Intermediaries in International
Transfers 2022
DECEMBER 2022
TABLE OF CONTENTS
01.
Overview 2
04.
Transfers with player
intermediaries 14
02.
Transfers with club
05.
intermediaries 3 Intermediaries
Engaging-club intermediaries 3 in women’s football 17
Releasing-club intermediaries 5 Club intermediaries 17
Player intermediaries 19
03.
Spending on club
06.
intermediaries 7 Methodology 20
Overview7
07.
Club intermediaries in
transfers with transfer fees 11
Club intermediaries in transfers
without transfer fees 13
Disclaimer 21
1
01
OVERVIEW
Once a year, as part of its objective to bring more transparency to the football
transfer system, FIFA publishes information on intermediary activity. This entails
information on engaging - and releasing - club intermediaries but also information
on player intermediaries in connection with international transfers in men’s and
women’s football. All of this information will allow readers to understand how
intermediary activity developed in 2022.
In this report, intermediary activity means any representation of players and/or
clubs in employment-related and transfer-related negotiations.
Under the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, clubs are required
to enter the names and commissions of any club intermediaries involved in an
international transfer, as well as the names of any intermediaries acting on behalf
of the player, in the Transfer Matching System (TMS). Such declarations made in
2022 are the source of the data in this report.
Since transfer activity is usually very scarce in the month of December (on average,
fewer than 20 transfers involving an intermediary were entered in TMS in December
across the last five years, both for male and female professional players), this report In 2022,
can be considered to cover the whole of 2022, despite being published just before
the end of the year. intermediaries
In 2022, intermediaries were involved in 4,139 international transfers of male were involved in
professional players (more than 20% of the total).
4,139 international
Moreover, 520 of the 4,762 clubs that registered an international transfer also
engaged an intermediary as part of the process, and of the 17,240 players who
transfers
moved across borders this year, 2,886 (16.9%) were represented or assisted by an
intermediary.
In the context of international transfers of female professional players during
the same period, intermediaries were involved in 106 transfers by representing
clubs (more than 24% of the total) and in 340 transfers by representing players
(more than 21% of the total). However, the earnings of club intermediaries
in women’s football are still significantly lower than in men’s football, with
less than USD 1m in service fees earned in 2022. Nevertheless, there has
still been great growth across the last five years, with the figure for 2022
almost double that of 2021.
This trend is backed up by the fact that the rate of intermediaries
representing female professional players in international transfers is at
22.3% and, although not at its all-time high, it is still substantially higher
than the representation rate in men’s football, which is at 15.3%.
2
02
TRANSFERS
WITH CLUB
INTERMEDIARIES
ENGAGING-CLUB INTERMEDIARIES
In 2022, engaging clubs employed intermediaries in 1,532 international transfers,
representing a stark increase of 22.4% in comparison to 2021 and the highest total
ever. The overall proportion of transfers with intermediaries acting for the engaging
Figure 1: Number and percentage of international transfers
club also increased from 6.9% in 2021 to 7.6% in 2022.
Figure 1: Number and percentage of international transfers with intermediaries representing
the engaging club
Transfers within engaging-club intermediaries % of all transfers
Transfers within engaging-club intermediary % of all transfers
1,532
1,309
1,263 1,252
1,197 1,208
1,133
961
843
7.7% 7.6% 7.6%
7.3% 7.2% 7.3%
7.1% 6.9%
6.4%
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
22.4% more
transfers with
engaging-club
intermediaries in
2022 than in 2021
3
With 25.6%, the percentage of transfers involving an intermediary acting on behalf of the engaging club is significantly
higher for transfers with transfer fees.1 This percentage also increases for higher transfer fees as almost 60% of
transfers with a transfer fee greater than USD 5m involved an engaging-club intermediary.
