Agents, the EU Court backs FIFA: green light for restrictions on commissions and agency agreements
FIFA is working on a comprehensive overhaul of the transfer system, which is due to come into force on 1 January 2027
The latest legal battle over the regulation of football agents has ended, at least for now, with a victory for FIFA. The Court of Justice of the European Union has, in fact, recognised the legitimacy of certain key provisions of the new Regulations on Agents (FFAR), offering the international federation led by Gianni Infantino significant support in its complex task of reforming the international transfer system.
The Court’s ruling touches on one of the most sensitive areas of the contemporary football economy: that of agents operating in the transfer market, a sector which, over the last twenty years, has taken on increasing importance both financially and in terms of its influence on club strategies.
The ruling does not represent a complete victory for FIFA, but it establishes a principle of great significance: the international body may intervene to regulate the activities of agents where this is aimed at ensuring the proper functioning of the football system and complies with the principle of proportionality.
In particular, the Court considered that some of the measures most contested by operators in the sector were justifiable in principle. These include, in particular, the requirement to obtain a FIFA licence to practise the profession, the cap on commissions, the prohibition on representing more than one party in the same transaction at the same time, and the principle that fees must be paid directly by the client being represented.
These are regulations that had provoked strong opposition from many police officers’ associations, particularly in Europe, where the business of police investigations is worth hundreds of millions of euros every year.
