How to Become a Football Agent

If you have a good head for business, and a love for football, then a career as a football agent will be right up your street.

A football agent represents football players and handles all elements of their careers. You would help them decide which club to play for, ensure they are sufficiently paid for their time, and complete all the deals on their behalf. It’s a rewarding job, but is incredibly intensive – especially as you reach the top level of the industry, you’ll be expected to work almost every hour of every day. You can either work as a part of an agency, or as an individual agent, though trends are increasingly pushing towards agencies with specialist agents who handle areas such as answering media requests, negotiating contracts, and securing sponsorship deals. You may also find yourself acting as an agent for football managers as well as players. At the end of the day, what you are there to do is look after the players, and act in their best interests.”

The football agent industry is highly saturated, so there’s always a lot of competition. As such, when you start you truly start at the beginning – even the best football coaches usually start their career by working with non-league talents, trying to get them signed on. Your first step is to get registered with the Football Association (FA) as a registered intermediary. Without this certification, you cannot legally conduct intermediary activity on behalf of a football player or manager.

The certification stage will be a test of character, as well as a way to ensure you have never been convicted of financial crimes, or other serious criminal charges. Once you’ve done that, you need to obtain professional liability insurance, and then simply go out and put in the hard work to get some players signed on with new clubs.

As your earnings are going to be based almost entirely on commission, this is the hardest stage of your new career. You will need to go to visit non-league clubs to watch their up and coming talent, and try to then persuade full-time clubs to hire them, much like a football scout. It’s an unforgiving hiring environment, but if you prove successful, it can swiftly become highly lucrative.

To be a football agent, you need to have a very well developed skill set. This will include:

Drive and ambition – especially in your early career, before you can join an agency, you will need to be incredibly self-disciplined. You will be working alone, and will need to be independent and willing to work the hours needed to achieve your goals.

Confidence  – you will need to be confident and able to show that your self-confidence is not unwarranted. If you are negotiating for a player, you need to be able to show you are confident in them or getting them hired will be impossible.

Excellent understanding of contract law  – much of the work of a football agent is handling the legal side of their clients contracts. This means you need to have an excellent understanding of how the law applies to your clients.

Trustworthiness and tact – while representing your clients, you will often be entrusted with numerous secrets and pieces of sensitive information by your clients. Your clients have to rely on your utterly, as you control their futures so you must be trustworthy and tactful at all times.

A true passion for football – it should be obvious, but without passion for football itself, it’s likely that you won’t get very far as a football agent. You need to have impeccable market knowledge, and without passion to drive this, that will be hard to achieve.

Very strong market knowledge – your market knowledge will be the stage on which you negotiate your clients contracts. This knowledge could be the key to finding your client a successful career opportunity, so you have to make sure you’re at the absolute top of your game.

Exceptional communications skills – a very large part of the role of a football agent is being an intermediary for their clients. You will need excellent interpersonal skills to successfully negotiate, and also to communicate effectively with the players themselves.

What qualifications does a football agent need?

To be a football agent, you do not need any formal qualifications. You simply need to have successfully registered with the Football Association. However, due to the complex legal side of the role, many football agents were previously lawyers or had trained as lawyers, as this allows them the best chance of success. If you wish to be a football agent, you should make sure that you have a good understanding of the football market, business decisions and the complexities of contract law.

What makes a good football agent?

The difference between a good and a bad football agent is that the good football agent has an excellent network to draw on. You cannot be everywhere at the same time, and you need the help of others to achieve success. Whether you need to be made aware of opportunities for your existing clients, or to be warned to steer clear of a problematic club, then you will be doing so based on the judgement of your network.

Networking is probably the most important thing in this business. To create a network, to literally build up that network, to maintain it, and at the right time, to really use this network

Steps to becoming a football agent?

Step 1 – Begin building a network in the football industry

The first step in becoming a successful football agent is in building a network of individuals in the industry. Without their help, you will find it a hundred times harder to achieve success. You will need to ask these individuals about new potential signings, hints about players you hadn’t previously considered, and just generally as a network of contacts who can be relied upon.

