Solidarity mechanism and training compensation explained

FIFA has two ways of paying the clubs that developed a player. Training compensation is a payment for the cost of training, due when a young player signs a first professional contract or moves abroad before the end of the calendar year of his 23rd birthday. The solidarity mechanism is a 5% slice of any transfer fee, shared among every club that trained the player between 12 and 23. FIFA calls the two together "training rewards".

Neither payment goes to the player or the agent. Agents still need to understand both, because they change what a buying club is really paying, what a selling club really receives, and whether a deal for a young player makes sense at all. This guide reflects the July 2025 edition of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP) and the January 2026 FIFA Clearing House Regulations, as of October 2026.

Training compensation and solidarity: the difference

• Trigger. Training compensation is due on a first professional registration and on international transfers of a professional up to the end of the calendar year of his 23rd birthday. Solidarity is due whenever a professional moves during a contract and a transfer fee is paid.
• Size. Training compensation is a fixed amount based on training costs per year. Solidarity is always 5% of the transfer compensation, however large or small.
• Contract status. Training compensation is due whether the player moves during or at the end of his contract. Solidarity only arises when there is compensation to share, so a free transfer produces none.
• Scope. The RSTP says the principles of training compensation do not apply to women's football; the solidarity provisions contain no equivalent exclusion. Neither mechanism applies to transfers to or from futsal clubs under the futsal annexe.

How is training compensation calculated?

Annexe 4 of the RSTP treats a player's training as taking place between the ages of 12 and 23. Compensation is payable, as a general rule, up to 23 for training incurred up to 21, unless it is evident the player finished his training earlier.

Each national association sorts its clubs into up to four categories based on their investment in training. FIFA then sets a training cost per category for each confederation, updated at the end of each calendar year. In the 2026 table, published in September 2026, the lowest figure is USD 2,000 a year (category IV in most confederations) and the highest is EUR 90,000 (category I in the highest-cost confederation). In the AFC and Concacaf, for example, category II is USD 40,000, category III USD 10,000 and category IV USD 2,000.

The basic method is to take the costs the new club would have incurred if it had trained the player itself:

• First professional registration: the new club's training cost multiplied by the years of training, in principle from the calendar year of the 12th birthday to the calendar year of the 21st.
• Later transfers: the new club's training cost multiplied by the years the player trained with the former club only.
• Ages 12 to 15: those four calendar years are always charged at the category IV rate, so compensation for very young players does not become unreasonably high.

A simplified example. A player trained at one club from the calendar year of his 12th birthday to the calendar year of his 21st signs his first professional contract with a category II club in a confederation where category II costs USD 40,000. The four years from 12 to 15 are charged at USD 2,000 each (USD 8,000), and the six years from 16 to 21 at USD 40,000 each (USD 240,000), giving USD 248,000. Where several clubs trained the player, the amount is split pro rata to the time spent at each.

The Dispute Resolution Chamber can reduce an amount that is clearly disproportionate to the case. In some jurisdictions, special rules also apply to moves between associations inside a defined free-movement area: the cost is averaged when a player moves up a category, the lower club's cost is used when he moves down, and the former club loses its entitlement unless it offered the player a contract, in writing, at least 60 days before his old one expired and of at least equivalent value.

When is training compensation not due?

Annexe 4 lists three cases where it is not payable:

• The former club terminated the player's contract without just cause (without prejudice to the rights of earlier training clubs).
• The player is transferred to a category IV club.
• A professional reacquires amateur status on being transferred.

A club that has a player on trial is not entitled to training rewards for the trial period. Clubs can also waive their entitlement, and the FIFA Clearing House process has a specific step for uploading and challenging waivers.

How is the solidarity mechanism calculated?

Annexe 5 says that if a professional moves during a contract, 5% of any compensation paid in that transfer, not counting training compensation paid to the former club, is deducted from the total and distributed by the new club to the clubs that trained him. The share for each year between the calendar years of his 12th and 23rd birthdays is:

• Calendar years of the 12th to 15th birthdays: 5% of the 5% per year (0.25% of the fee).
• Calendar years of the 16th to 23rd birthdays: 10% of the 5% per year (0.5% of the fee).

