How to check if a football agent is licensed

If someone offers to represent you, your child or your club in a transfer, checking their FIFA licence is not a courtesy. It is an obligation. Article 18 of the FIFA Football Agent Regulations (FFAR) says clients must satisfy themselves that an agent is appropriately licensed by FIFA before signing a representation agreement, and must not engage an unlicensed person to perform agent services. A player or club that gets this wrong can face sanctions too.

The check takes a few minutes. This guide explains how to do it as of October 2026, what a valid licence tells you, and what to do if the answer is no.

Who needs a FIFA agent licence?

Since 1 October 2023, only a FIFA-licensed football agent may perform football agent services connected to an international transfer, approach a potential client, or sign a representation agreement. Football agent services is a wide term: it covers negotiating, communicating about or preparing a deal for a player, coach or club.

The licence belongs to an individual, never a company. An agency can employ unlicensed staff, but under article 11 of the FFAR they may not perform agent services or approach potential clients. So if a scout or agency employee is the one courting you, ask which licensed agent will sign the agreement, and check that person.

Domestic deals are governed by the national football agent regulations of the relevant member association. Depending on the national association, there may be a separate national register or registration requirement as well, so check both where a domestic move is involved.

How to check a football agent licence

1. Ask for their FIFA digital licence card

The most direct check is the one FIFA itself now points to. A notice on the FIFA Agent Platform says that to verify whether an agent is licensed by FIFA, you may request their digital card. Licensed agents can download a personal digital licence card from the Platform. It carries a QR code, and the Platform's help centre explains that scanning it takes you to a dedicated licence validation page on the FIFA Agent Platform showing the agent's licence status and licence number.

Scan the QR code yourself, on your own phone, and check that the page opens on agents.fifa.com. A screenshot of a card, or a link someone sends you, proves nothing on its own. What you are relying on is the status shown on FIFA's own page.

2. Search the FIFA Football Agents Directory

FIFA has maintained a Football Agents Directory on the Agent Platform, searchable by licence ID, FIFA ID or full name, and FIFA's agents pages still link to it. When we checked in October 2026, the directory address redirected visitors who were not signed in to the Platform home page, so you may need an Agent Platform account to use it. The FFAR's disclosure and publication rules in article 19, which would have FIFA publish details of agents and their clients, have been suspended worldwide since FIFA circular 1873 of 30 December 2023. If you can search it, match the full name exactly and compare the licence number with the one on the agent's card.

Be wary of unofficial agent lists. Several websites republish agent names, but they are not FIFA records and can be out of date. FIFA's own Platform is the source to rely on.

3. Check the licence number on the paperwork

Article 16 of the FFAR requires an agent to ensure their name, licence number, signature and the name of their client appear in any contract resulting from their services. A representation agreement or employment contract with no licence number on it is a reason to stop and ask questions.

4. If you still cannot confirm it, ask FIFA

FIFA handles regulatory enquiries about agents at [email protected]. Your national association can also tell you whether someone is registered for domestic work in its territory.

What a FIFA licence tells you, and what it does not

A valid licence confirms that the person passed the FIFA exam or qualified for an exemption, met the eligibility requirements when they applied, and has kept up their annual fee and CPD. Those eligibility requirements are meaningful: no convictions for offences such as fraud, corruption, money laundering, sexual abuse or trafficking, no serious ethics bans from a sports body, no bankruptcy in the previous five years, and no interest in a club or a betting business.

Status matters as much as existence. Under article 17 of the FFAR, a licence is automatically provisionally suspended if the agent stops meeting the eligibility requirements, misses the licence fee deadline or fails to complete CPD. If they do not fix the fee or CPD problem within 60 days, the licence is withdrawn. A licence that was valid last season may not be valid today, which is why checking the live status beats trusting a certificate.

Check minors authorisation separately. An agent who wants to represent a minor, or a club in a deal involving a minor, must first complete FIFA's designated CPD course on minors. The digital licence card shows whether the agent is authorised to represent minors. If the answer is no, they should not be representing a player under 18.

What a licence does not tell you is whether the agent is any good, whether they have the contacts they claim, or whether their terms are fair. It is the minimum, not an endorsement.

Red flags when an agent approaches you

Some warning signs come straight from the regulations. Others are simply common sense.

• They will not show you their digital licence card, or the QR code does not lead to a valid status on agents.fifa.com.
• The agreement they want you to sign has no licence number, or it is signed by an agency rather than a named licensed individual.
• For a player or coach, the representation agreement runs longer than two years or renews automatically. Article 12 of the FFAR limits these agreements to two years and makes automatic renewal clauses null and void.
• The agreement penalises you for negotiating your own contract without them. Article 12 makes such clauses null and void.
• They did not tell you in writing to consider independent legal advice before signing, and did not ask you to confirm whether you took it, as article 12 requires.
• They offer you or your family money, gifts or other advantages to sign. Article 16 prohibits this.
• They are approaching a minor earlier than six months before the age at which the player may sign a first professional contract, or without the written consent of the legal guardian. Article 13 forbids both.
• They ask for upfront payments for trials, showcases or introductions to clubs. Nothing in the FIFA licensing system requires you to pay an agent for access to clubs, so treat any such request with suspicion.
• They promise a contract with a named club, or pressure you to sign before you have taken advice.

What to do if your agent is not licensed

Do not sign anything. If you have not yet signed, the simplest protection is to walk away. A player, coach or club that engages an unlicensed person to perform agent services is itself in breach of article 18 of the FFAR, so going ahead puts you at risk as well as them.

Report it. Both agents and clients have a duty under the FFAR to report breaches to FIFA, the confederations or member associations. Send the details to [email protected] and to your national association. Keep messages, contracts and any record of payments.

If you already signed with someone who turns out to be unlicensed, take legal advice. FIFA's agents FAQ explains that the FFAR do not themselves set out what happens to an existing agreement with an unlicensed agent, and that national law will generally govern it. The person who acted without a licence faces their own consequences: they can be sanctioned, and they become ineligible to apply for a licence for 24 months after their last unlicensed activity.

If your agent was licensed but the licence has been suspended or withdrawn, the FFAR treat that as just cause for you to terminate the representation agreement (article 12). Again, take advice before acting, and keep a dated record of the licence status you saw.

For agents and agencies: make the check easy

If you are the agent, assume every serious club and family will check you, and make it simple. Keep your digital licence card ready to share, put your licence number on every agreement as article 16 requires, and keep your minors authorisation current. Agencies should also know at a glance which staff hold licences and when each person's fee and CPD fall due. A system such as Quanda can hold that alongside mandate expiry dates, so nobody discovers a lapsed licence in the middle of a deal.

Thinking of getting licensed yourself?

Every licensed agent passed the same FIFA exam: 20 questions in 60 minutes, with a 75% pass mark. You can try our free mock exam at /fifa-agent-exam-practice/mock-exam, or start with the practice questions at /fifa-agent-exam-practice.