Figure 2: Percentage of international transfers with intermediaries representing the engaging club, by transfer fee (YTD)
Figure 2: Percentage of international transfers
59.8%
60
50
40 35.6%
29.7%
30
20 15.8%
10 4.7%
0
No fee >0- 500k >500k-1m >1m-5m >5m
Transfer fee (USD)
Transfers involving intermediaries on the engaging club’s side spanned a total of 60 associations in 2022. The top
ten associations in terms of the share of incoming transfers that included an engaging-club intermediary were all
European. English clubs generally made the most use of intermediaries when engaging players: 276 of their 606
incoming transfers had at least one intermediary representing the engaging club (45.5%). Like last year, Italian clubs
had the second-highest such share with 37.6%, followed by Danish clubs with 30.6%.
#18: Figure 3: Top ten associations, by percentage
Figure 3: Top ten associations, by percentage of international transfers with intermediaries representing the engaging club (YTD)*
England 45.5%
Italy 37.6%
Denmark 30.6%
Austria 29.1%
Sweden 28.8%
Wales 26.5%
Germany 22.3%
Russia 19.9%
Hungary 18.3%
Scotland 17.2%
*See the section on methodology.
1
ransfer fees refer exclusively to club-to-club compensation and are not to be confused with intermediary service fees, which are
T
covered in a later section.
4
RELEASING-CLUB INTERMEDIARIES
Almost two thirds of all international transfers (65.2% in 2022) are transfers of out-
of-contract players. In such transfers, in principle, the releasing club does not play
an active part, meaning that, by definition, no releasing-club intermediary could
ever be involved. However, in 6.1% of the remaining 7,000 international transfers
that did see the active involvement of the releasing club, an intermediary acting on
behalf of the said club was present as well – not far below the figure for transfers
#55: Figure 4: Number and percentage of international
involving engaging-club intermediaries (7.6%).
Figure 4: Number and percentage of international transfers with intermediaries representing
the releasing club
500
Transfers with releasing-club intermediaries % of all transfers
430
398
400 370
353
335
318
300
238
221
6.2% 6.1%
184 5.9% 5.9% 5.8% 5.9%
200
5.1%
4.8%
4.4%
100
0 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
For deals completed in 2022, this difference is more pronounced when it comes to
#54: Figure
transfers with5:fees:
Percentage
11.8% of of international
transfers with feestransfers
involved a releasing-club
intermediary v. 25.6% with an engaging-club intermediary.
Figure 5: Percentage of international transfers with intermediaries representing the releasing
club, by transfer fee (YTD)
40 36.6%
35
30
25
19.1%
20
15 12.0%
10
5.2%
5 2.3%
0
No fee >0- 500k >500k-1m >1m-5m >5m
Transfer fee (USD)
5
Clubs in Italy and Serbia relied most frequently on intermediaries when releasing a player, with 21.4% and 21.0% of
their outgoing transfers involving at least one intermediary representing the releasing club. Colombia is the only
non-European member association in the top ten, with intermediaries involved in 12.8% of its outgoing transfers.
In total, there were 47 associations where clubs on the releasing side of transfers were represented by at least one
#67:intermediary.
Figure 6: Top ten associations
Figure 6: Top ten associations, by percentage of international transfers with intermediaries representing the releasing club (YTD)*
Italy 21.4%
Serbia 21.0%
France 13.0%
Colombia 12.8%
Sweden 12.1%
Portugal 11.9%
England 10.3%
Croatia 9.8%
Switzerland 8.7%
Belgium 8.4%
*See the section on methodology.
6
03
SPENDING
ON CLUB
INTERMEDIARIES
OVERVIEW
After a decrease in 2020 followed by a small increase in 2021, the total spending on
club intermediary service fees has now almost returned to the pre-pandemic levels
of 2019 with a total outlay of USD 622.8m in 2022. This represents an increase of
24.3% compared to the previous year and is only 4.9% less than the record level of
spending on intermediary service fees in 2019. This increase was particularly driven
by the service fees paid to intermediaries representing the engaging club, which
have in fact now reached a new all-time high, surpassing the previous record set in
2019. By way of comparison, clubs’ spending on transfer fees has only just started
#17:
to Figure
bounce back7: Spending
from on club
the pandemic intermediary
but the figure for 2022service fees
is still 11.6% below the
record of 2019.
