FIFA’s agent rules on the brink: End of the road or a new beginning?

Last month FIFA suspended its much heralded agent regulations (FFAR) after a glut of legal challenges and injunctions, casting doubt on their long term future.
Agents’ legal counsel tells Off The Pitch of his optimism for the future of a regulatory framework, saying that recent European Court of Justice rulings favour a renewed consultative process.
Why it matters: FIFA says that regulation is needed to stop the football industry losing hundreds of millions annually to agents; agents argue that they are a key part of the functioning of the football industry.
The perspective: Leading sports lawyer warns that partial application of FFAR would have led to “absolute carnage” in the market had FIFA’s suspension not happened.

One of the key protagonists in the ongoing standoff between football agents and FIFA has told Off The Pitch that the environment has become much more amenable to the agreement of a regulatory framework, despite FIFA’s temporary suspension last month of its much hyped agent regulations (FFAR).

Roberto Branco Martins, General Counsel of the European Football Agents Association (EFAA), says that the agent industry is now “more comfortable” that it will be properly consulted on the futu

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