transfer window summer 2013

my first transfer window opens on Monday less than 1 week from now, my hopes are that Iam going to be busy but at this point I'm not sure:

- Most clubs/agents start to prepare for the windows 6-8 weeks before it actually opens. Combination of my inexperience and that it took a f'cking month for my federation to issue my license makes me feel unprepared. If I make any transfers it will mostly be of the "pussle type", a club looks for a certain position and either I have the mandate of that specific profile from either an agent colleague or a club.  And maybe also the "last minute transfer" were a player gets injured or sold last minute...

- Statistically it usually takes around 4 full windows before an newly licensed agent makes their first transfer. This statistic is slightly miscued due to many new agents dont become active directly.


On top of that the fact that the boss of the network which I am part of pushes me allot... and as I at some point wrote the star agents already started, the word is that Jorge Mendes has cashed in between 15-20 Mil € so far this summer...



Pressure is on

tips from the coach

In a way it feels ridiculous to start giving peeps tips, i have only been doing this for a little bit more than a month. During this short time a have picked up a thing or two: 

1. Sport management (I prefer the term agent business) purely runs on human capital, its all about personal trust and who u know. Even to that degree that the product it self happens to be humans, anyway I cant think of another industry were personal relationships are so fundamental (I could image maybe the narcotics trade).  

A big obstacle to overcome is getting in touch with the clubs and the responsible person for the transfer budget. This person has different names depending on geographic location:

- Sport Director (western europe) 

- Manager (often UK)

- President (eastern europe)

- GM or general manager (the states)

although titles differ they have one thing incommon; its f*cking impossible to get hold of them. Try finding Galliani's email adress and phone nr on acmilan website... This has been a major problem for me till I came up with a small trick. 

= Instead of calling the reception of the club asking for the GM's contact info, I tell them I am agent that represent a club that want to buy their worst and most expensive player. Voila ! 

2. Be aware of the 2 business card standard. Most agents but also GM's have 2 business cards. One which they give to people they dont want to be bothered by with only adress and land line nr to the reception and one with personal email, cell phone and bbm. 

I travelled to another country to meet a GM at a club once, 1 week later I wanted to call him looked at the business card I was so happy with receiving and it was less info on it than the yellow pages. 

Q & A's

I have received a dussin of emails and a similar amount of PM's with question and feedback from my twitter/blog. Many questions are very similar (obviously some of my texts lack in clarity) but there are also quite a few general wonderings in regards to my line of work. 

Everybody with interest in sport agent world (it being a hobby or a full time profession) know it is very much a closed environment. I find this strange and directly negative and therefore willing to share knowledge I never received. I want to point out that I am not doing this in order to use this to my own personal advantage, opposite I think the advantage itself is created through the transparency.

Here we go:

1. FIFA considering cancelling the current license system:

=  I have heard/red this as well. Before applying for taking the exam I did extensive research, speaking to my federation, current agents and "experts". All of the agree that this is not realistic to happen in any near future, the main reason is solely that FIFA has not come up with any good alternative that all FIFA members will accept. 

2. Many agents work without having a license, do I really need one? 

= My opinion and experience, YES. Around 80% clubs/agents/players I have been in touch with has asked me for proof of license. Mostly since I act in within UEFA which compared to the rest of confederations is more developed/strict. Turn it around and I would only be able to capitalize on around 20% of the business I have created. In all leagues were there is serious money I would say this is a necessity, so if u are not waiting for your parents trust fund to kick in or have a another income source my answer is yes. 

3. What prerequisites and how much time to I need to spend on studying?

= Each association determined their on prerequisites (on top of what FIFA requires) so I cant answer this. The topic of studying is of course very individual, i studied around 100 hours. See earlier post on this subject...

4. How much savings do I need to have before starting as a FIFA Players' Agent? 

Stage 1 = around 4000€ (required documents+exam fees+license fees+insurance fees) and ofcourse if u quit your job as I did, personal cost of living.

Stage 2 = Statistically very few agents make any business the first 2-3 windows, due to various reasons. So You need to be liquid enough to pay your personal bills during this period. 

Stage 3 = start of by yourself or in a already established agency/group/network. If u decide to start yourself there are allot of costs, mostly associated to travel but also huge phonebills, office etc.

I chose to second option, giving up a huge % of my commission in order to get all costs covered.     

5. I only speak one language is this a major obstacle?

No, as long as it is English. FIFA can prepare all questions in english (i wrote them that way due to 75% study material is in english). As in all businesses language is here even more important, I speak 3 languages and will take upon a fourth after the summer window closes. 

