Agents who sat the new Fifa exam have told i that it was extraordinarily tough and that they are concerned the governing body is trying to force them out of the profession.
Fifa has launched series of strict measures to make it much harder to officially represent footballers. A set of new regulations, due to come into force in October, will cap agent earnings at three per cent and only those who pass a new exam will be able to practise. Clubs will be unable to deal with intermediaries who have not passed and face punishment if they do so.
The first sitting of the exam took place in cities across the world on Wednesday, including the ExCel exhibition centre in London. The exam, which costs £300 to take, lasted one hour and consisted of 20 multiple choice questions. The pass mark is 75 per cent.
Participants have told i a lot of the questions were based around regulations, as opposed to how the actual job is performed, insisting it would be more appropriate for sports lawyers than player representatives.
“It’s designed to trip us up,” one intermediary told i. “They just want to cut the number of agents. They are trying their best to f**k agents in every way.”
A document made available to agents by Fifa to assist with their studies, called the “Fifa Football Agent Exam Study Materials”, is a staggering 528 pages long.
One agent said the majority of people they spoke to after the exam in London believed they had failed. Another agent who took the exam abroad said they were definitely going to have to retake.
Several agents insisted they were not against the idea of the exam but feel the bar has been set too high and that not enough of the material is relevant.
More than 6,500 agents from 138 countries applied to Fifa to take Wednesday’s exam. Family members have increasingly started representing their children and those who sat the exam in London included Mason Mount’s father, Tony, and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s brother Tyler.
Those who fail will have one more attempt in September to pass before the regulations come into effect. If they are unable to pass, however, it could have huge consequences for their livelihood. They will be unable to deal with players, their families and clubs, nor take part in contract and transfer negotiations.
One agent pointed out that unregistered agents will still be able to act as consultants if they are employed by an agency, provided at least one agent within the agency is registered, but it will seriously complicate their job.
They predict a “wild” summer of deals, with the upcoming transfer window representing the last opportunity agents can move players and strike deals while securing a higher percentage of negotiations.
A collective of agents are, however, mounting a legal challenge to Fifa’s regulations. They insist that the regulations were created with barely any consultation and that capping their earnings is unfair.
Agents have warned i that a three percent cap will prevent young or new agents from entering the profession because they already earn so little from players in the early years and will force many existing intermediaries out it.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/ewX09uj
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