Football agent fees and commission under FIFA rules

Agent fees are the part of the FIFA Football Agent Regulations (FFAR) that has been fought over hardest. The text FIFA publishes sets out caps, a "client pays" rule and a payment schedule. Several of those provisions have been suspended worldwide since 30 December 2023, and the Court of Justice ruled on them in July 2026. This guide sets out what the rules say, what is actually being applied, and where the position is still open.

Everything here is as of October 2026 and is based on the current FFAR edition, which entered into force on 1 January 2025. Check the sources at the end before you rely on any single point in a live deal.

What a service fee is

Under the FFAR, the agent's commission is called a service fee. An agent may charge a service fee to a client as agreed in a representation agreement (article 14.1). The client can be a player, a coach, a club, a member association or a single-entity league.

Three principles apply to every fee and are not among the suspended provisions:

• The fee must correspond to services stipulated in advance in a written representation agreement, and that agreement must be in force when the services are performed (article 14.5).
• The fee is paid on an invoice basis (article 14.4).
• An agent cannot receive a fee for services relating to a minor unless the player is signing a first or subsequent professional contract under the applicable law (article 14.9).

Article 14.5(a) also allows an agent to keep receiving a fee after the representation agreement expires, as long as the employment contract they negotiated is still running and this was expressly agreed in the representation agreement. If you want that protection, it has to be written in.

How much football agents earn under the FIFA caps

Article 15 of the FFAR caps the service fee for a transaction, however many agents work for the same client. For players and coaches the cap is a percentage of the individual's remuneration. For a selling club it is a percentage of the transfer compensation.

• Representing the player or coach: 5% of remuneration up to USD 200,000 a year, 3% above that.
• Representing the engaging (buying or hiring) club: 5% up to USD 200,000, 3% above.
• Representing both the player and the engaging club (permitted dual representation): 10% up to USD 200,000, 6% above.
• Representing the releasing (selling) club: 10% of the transfer compensation.

The detail matters. Remuneration means gross pay under the negotiated employment contract, including base salary, sign-on fee and conditional payments such as bonuses, but excluding non-salary benefits like a car or housing. Conditional payments are left out when working out which band applies. The higher bands are marginal: the 3% (or 6%) applies only to the annual excess above USD 200,000. On the selling side, compensation for breach of contract and sell-on fees do not count towards the transfer compensation.

Article 15.3 adds an anti-avoidance rule. If the agent, or a connected agent, performs other services (image rights, legal, financial or commercial work, for example) for a client in the 24 months before or after a transaction, those services are presumed to be part of the agent services for that transaction unless proven otherwise. FIFA's FAQ says the presumption can be rebutted with things like an accurate statement of work, invoices, contracts and correspondence.

There is no official figure for what an individual agent earns, because income depends entirely on the client list, the deals and whether the caps apply. FIFA does publish aggregate data: it reported that clubs paid USD 1.37 billion in service fees to club agents in international transfers in men's football between 1 January and 1 December 2025, a record. That covers only fees paid by clubs to their own agents in international deals, not fees paid by players.

Are the FIFA fee caps suspended?

Yes, as far as FIFA's own enforcement is concerned, and that has not formally changed as of October 2026. Here is the sequence.

1. On 24 May 2023 a German regional court (Landgericht Dortmund, case 8 O 1/23) granted a preliminary injunction against several parts of the FFAR.
2. On 30 December 2023 FIFA issued Circular no. 1873. The Bureau of the FIFA Council approved the worldwide temporary suspension of the provisions covered by that injunction, to last until the Court of Justice gave a final decision in the pending FFAR cases. FIFA recommended that member associations suspend the equivalent provisions in their national agent regulations, unless mandatory local law prevents it.
3. On 16 July 2026 the Court of Justice delivered its judgment in Case C-209/23 (RRC Sports), a reference from the regional court in Mainz.

Circular 1873 lists the suspended provisions. For fees, they are:

• the service fee cap (article 15, paragraphs 1 to 4, which includes the 24-month presumption);
• the client pays rule (article 14, paragraphs 2 and 10);
• the rules on service fee payments (article 14, paragraphs 6, 8 and 11);
• the rules on the timing of payments (article 14, paragraphs 7 and 12);
• the prohibition of double representation (article 12, paragraphs 8 to 10);
• the requirement to pay fees through the FIFA Clearing House (article 14, paragraph 13).

The circular also suspended certain reporting obligations, the publication rules in article 19, and the "submission rule", which includes the FFAR's jurisdiction and disciplinary articles (20 and 21).

What the July 2026 Court of Justice ruling changed

Less than either side's press releases suggest. The Court did not strike down the fee cap and did not approve it. Its press release says it is "ultimately for the court before which the dispute was brought" to decide whether the rules breach competition law or can be justified, and it gave guidance for that assessment. The national case continues.