Figure 7: Spending on club intermediary service fees (USD)
Intermediary type 654.7m
Representing engaging club 622.8m
Representing releasing club
548.1m
229.1m 497.5m 501.2m 172.7m
447.5m
150.5m
386.8m 136.1m
170.3m
164.7m
297.9m 109.3m
239.0m
69.6m
40.2m 425.6m 450.1m
397.6m
365.1m
327.2m
277.5m 282.8m
228.2m
198.8m
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
7
In more than 90% of cases, club intermediaries received less than USD 1m in service fees per transaction, with USD
10,000 to 100,000 being the most common amount received. However, the 151 instances in which the service fees
exceeded USD 1m account for around two thirds (64.6%) of the total amount paid by clubs to intermediaries, with
isolated cases of service fees even surpassing USD 10m.
Figure 8: Number of transfers, by size of intermediary service fees paid by clubs (YTD)
#3: Figure 8: Number of transfers
Transfers with engaging-club 613
intermediaries
Transfers with releasing-club
intermediaries
441
291
155
136
107
80
68
44
27
0 >0-10k >10k-100k >100k-1m >1m
Service fee (USD)
8
A large proportion of transfers with intermediaries involve UEFA clubs. The gap between UEFA and the other
confederations is even more marked when it comes to intermediary service fees. In 2022, clubs affiliated to UEFA
member associations accounted for 96.2% of the USD 622.8m spent on intermediary service fees. In fact, clubs from
England, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Germany and France alone were responsible for 80.9% of the total sum worldwide.
Figure 9: Clubs’ spending on club intermediary service fees in USD and number of transfers involving intermediaries, by confederation
(YTD)
l Spending on club intermediary service fees
l Transfers involving club intermediaries
UEFA
599.3m 1,640
Concacaf
4.3m 27
CAF
AFC
0.2m 37
2.7m 55
OFC
0 0
CONMEBOL
16.3m 70
9
Figure 10: Top ten associations, by clubs’ spending on intermediary service fees (YTD)
#52: Figure 10: Top ten associations, by clubs
Engaging-club intermediary service fees (USD) Releasing-club intermediary service fees (USD)
England 188.8m 203.2m
Italy 72.1m 16.4m 88.5m
Portugal 21.7m 44.1m 65.8m
Spain 35.6m 24.9m 60.4m
Germany 45.9m 56.1m
France 19.5m 30.0m
Russia 18.0m 18.1m
Belgium 15.7m
Brazil 14.7m
Netherlands 11.2m
10
CLUB INTERMEDIARIES IN TRANSFERS
WITH TRANSFER FEES
Service fees paid by clubs to intermediaries can vary significantly from one transfer
to another. Figure 11 shows a breakdown of the median service fee paid by clubs to
intermediaries as a percentage of the transfer fee.2 The median marks the midpoint
of the service fees: in other words, half of the service fees paid were less than the
median and the other half were greater. In the context of Figure 11, this means, for
instance, that for transfers involving an engaging-club intermediary and a transfer
fee above USD 5m, half of the service fees amounted to less than 6.5% of the transfer
fee, while the other half saw the intermediaries earn over 6.5% of the transfer fee.
For transfers with lower transfer fees in particular, service fees paid by engaging
clubs tend to be higher than those paid by releasing clubs. When transfer fees are
higher, service fees – as a percentage of the transfer fee – tend to be lower. However,
as shown in Figure 12, in absolute terms, the service fees are of course higher in
transfers with higher transfer fees.
