On 30 December 2023, whilst you might have been rehearsing the words to ‘Auld Lang Syne’ ahead of Hogmanay, FIFA published an update announcing the temporary suspension of the worldwide implementation of the FIFA Football Agent Regulations (“FFAR”).

At the 11^th hour, before the opening of the much maligned January 2024 transfer window for the five largest football leagues in Europe, FIFA’s unexpected decision raised several questions, the foremost of which are: Why has the implementation of the FFAR been suspended?; what does this suspension mean?; and, what will happen next?

What exactly are the FFAR?

At a high level, the FFAR are FIFA’s attempt to introduce basic service standards for football agents and their clients (players or coaches alike). Key elements include:

1. The establishment of a mandatory licensing system;
2. the prohibition of multiple representation to avoid conflicts of interest; and
3. perhaps most controversially, the introduction of a cap on agent fees.

FIFA’s stated objective of the FFAR is to reinforce contractual stability, protect the integrity of the transfer system and achieve greater financial transparency. However, agents and agencies across the world have, perhaps predictably, disagreed.

Timeline of events

On 16 December 2022 FIFA adopted the FFAR. By 1 October 2023 all national football associations (e.g. the Football Association (“FA”)) were obliged to implement agent regulations that were consistent with the FFAR.

However, since its announcement, the implementation has met resistance from various stakeholders. Associations of agents in various jurisdictions (e.g. England, Spain, Germany and Brazil) have each raised various civil claims or initiated arbitration proceedings to challenge the enforceability of the FFAR. Consequently, by the 1 October 2023 implementation deadline, none of the five largest football associations in Europe had introduced FFAR-compliant national agent regulations. Additionally, several other national football associations (e.g. in Switzerland and the Netherlands) opted to not fully implement FFAR-compliant national regulations.

The outcomes of these disputes have been inconsistent. Whilst the Court of Arbitration for Sport (“CAS”) concluded that the FFAR was in compliance with EU competition law, German and Spanish civil courts have not shared such an opinion. In May 2023, the waters muddied further with the District Court of Dortmund granting an injunction prohibiting FIFA from enforcing the FFAR for any transfer which has a link to the European Union until the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) renders its decision regarding FFARs implementation.

A little closer to home, multiple football agencies in England began arbitration proceedings against the FA to challenge the implementation of the FFAR. On 30 November 2023, the “Rule K arbitration tribunal” decided that two key elements of the FFAR which were to be implemented by the FA via national regulations - the service fee cap and the pro rata payment rules - would be in breach of UK competition law. This twin blow will be a serious cause for concern for FIFA as they run the risk of unequal legal standards within the international transfer system, regardless of any eventual ECJ ruling.

What are the rules now?

FIFA has, for now, affected worldwide temporary suspension of multiple key elements of the FFAR. All national football associations have been advised by FIFA to temporarily suspend the equivalent provisions from their national football agent regulations, unless they conflict with mandatory provisions of the law applicable in their territory.

The following FFAR rules are suspended:

• The service fee cap (article 15 paragraphs 1-4)
• The rules concerning service fee payments (article 14 paragraphs 6, 8 and 11)
• The client pays rule (article 14 paragraphs 2 and 10)
• The rules regarding the timing of service fee payments (article 14 paragraphs 7 and 12)
• The prohibition of double representation (article 12 paragraphs 8-10)
• The reporting obligations (article 16 paragraphs 2 h), j), k) and 4)
• The rules regarding disclosure and publication (article 19)
• The submission rule (article 4 paragraph 2; article 16 paragraph 2 b); article 3 paragraphs 2 c) and d); article 20; and article 21)
• The requirement for service fee payments to be made via the FIFA Clearing House (article 14 paragraph 13)

National associations have been quick to action this advice to comply with FIFA’s last-minute decision. For example, the FA’s Hogmanay gift to the footballing world was it’s revised football agent regulations at 8pm on 31 December 2023 which disapplied the above FFAR rules only hours before the January transfer window commenced. Who doesn’t love light festive reading after all.

The FFAR future

At the moment, the FFAR faces three unknowns:

1. The timing of a ECJ decision.
2. The impact of the ECJ decision.
3. The likelihood of any fresh legal challenges and appeals.

The key takeaways? Well, the wheels of justice turn slowly, and the ECJ is no exception. Any ECJ decision on the FFAR will likely be a matter of months or even years, whilst the threat of further legal challenges across the football world remains. Furthermore, whilst a ECJ ruling on the FFAR may be persuasive for non-EU jurisdictions such as the UK, an ECJ decision will only bind EU member states. Indeed, a tribunal in England has already struck down two elements of the FFAR, with no immediate room for recourse available for FIFA. In this particular case, neither the FA nor FIFA have published how they intend to proceed in light of this ruling.

It would be fair to say that FIFA’s troubles appear to be FFAR from over.

If you have any specific questions on the FFAR then please do contact our expert sports law team.

Related News, Insights & Events