FIFA's statement the same day said the Court confirmed that key elements of the FFAR, including the service fee cap, the ban on multiple representation, the client pays rule and the pro rata payment rule, "can be justified". FIFA said it would analyse the full judgment and invite agent representatives to a meeting with the aim of reaching a consensual solution. Commentators have pointed out that "can be justified" is not the same as "is lawful at these percentages".

The point the Court was clearest on was not about fees at all: it said the rule limiting approaches to a player under an exclusive agreement to the final two months "appears, in any event", to be incompatible with the prohibition on cartels.

The honest summary, as of October 2026: we could not find a FIFA circular lifting the Circular 1873 suspension after the judgment. The suspension was expressed to last until a final decision of the Court of Justice, which has now been given, but the national proceedings are still pending and FIFA has said it wants a negotiated outcome. Treat the caps as suspended unless and until FIFA publishes a new circular, and watch inside.fifa.com and the Agent Platform for it. National rules can differ: in at least one jurisdiction an arbitral tribunal found in 2023 that applying the cap would breach national competition law.

Who can pay a football agent's fee

The FFAR as written says the client pays, and only the client (article 14.2). A player could not have a club pay their agent, with one exception: where the player's or coach's negotiated annual remuneration is under USD 200,000, excluding conditional payments, the engaging club may agree to pay the fee on the individual's behalf, provided it does not affect the agent's duty to the player, is no higher than the agreed fee, and is not deducted from the player's pay (article 14.3).

Because the client pays rule is suspended, who pays in practice is governed by the representation agreement, the transfer and employment contracts, and the regulations of the national association concerned. Tax treatment of a club paying a player's agent varies by jurisdiction and is often the deciding factor. Take advice before structuring it.

Dual representation and fees

The FFAR allows one agent to act for both the player and the engaging club in the same transaction, provided both give prior explicit written consent (article 12.8). It forbids acting for the selling club and the player, the selling club and the buying club, or all parties, and it extends the same limits to connected agents (articles 12.9 and 12.10). Where dual representation is permitted, the engaging club may pay up to 50% of the total fee (article 14.10) and the cap rises to 10% and 6%.

These provisions are among those suspended by Circular 1873. Even so, conflicts of interest are still governed by the agent's general duties, which are not suspended: act in the client's best interests, avoid conflicts of interest, and never conceal a conflict from a client (articles 16.2 and 16.3). Get written consent from both sides whenever you act for more than one party.

Instalments, pro rata payment and timing

The FFAR text sets a strict schedule for fees based on a player's salary: payment after the registration period closes, in instalments every three months for the duration of the contract, calculated pro rata on remuneration actually received (articles 14.6 and 14.7). Contracts under six months are paid in one instalment at the end (14.8). If the player moves on early, or terminates without just cause while still represented, fees not yet due fall away (14.12). Selling clubs pay their agent as each instalment of the transfer fee arrives (14.11).

All of those are suspended. In practice the payment schedule is whatever the representation agreement and the club's agreement with the agent say, within national rules. Write the schedule down precisely: amount, trigger, dates, what happens if the player is sold or the contract ends early, and whether fees continue after the representation agreement expires. Quanda keeps each deal's instalments and trigger dates against the player record, which helps when one transfer produces payments across several seasons.

Does the FIFA Clearing House pay agent fees?

Not at present. Article 14.13 says all service fees will be paid through the FIFA Clearing House once its regulations cover them, and directly to the agent until then. That provision is suspended by Circular 1873 in any case. The FIFA Clearing House Regulations (August 2025 edition) describe the Clearing House as an intermediary for training rewards, meaning training compensation and solidarity contributions, and do not cover agent service fees. Agent fees are paid directly, by invoice.

Disputes over unpaid fees

The FFAR give the Agents Chamber of the FIFA Football Tribunal jurisdiction over disputes about representation agreements with an international dimension, with a two-year time limit (article 20), and FIFA's FAQ says proceedings there are free of charge. Article 20 is listed in Circular 1873 as part of the suspended submission rule, so check FIFA's current guidance before assuming the Chamber will hear a claim. Every representation agreement should contain its own governing law and dispute resolution clause.

Practical checklist for agents

• State the fee as a clear percentage or amount and say what it is calculated on.
• Set out the payment schedule and what happens on an early transfer or termination.
• Say expressly whether fees continue after the representation agreement expires (article 14.5(a)).
• If a club is paying on the player's behalf, document it and take tax advice.
• Get written consent from every client before acting for more than one party.
• Price other services separately and keep evidence that they are genuine and at market rates.
• Keep a copy of every invoice; fees are paid on an invoice basis.

Fees, dual representation and the suspended provisions come up regularly in the FIFA agent exam. You can test yourself with the free practice questions at /fifa-agent-exam-practice or sit the full mock at /fifa-agent-exam-practice/mock-exam.