Figure 11: Median service fee in % of the transfer fee, by size of the transfer fee (YTD)
#4: Figure 11: median service fee in %
Engaging-club intermediary service fees (median) Releasing-club intermediary service fees (median)
16.7%
11.4%
10.0%
8.0%
7.0% 6.6% 6.5% 6.4%
>0-500k >500k-1m >1m-5m >5m
Transfer fee (USD)
2.
hroughout this report, the total transfer fee is defined as the sum of fixed, conditional
T
and release (buyout) fees as declared in TMS. All fees are treated as upfront payments for
calculation purposes, notwithstanding any instalment plans that may be agreed by clubs. All
amounts are converted to USD based on the date on which the transfer was entered in TMS.
11
Figure 12: Median service fee in USD, by size of the transfer fee (YTD)
#53: Figure 12: median service fee in USD, by size of the transfer fee (YTD)
Engaging-club intermediary service fees (median) 944.4k
Releasing-club intermediary service fees (median)
769.9k
160.1k 143.9k
90.2k
67.3k
26.7k 20.1k
>0-500k >500k-1m >1m-5m >5m
Transfer fee (USD)
Intermediary service fees also tend to vary more with lower transfer fees. For deals
completed in 2022 with transfer fees of under USD 1m, a large degree of variance was
seen, with service fees sometimes even exceeding the transfer fee itself. On the other
hand, with transfer fees of over USD 5m, the vast majority of service fees were below
10% and only very few exceeded 20%.
Figure 13: Number of club intermediaries in international transfers, by size of the transfer and
service fees (YTD)
#57: Figure 13: Number of club intermediaries in international transfers,
142
Transfer fee (USD)
126 >0-1m
>1m-5m
>5m
109 110
104 113
108
63
54
40
22
19
34
4
1
7
1 0
>0%-5% >5%-10% >10%-20% >20%-50% >50%-100% >100%
Intermediary service fee as % of transfer fee
12
CLUB INTERMEDIARIES IN TRANSFERS
WITHOUT TRANSFER FEES
When transfers do not involve a transfer fee, it is, of course, impossible to express
the intermediary service fee (if any) as a percentage of the transfer fee. However,
clubs can choose to engage the services of intermediaries for transfers in which no
transfer fees change hands. It should be noted that transfers without transfer fees
are not necessarily without any form of compensation between the clubs involved.
They can also be negotiated to include a sell-on fee or a non-monetary benefit. In
fact, of the 1,532 transfers involving engaging-club intermediaries in 2022, more
than half (806 or 52.6%) had no transfer fee and the same was true for 96 (22.3%) of
the 430 transfers involving releasing-club intermediaries.
For engaging-club intermediaries in transfers without transfer fees, the vast
majority of service fees (78.5%) this year were below USD 100,000, and service fees
exceeded USD 1m in just 2.5% of the cases.
Similarly, releasing-club intermediaries typically earned service fees below USD
100,000 in transfers without transfer fees – this applied in 88.5% of the cases – while
just 11 such transfers featured service fees above USD 100,000 on the releasing
side.
Figure 14: Transfers involving club intermediaries but no transfer fees, by size of the intermediary
service fee (YTD)
#51: Figure 14: Transfers involving club intermediaries
Transfers with engaging-club intermediaries
Transfers with releasing-club intermediaries
345
224
153
64
36 38
11 11 20
0
0 >0-10k >10k-100k >100k-1m >1m
Service fee (USD)
13
04
TRANSFERS
WITH PLAYER
INTERMEDIARIES
In 2022, there were 3,086 international transfers in which the player was represented
by one or more intermediaries (15.3% of all transfers). This is a record high and
represents an increase of 17.7% compared to 2021.
