The Details Behind a Football Transfer: From Negotiations to Registration

Football’s transfer window.

The time in a season when excitement, or dread, builds surrounding which players are on the move. With the increased use of social media amongst journalists, fans are now privy to the details of some of the game’s highest-level dealings.

But some of the processes, especially the more technical ones, are less publicly known. This article is for those who want to know more about these details, whether you’re an aspiring agent or a fan who wants to know more about the transfer process. 

The Approach

The club-to-club approach is the first step when it comes to signing a player. Or is it?

Before the transfer even reaches the negotiation process, scouts, sporting directors and heads of recruitment will have been watching a player for months, building reports and speaking with the player’s representatives.

“If you want to move a player, that work starts from the moment you sign them,” Riad Djellab, agent at Global Glory Sports Management told GIS.

“You then go and build his profile, speak to clubs, and get scouts to watch him—the work is non-stop.”

Though the opening of a transfer window invites an air of urgency to the process, Djellab simply sees it as another milestone in what is a long process.

“The work is already done,” he says, “Everyone thinks that the transfer window is when it’s the busiest. It is busy, but before then is where you’re preparing.

“When it’s the transfer window, all it means is that you can actually move the player.”

Speaking to agents is naturally an important part of a club’s interest in a player. Djellab was part of the team that worked with AFC Wimbledon to move English talent Ayoub Assal to Qatari side Al-Wakrah for a club record transfer fee. He explained how the dynamics of a transfer, and which party makes the move, can shift depending on the deal.

“If your player is wanted, if your player is doing well and he’s got good stats, the clubs come to you.”

“If your player is not doing great,” Djellab continued, “That is when you have to go to the clubs.”

FIFA Training Rewards 

So the fee has been agreed and the money has been transferred. Does that mark the end of the deal?

The answer is, almost.

A final aspect of the transfer process that is relatively unknown is that of the training reward.

This is a system put in place by FIFA to encourage clubs to invest in youth development by compensating them if they sign a professional contract at a different club.

When a player registers as a professional for the first time, the registering club must pay a fee to every club the player has previously been registered with since the start of the calendar year of the player’s 12th birthday.

It is also paid if a professional player is transferred between clubs of two different associations before the end of the calendar year of their 23rd birthday.

The amount payable is calculated on a pro rata basis according to the amount of time the player spent at each former club, and also depends on the status of the clubs involved.

In every national association, FIFA advises that clubs are split into a maximum of four categories based on how much they invest in youth talent production, with a club paying a different amount of training compensation depending on their assigned category.

For instance, it is calculated that the 2025 training cost for a Category One UEFA club is €90,000 per calendar year between their 15th to 21st birthdays. This is based on factors such as investment and how many professionals the club produces.

For example, if a player who spends two years, between their 16th and 18th birthday at a Category One UEFA club before signing a professional contract for the first time at a new club, the selling club is owed €180,000.

Solidarity Payments

Solidarity payments are another aspect of this framework. In short, these are payments made if a professional player is transferred internationally.

When a transfer like this goes through, the selling club must withhold 5% of the transfer fee they receive, as this amount is used to compensate any of the player’s previous clubs. 

The exact amount of this 5% that goes to each club varies based on how long the player spent there, but if the overall transfer fee is £100 million, a former club that had the player for three years can expect to receive around £1.3 million.

The Transfer Process: International Clearance

During deals like Assal’s that are agreed between teams in different countries, an ITC is required for the transfer to finally go through.

An International Transfer Certificate (ITC) is a key element of the transfer process that ensures players are eligible to sign for their new club and de-register from their old one.

This FIFA-regulated process involves the buying club applying for the certificate via their national association, for example the FA.

The process requires the buying club to submit the player’s information, allowing the association to confirm the player’s identity, as well as the details of the previous club and national association they played in. 

A formal request is then submitted by the governing body to FIFA, the latter then confirms the player exists in their records, and the ITC can be requested.

It is only once the selling club’s association issues the ITC that the player can finally step onto the pitch.

Moving Academy Players

The ITC process is valid for all levels of the football pyramid, and becomes more strict when the player moving is a minor.

That said, it is still possible to do so, with FIFA regulations stipulating certain objectives that need to be met for a minor to be eligible for international clearance. Some of which include:

• The player’s family must be moving to the nation for a non-footballing reason (supporting documents are required to prove this)
• The player can stay in their country of origin, but must live within 50km of the border with the country of the new club, which must be located within 50km of the other side of the border (e.g. A player living in Liverpool is eligible to play for Wrexham as both are within 50km of the England-Wales border.)

These regulatory structures are important to understand if you aspire to work in football business or governance. To gain further understanding of the global sports industry, explore our expert-led course offerings
Article by Zakaria Anani