International transfer certificate
Also called ITC
An international transfer certificate is the document the player’s former association sends to the new one, without which the new association cannot register the player at all.
A player registered at one association can only be registered at a new association once that new association has received an ITC from the old one. No ITC, no registration, however complete the rest of the paperwork is.
The regulations are unusually blunt about the terms. The ITC must be issued free of charge, with no conditions and no time limit attached, and any provision to the contrary is null and void. A former association cannot make it conditional on a debt being settled or on a form being filed, and a club cannot hold it hostage as leverage in a dispute. The issuing association lodges a copy with FIFA.
Two situations where it does not arise. An ITC is not required for a player under the age of ten. And associations are forbidden from requesting one in order to let a player take part in friendly matches during a trial, which closes off a route that used to be used to slow trials down.
Where the player is a professional, the new association must then write to the associations of the clubs that trained them between 12 and 23 to tell them the registration has happened. That letter is what starts the training rewards clock, which is why it is in the regulations rather than left to good manners.
Worked example
A deal is agreed on the last day of the window and everything is signed. The former association has not sent the ITC.
The player is not registered. Not late, not provisionally, not registered. The agreement between the clubs is real and the registration it was for did not happen, which is a different problem from a deal falling through and usually a worse one.
Source: FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, January 2026 edition, art. 9
Related terms
- Registration periodA registration period, known everywhere as the transfer window, is one of the two annual periods fixed by each association during which players may be registered with a new club.
- Transfer matching systemTMS is the system every international transfer passes through, in which both clubs enter the deal separately and the transfer only proceeds if the two entries match.
- TrialA trial is a temporary period in which a club evaluates a player who is not registered with it.