Figure 15: Number and percentage of international transfers with intermediaries representing the
#2: Figure 15: Number and percentage of international transfers
player
Transfers with player intermediaries % of all transfers 3,086
2,671 2,621
2,497
2,266 2,312
2,247
2,049
1,919
15.6% 15.4% 15.3%
14.8%
14.5% 14.5% 14.5%
14.1% 14.0%
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
14
In more than half of all transfers involving any type of intermediary, the only party represented by an intermediary
was, in fact, the player (56.3%). The second and third most common cases were transfers that involved just an
intermediary for the engaging club (20.1%) and transfers in which both the player and the engaging club were
represented by an intermediary (13.2%). Transfers in which either all three parties or both clubs but not the player
appointed an intermediary were the least common, both of these cases each accounting for just 1.8% of all the
transfers that involved at least one intermediary.
Figure 16: Breakdown of international transfers involving intermediaries (YTD)
#9: Figure 16: Breakdown of international transfers involving intermediaries (YTD)
Who uses intermediaries?
Player Only player
3,086 2,329
transfers
Player and Player and
engaging club releasing club
547 All 134
parties
76
Only Only
engaging club Engaging releasing club
833 and releasing club
144
76
Engaging club Releasing club
1,532 430
transfers transfers
As seen for club intermediaries and transfer fees, the involvement of player intermediaries is also more frequent in
transfers with higher
#10:player salaries.
Figure 17: Percentage of transfers involving a player
Figure 17: Percentage of transfers involving a player intermediary, by total fixed remuneration of the player (YTD)
58.4%
39.3%
27.0%
17.3%
6.1%
>0-50k >50k-100k >100k-1m >1m-5m >5m
Player’s total fixed remuneration (USD)
15
A player’s age is another factor 18:
#60: Figure that Percentage
appears to affect whether a player
of transfers intermediary
involving is involved
a player in a transfer. Players
intermediary
under the age of 18 used intermediaries in 16.1% of their international transfers in 2022. This percentage decreases
gradually for players between 18 and 35 years of age and drops to 8.8% for players over 35.
Figure 18: Percentage of transfers involving a player intermediary, by player age (YTD)
16.8%
16.1%
15.4%
11.2%
8.8%
<18 years old 18-23 years old 24-29 years old 30-35 years old >35 years old
Age band
Czech players used intermediaries the most in 2022, being represented by one or more intermediaries in 42.5% of
their 31 international transfers. Players from the UK (41.9%) and the Republic of Ireland (41.7%) complete the top
three.
#14: Figure
Figure 19: Top ten nationalities, 19: Top often
by percentage nationalities
transfers with player intermediaries (YTD)*
Czech 42.5%
British 41.9%
Irish 41.7%
Canadian 41.3%
Norwegian 40.6%
Danish 39.8%
USA 36.3%
Australian 35.6%
Austrian 35.2%
German 34.0%
*See the section on methodology.
16
05
INTERMEDIARIES
IN WOMEN’S
FOOTBALL
CLUB INTERMEDIARIES
In 2022, 388 international transfers of female professional players involved at least
one intermediary (25.5%). Of these, 100 saw intermediaries represent the engaging
club, while an intermediary represented the releasing club in just six transfers.
The number of transfers with engaging-club intermediaries increased by 42.9% in
#16: Figure 20:
2022 compared to Number of club intermediaries
2021. The proportion of transfers with intermediaries acting for
the engaging club also increased from 5.4% in 2021 to 6.6% in 2022.
Figure 20: Number of club intermediaries in international transfers in women’s professional football
120
Engaging-club intermediaries Releasing-club intermediaries 106
100
74
80
63
54
60
100
40 70
24 62
54
20
24
0
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
17
Clubs paid a total of USD 850,000 in intermediary service fees in 2022. Service fees
#65: paid
were Figure 21:
in 97 of Spending on club
the 100 transfers withintermediary service feesand never
engaging-club intermediaries
exceeded USD 90,000.
Figure 21: Spending on club intermediary service fees (USD) in women’s professional football
1000 Intermediary type
Representing engaging club Representing releasing club 850k
800
600
446k 451k
835k
400
268k
446k 445k
200
80k 268k
80k
0
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
18
PLAYER INTERMEDIARIES
Intermediaries representing players were involved in 340 international transfers of
female players. This amounts to 22.3% of international transfers which is substantially
#7: Figure 22
higher than the equivalent figure in men‘s football (15.3%).