Step 2 – Ensure you are eligible to be a football agent

Once you have begun building your network, you will need to ensure you are fully eligible to become a football agent. This means ensuring you have not committed any financial crimes or serious crimes, and that you have never been declared bankrupt. You will also need to demonstrate your right to residency and work within the UK. At this stage, it is also advisable to ensure you are sufficiently educated in contract law and the specifics of the global football market.

Step 3 – Make your application to the FA

After proving that you have the right to work in the UK, you should then make your application to the FA. If you intend to work with minors at any stage, this will also include a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check to ensure you should be allowed to work with children.

Step 4 – Get some experience

Assuming you pass the application process, you will now be allowed to work as a football agent. However, as you are at an early stage of your career it may take a while before you are sufficiently well known as to attract big clients to work with you. Either you must begin seeking out new talent, work with undesirable talent, or work with an agency to gain experience. By doing so, you build your skills as well as reinforcing your network, hopefully opening doors in the future.

Step 5 – Draw on your network, and stay driven!

When you have begun to amass some experience, you’ll need to start drawing on your network and driving your career forwards. At some point, you will need to make a name for yourself, and by helping an influential player achieve a new contract, or by signing a new up-and-coming name will certainly assist you in this.

How much do football agents make?

Football agents can make a very varied amount of money depending on where they are within their career. As football agents earn on commission for any transfer or contract they negotiate, those in their early career are unlikely to make much as they are not representing top-flight football players. Most UK football clubs will work at a rate of 5% of the players annual salary. Those who are working at the highest level within the profession have the potential to be earning millions each year.

Agents take a commission (generally anywhere up to 10 per cent) from the athletes they represent, so someone who acts on behalf of stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi will earn a significant fee.

According to Sports Management Worldwide, an agent can earn anywhere between £1,200 to £550,000 per Premier League client annually. For agents of Major League Soccer players that figure ranges from $1,300 to $260,000. Of course, some agents make millions each year, but that is an exclusive club.

For those candidates who are not exempt from taking the FIFA football agent exam, the first step to obtain a licence to act as a Football Agent is to submit an application via the FIFA Agent Platform.

If your application is successful, you will be invited to sit the FIFA Football Agent Exam. 

You can freely choose at which member association you want to take the exam. The exam lasts 60 minutes and comprises twenty multiple choice questions designed to test your knowledge of FIFA regulations and the football transfer system. The pass mark is 75%. You will have to bring your own laptop and provide your own internet connection to take the exam.

Following discussions among the members of the FIFA Football Agent Working Group in June 2024, FIFA decided to reduce the period during which applications can be submitted (application period) to 45 days and to hold one exam per year as from 2025.

The location of the exam will be set by your country's soccer/football federation. In the United States, the US Soccer Federation set the location of the exam in Chicago, where the USSF is located.

Registration is completely free of charge but once you’ve been awarded a date to take your FIFA Agent License Exam it will cost you $400 to take the exam.

The exam is 20 questions and you have one hour to complete it. Questions vary from multiple choice and real-life case study scenarios.

Once you pass the exam to obtain the license it’s $600 US dollars.

To maintain good standards with FIFA you have to pay the $600 fee annually and continuing education is required.

The FIFA Agent exam is difficult and requires lots of study and preparation. One of the most popular options for those who want to become a licensed FIFA Agent, signing up for Sports Management Worldwide's FIFA Agent Prep course is ideal.

SMWW's FIFA Agent Prep course will go over everything you need to know to take the FIFA Agent exam, including FIFA Football Agent Regulations (FFAR), FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, FIFA Statutes, FIFA Code of Ethics, FIFA Disciplinary Code, FIFA Guardians: Child Safeguarding Toolkit, and additional case study questions and answers.

 Get our Practical Guide on How to become a FIFA Agent.  Our full mentorship guide will  provide study guides, study partners, and a community to help support you.

Click here to fill our application form:   https://forms.gle/jt7DaqkmobimT5PX8 

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