s client to the intermediary, unless the player – after the conclusion of the relevant transaction – gives his written consent for the club to pay the intermediary on his behalf. In any case, the payment must be in accordance with the terms of payment agreed between the player and the intermediary in the relevant representation contract.

Which from my understanding, the idea is for intermediaries (that what FIFA will call Agents, former licensed or not) is for the money that the clubs spent remain within football itself and that intermediaries will be paid at maximum of 3% of the player total income. Also each country association will menage how intermediaries will operate, meaning FIFA will no longer will be involved in such a matter.

Of course I also read, that the english Association of Football Agents (AFA), is preparing to challenge this new regulation, as it goes against European Law. I'm not well verse in such matters, but i figure the AFA is trying to protect the status quo. if AFA didn't challenge such a new regulation would have come a surprise for me.

Edit: here is the official documentation.

If agent fees IRL work the same way they do in FM, it's a pretty shockingly corrupt system.

Yes, it is. Your point?

Yes, it is. Your point?

I kind of thought that was a point in and of itself. I stand corrected.