Regulations
FIFA Football Agent Regulations: what agencies must record
The FIFA Football Agent Regulations, known as the FFAR, changed the profession more than any rule in twenty years. They brought back the license, set out what a representation agreement must say, capped service fees and made agents declare almost everything on a platform. For an agency, that boils down to one practical question: do you have on record everything the regulations can ask you for?
This article covers what the current edition says, what remains open after the European ruling of July 2026 and what an agency should keep in order.
Where they come from and which edition applies
FIFA had deregulated the activity in 2015: each national association kept its own register of “intermediaries” and no exam was needed. The FFAR reversed that. The first version was approved at the end of 2022 and applied in full from 1 October 2023. The edition in force today was approved by the FIFA Council on 10 December 2024 and has applied since 1 January 2025.
On top of the FIFA rules, every national association must have its own national regulations for transactions that do not cross borders. If your agency works in a single country, both sets of rules apply to you.
What they require: the license
Only an agent licensed by FIFA may provide agent services, approach a potential client or sign a representation agreement. The license is personal, cannot be transferred and allows the holder to work worldwide.
To get one, you must meet the eligibility requirements (no convictions for offences such as corruption, fraud or money laundering, no role as an official or employee of a club, league or association, no interest in a club or a betting company), pass the exam and pay the annual fee. After that, you keep it through continuing professional development. We cover it step by step in how to become a soccer agent.
A detail people often miss: an agency can be a company, but the service is always provided by the licensed individual. Employees without a license may not approach a player to offer representation, and the agent is responsible for what the agency does.
What they require: the representation agreement
There is no representation without a written agreement. The regulations set minimum content (the parties, the duration, the service fee, the nature of the services and the signatures) and rules that change how agents work:
- With a player or coach, the agreement may last two years at most. It can only be extended by signing a new one, and any automatic renewal clause is void.
- Only one agreement per player at a time. Before signing it, the agent must advise the player in writing to take independent legal advice, and get written confirmation back.
- Any clause that stops the player from negotiating on their own, or penalizes them for doing so, is void.
- With a club there is no maximum duration, and there can be several agreements as long as they relate to different transactions.
Every agreement, and every amendment or termination, must be uploaded to the FIFA Agent Platform within 14 days. The same goes for service fee payments, agreements for other services and revenue-sharing arrangements with other agents. If your agency is a company, its ownership must be declared too.
The most common drafting mistakes are covered in our article on the representation agreement.
What they require: fees and who pays them
The regulations set how much can be charged, who pays and when. In short:
| Who the agent represents | Up to USD 200,000 annual pay | The amount above USD 200,000 |
|---|---|---|
| The player | 5% | 3% |
| The engaging club | 5% | 3% |
| Both (permitted dual representation) | 10% | 6% |
| The releasing club | 10% of the transfer fee | — |
On top of that, the client pays: the fee is paid by whoever engaged the agent. The only exception is a player earning less than USD 200,000 a year, whose fee may be paid by the engaging club if they agree. Fees are paid on an invoice basis, in quarterly installments over the employment contract and only on the pay the player actually receives. The full math is in how much soccer agents earn.
Dual representation, conflicts and minors
An agent may act for only one party in each transaction. The single permitted exception is representing the player and the engaging club at the same time, with the prior written consent of both. Never the releasing club together with another party.
Nor may an agent approach a player who has an exclusive agreement with another agent, except in the final two months of that agreement. With minors the rule is strict: the approach may only happen within the six months before the player reaches the age at which they can sign their first professional contract, with the written consent of their legal guardians, and the agent must first complete the specific training course on minors.
What is still open: the European ruling
The regulations have been challenged in court from day one. On 30 December 2023, while waiting for the Court of Justice of the European Union, FIFA suspended worldwide the application of some rules, including the service fee cap.
The ruling came on 16 July 2026, in RRC Sports v FIFA. The court did not declare the regulations valid or invalid as a whole: it said the license, the fee cap, the ban on multiple representation, the client-pays rule and the installment payments may be justified, and that a German court must now decide whether they are proportionate. It also warned that the two-month rule on approaching a player looks hard to defend, and that publishing so much data about agents clashes with data protection rules.
What to do with that: before treating the fee cap as applicable to a deal, check the current circulars from FIFA and from your national association. What has not changed is the need for a license, a written agreement and everything declared.
What an agency should have on record
If FIFA or your national association asks for information tomorrow, this is what you should be able to show in minutes, not days:
- The license of every agent in the agency, its number and the status of their continuing professional development.
- Every representation agreement, with its signing date, its expiry date (never more than two years with a player) and proof that it was uploaded to the platform.
- The written consents for dual representation and, with minors, from their guardians.
- The fee agreed in each contract, who is invoiced and who pays.
- What was invoiced and what was collected, installment by installment, with the date of each payment.
- Agreements for other services and with other agents, with their amounts.
Half of these are dates that expire. An exclusive representation agreement that nobody watches runs out without being renewed, and for the last two months any other agent may approach the player.
In TheScoutArena every contract sits in the player profile with its term and its fee, what was agreed, invoiced and collected shows on the same screen and expiry dates reach you by email every morning, with a traffic light by deadline. It does not replace uploading to the FIFA platform, but it keeps everything you declare there within reach.
In short
The agent regulations ask for three things: be licensed, put everything in writing and declare it on time. The 2026 ruling left some rules open, the fee cap above all, but not the need to run an organized agency. The one that keeps its contracts, dates and fees in one place answers any request without scrambling.
This article is for information only and is not legal advice. The source is the official text of the FIFA Football Agent Regulations, the edition in force since 1 January 2025, and information published by FIFA as of September 2026.