Wednesday 22 January 2020 15:49, UK
Many of Europe’s top football agents, including Mino Raiola and Jorge Mendes, have joined forces with up to two hundred UK-based agents, to fight FIFA’s plans to curb their power and influence in the transfer market.
The two 'Super agents', alongside Jonathan Barnett, founder of the Stellar Group, have indicated they will attend a meeting on Wednesday in North London of the Association of Football Agents (AFA), as they seek to delay or stop FIFA's latest recommendations.
FIFA's Stakeholders Committee voted in favour of the new regulations in October last year, limiting the amount an intermediary can earn to 10 per cent of a transfer fee - and three per cent of the player's fee.
They plan to implement the new rules as early as next season - although privately FIFA expects that deadline could be delayed by litigation from a number of representative bodies, including the AFA.
Mel Stein, co-founder of the AFA, told Sky Sports News that agents are already considering litigation in numerous territories around the globe, to make sure the proposed regulations are shelved.
"FIFA say they are ready to progress with the new rules, yet the consultation period is still to begin," Stein said. "Their plans have no validity whatsoever.
"They say they want to stop money going out of the game, yet there are no rules governing the amount a player, a manager or an administrator can earn. So why should there be rules for an agent?
"No one talks about money leaving the game when Gordon Taylor earns a seven-figure sum.
"When Tom Cruise earns $10m for a film, no one limits how much his agent earns. It is nonsensical."
Stein said the basis of any potential litigation would claim the rules were anti-competitive and a restriction of trade.
Globally, agents earned more than £500m in international transfers business last year - an increase of almost 20 per cent year on year.
FIFA says 80 percent of that total was paid by clubs from Italy, England, Germany, Portugal, Spain and France.