Figure 22: Number and percentage of international transfers with intermediaries representing the
player in women’s professional football
340
Transfers with player intermediaries % of all transfers
267
250
212
168
25.3% 24.2%
24.2%
20.5% 22.3%
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Players from the Republic of Ireland were represented by an intermediary most
regularly in 2022, with 83.3% of their international transfers involving a player
intermediary. They are followed by British, Norwegian and Dutch players, who all used
an intermediary in more than 60% of their transfers.
#63: Figure 23
Figure 23: Top ten nationalities, by percentage of transfers with player intermediaries (YTD)*
Irish 83.3%
British 64.1%
Norwegian 63.0%
Dutch 61.5%
Australian 50.0%
French 42.1%
Danish 40.0%
USA 32.5%
Swedish 30.3%
German 27.5%
*See the section on methodology.
19
06
METHODOLOGY
All transfer data in this report relates exclusively to international transfers of
professional football players within the scope of 11-a-side football. Transfer data
was analysed for all transfers completed between 1 January 2022 and 12 December
2022. The data was extracted from TMS on 13 December 2022.
Since March 2016, all FIFA member associations have been required to publish a
yearly summary of intermediary activity on their territory in accordance with the
FIFA Regulations on Working with Intermediaries and FIFA circular no. 1519. However,
this report is not a consolidation of such summaries, but rather an overview of the
information declared by clubs in TMS.
All references to transfer fees in this report are to the fixed, conditional and
release (buyout) fees as declared in TMS. Fees are treated as upfront payments for
calculation purposes, notwithstanding any instalment plans that may be agreed by
clubs. All amounts are automatically converted to USD based on the date on which
the transfer was entered in TMS.
The numbers that feature in this report have been rounded.
We distinguish between four types of international transfers:
• Out of contract: when players who are no longer contractually bound to
any former club sign an employment contract with a new club in a different
association without a transfer agreement between clubs having been signed.
• Loan: when players are temporarily engaged by a new club: a) on the basis
of a loan agreement between the club with which they have an employment
contract and a club in another association, during the term of their employment
contract with their parent club; or b) when the loan is extended by the new club
with the agreement of the parent club.
• Return from loan: when players return to their parent club after a loan spell at
another club in a different association.
• Permanent: when players are permanently engaged by a new club in another
association and a transfer agreement is signed between the new club and the
former club, or when a club in a different association permanently engages
players it has had on loan, with the agreement of the former club.
Graphs showing the top ten associations or player nationalities by the proportion
of transfers involving certain types of intermediaries exclude associations and
nationalities with fewer than 20 transfers involving engaging-club intermediaries,
fewer than five transfers with releasing-club intermediaries or fewer than ten
transfers with player intermediaries respectively.
20
07
DISCLAIMER
The information in this report is based on individual transaction data provided
directly by football clubs and associations in TMS. FIFA assumes no responsibility for
the accuracy, completeness and reliability of the information provided by the clubs
and associations. With regard to any technical references included in this report,
please be advised that in the event of any contradiction between this report and
the actual text of the relevant regulations, the latter shall always prevail. Equally,
this report may not alter existing jurisprudence of the competent decision-making
bodies and is without prejudice to any decision that the said bodies might be called
upon to pass in the future.
Due to the nature of the TMS database, the presence of pending transfers, the
potential cancellation of transfers, and data corrections, numbers may differ from
one report to another. In the event of any contradiction between this report and
other publications by FIFA, the most recent shall always prevail.
Any views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect those of FIFA.
Source of data and preparation of report
The source of all data and information (unless explicitly stated otherwise) is:
FIFA
Legal Strategic Projects Subdivision
Legal & Compliance Division
Zurich, Switzerland
Data protection
The data contained in TMS and in this review
is covered by Swiss data protection law.
21
