English Football Agents Win Legal Case Against FIFA

English football agents have won a lawsuit against the world football governing body, FIFA, which means that there won’t be a cap on fees paid to agents during transfers.

A group of football agents from big agencies like CAA Base, Stellar, and Wasserman dragged FIFA to a court in the United Kingdom to stop FIFA from enforcing a fee cap on intermediaries.

FIFA decided to introduce the fee cap to halt the 400 percent growth in fees paid to agents in the last summer transfer window. Recall that agents made over £400 million in agency fees in the last transfer window which is an unprecedented record.

However, the agents argued that the world football governing body doesn’t have the right to enforce a fee cap policy against them and that such a policy will favour big football agencies and negatively affect the growth of smaller agencies.

This was the same argument football agents in Germany put up against FIFA that prevented the implementation of the fee cap policy in the country.

As the agents in Germany triumphed at Dortmund’s court earlier this year, football agents in the UK also enjoyed the same victory in the UK according to a report by Daily Mail on Thursday, November 30.

Following this ruling, the United Kingdom has joined Spain, Germany, and France as the big four European countries where the FIFA’s agency fee cap can’t be implemented.

This is a huge setback for FIFA’s efforts to standardize the operation of football agents across the world. But the European Football Agents Association which is waiting for Italy to join the growing number of the big countries liberated from FIFA agency fee cap, is excited about the development.

A statement from the association reads: “Today we heard the results of the English football agents case in the FA Rule K arbitration proceedings. We are happy to hear that the court has sided with the agents and blocked the implementation of the FFAR. As our English friends so aptly put, these regulations were an attempt at using a sledgehammer to crack a nut—far overreaching and overstepping, beyond legitimate cause.

“With the biggest market now free of the FFAR’s governance, we see that 4 of the Big Five are free from the FIFA-imposed cap, with only Italy’s status to be determined as we await the new set of federation rules. We celebrate with our English friends and are happy to have assisted in this monumental case. We will continue supporting all countries in their fight against the FFAR and for a more fair, transparent, and uniform regulatory system that truly represents agents worldwide.”