6 . General tips on how to become a football agent.

Make up your mind and really go for it, often the worst thing that happens if you fail is not the end of the world. In my scenario; loose 4000€, loose 3-4 months in my already monotonous life, give up my old job/career, loose face etc. 

These were the most frequently asked questions. Hope the answers give some good insight, and as I wrote I will do my best to help out. Please only be patient when it comes delivery time... 

peace 

frequent flyer miles

sitting in my flat waiting for my airport transport to arrive.. In 7 days it happens that I will fly to 3 different destinations:

1. Eastern Europe: spending 5 days. Meeting the sport director of 2 clubs (one director is kind of slippery so now I am forced to just show up hoping he want throw me out), main purpose here is to pitch myself and the agency on how we can help them with the summer transfers (in/out). 

Secondly I'm meeting a couple of fellow agents just for a coffee and meet and greet, lastly going to the big game on saturday !

2.Benelux: One day trip to visit the sporting director of a mid-size club, outbound flight 05.55 = bbuuu Negotiating the transfer of a brazilian right back. Presenting the agency organisation and also pitching players for 4-5 positions. The sporting director is a old favorite player of mine so I am excited 

3. Another continent: Hard to determine if this one is biz or plez...

also I just realized that I can forget any type of summer vacation this year, had thoughts on france and NYC...

invisible hand

Things are moving slowly forward, settling in very well in this new environment. Iam not only thinking about my new office/colleges/network but also in the way it have affected me in a non professional way. 

- Through being extremely (iam surprised with myself) perseverant I have managed to get in touch with a few (5) sporting directors. They have asked me for what positions they are looking for in the summer window, I make the research and present them to the clubs. The say si/no and I get in touch with the respective agent = get part of the agent commision. The difficult part in this is, "the invisible hand" between supply (me+players) and demand (clubs), the tention of not being to eager (high price for club) and me having lots of options for the player (beating up the financial part). quite thrilling I have to say.. 

- Unfortunately there a few backsides, as soon as my email and phone nr are up on FA and FIFA website I have just been drown in weird phone calls/sms/email. Everything from players wanting a club to business scams to single bangladesh ladies searching for love.. Last night again I got a phone call from Benin, Africa at 04.30  

Big up to SAF, greatest manager in history

#its happening

writing my first post i thought to myself it could be interesting for me to backtrack a big change of direction in my life. From making up my mind -to actually taking this decision- quiting my office job-telling everybody close to me-process start-flying away to study in isolation-writing and passing the exam. 

Also since the football agent world is a closed environment these texts can come to use some day. 

Anyway, its happening. In 6 days I have:

-recieved my license (finally)

-My national FA updated its agent lists

-FIFA updated their website with my contract info (of course they screwed it up)

-Arranging a office

-Negotiating to be part of the biggest agency in my country

Now that i managed to sell myself (to be part of the agency) the pressure is on for me to start making transfers, there are actually quite a few ways of making money as an sport-agent:

1. Selling your own signed players

2. Selling other agents players through market exclusivity 

3. Selling players on the request of a club

4. Negotiating/Re-negotiating contract on behalf of a club

5. Acquiring players on behalf of clubs

My plan is to make as much business as possible, mostly by point 2. 

A funny sidenote is that within one hour  and now everyday from FIFA publishing my name and contact info I recieved around 15 similar email to this:

Dear Sir,

With much honour  and due respect to write you.

This is to inform you that we operate a football academy in Benin republic in west Africa. We have well-trained, young, strong and skillful players, we need your assistance to get contracts for our players in clubs in your country, we are ready to take them to your country for a practical test session to determine their abilities in football play and we are  ready to bear the costs for the journey if you will invite us for this purpose.

We look forward to working with you for mutual benefits. Any enquiries are welcome.

Thank you for your anticipated cooperation.

MOHAMMED MAHADI.

NB; you can communicate with us in any of the following languages: ENGLISH,ARABIC OR FRENCH.

zzzzZZZzzz

The headline summarizes my mood the last couple of days, the waiting is turning me into a couch potato.. Still, 17 days after writing the exam I have not received the license, which enables me to act as a player agent. And as usual dealing with FIFA/associations nobody knows anything...
Usually I would just give the establishment the middle finger and do it anyway, but my contact person at the federation strictly warned me about this and that they easily can force me to redo the exam. It would be just stupid to gamble at this point.

Not exactly the start I imagined, hopefully my next post will be all about: players signings-travelling-negotiations-$-pre paring for the summer transfer window-footy games-transfer speculations


Bare with me