With the acquisition wave of U.S. companies buying European football player representation firms underway, many now expect a major legal battle next year between European soccer agents and FIFA over proposed regulation and fees.
Multiple sources told Sports Business Journal that they expect European agents to sue FIFA next year if it imposes the regulations, which could include cutting fees.
Soccer agents outside the U.S. make between 5% and 10% of the value for player deals and transfers, depending on if they are representing the player or the clubs involved, because fees aren’t regulated. That’s far above what U.S. sports agents earn. In the NFL, for example, the maximum is 3% of a deal’s value. In Major League Baseball, there is no maximum, but top agents make about 5%.
However, those percentages for deals outside the U.S. could be trimmed if FIFA, as expected, comes out with regulations.
“It looks like we are going to have to go to court and fight them and that is what is going to happen,” said Jonathan Barnett, who recently sold his agency Stellar Group to ICM Partners. “We believe what they are proposing is illegal.”
The FIFA media office did not return a request for comment about the proposed changes.
Barnett said agents would sue FIFA if it tries to impose regulations that are being discussed. Another agent, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, agreed that agents are united and believe some of the things FIFA is discussing would constitute restraint of trade.
Tensions between FIFA and player agents are not new, Barnett said.
“FIFA and the agents have been at war for a long time,” Barnett said. “Nobody loves agents; nobody loves soccer agents. I’m not sure my mother loves them. But at the end of the day, we don’t do anything to please FIFA. We do it to please our players.”