Partial years are calculated pro rata. Over the full 12 years, that adds up to the whole 5%. If a training club has since ceased to participate in organised football or no longer exists, its national association can claim that club's share, and must use it for youth development.

A worked example. A player moves for a fixed fee of EUR 10 million. Solidarity is EUR 500,000. He was registered with Club A for the calendar years of his 12th to 15th birthdays (4 x 0.25% = 1%, or EUR 100,000) and with Club B for the calendar years of his 16th to 23rd (8 x 0.5% = 4%, or EUR 400,000). The selling club receives EUR 9.5 million.

Solidarity applies to permanent transfers and to loans. It is due when a professional moves between clubs of different associations, and also on a move between two clubs in the same association if a training club is affiliated to a different association. Purely domestic cases are left to each association's own rules, which the RSTP says should provide some system to reward clubs that train young players.

Who pays, and who really bears the cost?

For training compensation, the new club pays. It is an extra cost on top of any transfer fee, which is why it can make a club hesitate over a young player whose previous clubs are owed a meaningful sum.

For solidarity, the new club is responsible for paying, but the RSTP frames it as 5% deducted from the compensation. In economic terms the selling club usually receives 95% of the headline figure. The FIFA Clearing House rules assume exactly that: the amount in the proof of payment is treated as the fee with 5% already withheld. If the clubs agree a different commercial split, write it into the transfer agreement clearly. It does not change the new club's obligation to make sure the training clubs are paid.

Solidarity applies to "any compensation" paid in the transfer, so it follows each instalment and each conditional payment as it is made, not just the up-front fee.

The FIFA Clearing House

Since 16 November 2022, training rewards in eleven-a-side football have been paid through the FIFA Clearing House, a separate payment entity based in Paris that is licensed as a payment service provider and does not make a profit. FIFA says that by September 2026 more than USD 1 billion had been allocated to training clubs, of which USD 700 million had been paid to almost 3,000 clubs.

The process, under the January 2026 Clearing House Regulations, runs like this:

1. TMS identifies a trigger: a first professional registration, an international transfer, or a national transfer involving a fee, reported through the association's connected systems.
2. A provisional Electronic Player Passport (EPP) is generated, listing every club the player was registered with since the calendar year of his 12th birthday, and is open for inspection for ten days.
3. An EPP review process of 15 days follows, in which associations can ask to correct registration history and clubs can upload contract offers or waivers.
4. FIFA issues the final EPP and an Allocation Statement showing who is owed what. This can be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
5. After compliance checks, the Clearing House sends the new club a request to pay. The club has 30 days. Late payment triggers a 2.5% administrative levy and a further seven days, then disciplinary proceedings.
6. The Clearing House pays each training club directly.

For solidarity, the Allocation Statement is only generated once the new club has uploaded proof of payment of the transfer fee, which it must do within 30 days of each payment. Since 1 January 2026, entitlements below EUR 100 are discarded.

Why this matters to agents and players

• Pricing young players. When you take a young player to a club abroad, the club will look at the training compensation it will owe. Knowing the player's registration history and the clubs' categories lets you anticipate the number instead of discovering it.
• Registration history. The EPP is built from association records. Players and families should know which clubs they were registered with, and when, because errors change who gets paid.
• Fee structures. A selling club negotiating "net" figures will factor in the 5% solidarity deduction. Be clear in every conversation whether a number is gross or net.
• Your own fee. If your service fee is calculated by reference to a transfer fee or a club's receipts, agree in the representation agreement exactly which figure it is based on.

One change to keep separate in your head: from 1 January 2027, a new article 21bis lets players share in transfer fees on international transfers, with a mandatory 5% share of the fixed fee for players earning under EUR 150,000 a year in fixed pay, subject to limited waivers and national exceptions. It applies only to contracts concluded after the new rules take effect. That is a payment to the player, not a training reward, and it sits alongside solidarity rather than replacing it.

Training rewards come up regularly in the FIFA agent exam. Try the free mock exam at /fifa-agent-exam-practice/mock-exam or the practice questions at /fifa-agent-exam-practice.