Prem, Saudi clubs help fuel record $888m in agent fees – FIFA

Clubs in England and Saudi Arabia have spent this year on player agents on international transfer deals to reach a record $888 million, FIFA said Thursday.

FIFA has noted “isolated cases of service fees even exceeding $10 million”, although the governing body last month lost a key judgment in London, which threatens its global regulations which seek to limit the amount of fees. agents who can be paid in transactions.

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Agents across Europe have taken legal action against FIFA and national soccer federations to block the rules that were due to come into force worldwide in October.

The project has stalled in England, where FIFA's latest research has shown they still dominate the multibillion-dollar player transfer market.

FIFA said English clubs were “by far the top spenders” in 2023, with a combined spending of more than $280 million on agents' fees on transfers between two clubs in different countries. Money from player transfers between two clubs in the same country does not count in FIFA's figures.

Total agent spending is up 42% from 2022 and more than a third from the previous high of $654 million in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.

Italian clubs spending $115.7 million is the only other collective nine-figure national total.

Saudi clubs have spent $86 million on agents as part of a state-backed recruitment program to bolster their domestic league with hires such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Karim Benzema.

FIFA did not elaborate on the details of individual transfers, but said that in 224 cases the agent's service fee was at least $1 million and that these transactions accounted for almost 69% of spending. total.

In most of the deals, agents received fees of between $10,000 and $100,000, FIFA said.

North and Central American clubs collectively spent $5.4 million on 20 transfers, and African clubs spent less than $200,000, FIFA said.