Premier League, Football League to discuss agent rule changes as FIFA task force reviews transfer system
Friday 6 April 2018 16:49, UK
The Premier League and the English Football League are to consider new rules in a bid to reduce agents' fees.
The issue will be discussed at next Friday's Premier League shareholders' meeting, where capping fees and prohibiting dual representation will be considered as possible measures.
It comes after the Premier League conducted a 12-month review with its clubs and their senior officials, including those in charge of player recruitment.
Earlier this week, the Football Association revealed Premier League clubs paid agents £211m in the past year - an increase of £37m.
World governing body FIFA has also set up a task force called the Football Stakeholders Committee to examine the transfer system and the question of agents and intermediaries.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in January: "I am very concerned about the huge amount of money that is flowing out of the football industry.
"The commissions paid to intermediaries continue to rise while, at the same time, the amount paid through the solidarity mechanism and training compensations is falling. These increasingly larger transactions are often not done in a clean, open manner and raise a lot of questions about potential misuse of funds.
"We have to tackle this issue; the curtains must be open. I want objective calculations and payments that all go through a central clearing house, where both the intermediaries' commissions, transfer fees and training compensations are handled.
"As the world governing body of football, it is our duty to deal with this matter. As in many other businesses, it seems normal that intermediaries in football must be regulated. That is also in their interest. There is now a momentum, because more and more stakeholders realise that the situation is no longer sustainable.
"We have initiated a process with the main football stakeholders to review the transfer system and hopefully we can convince the confederations, the leagues, the players' unions and the clubs that this is the right way."
