Wednesday 1 April 2015 17:54, UK
The Association of Football Agents chairman Mel Stein has said that his organisation is in talks with The Football Association over becoming self-regulated.
FIFA handed over the management of agents' practices to national football associations on Wednesday and the AFA is resisting changes to regulations.
FIFA's reforms mean that agents are now known as 'intermediaries'. These intermediaries, while no longer being licensed with FIFA, will have to register with individual nations' associations on an annual basis.
The changes include all transfer deals being annually published online - this will include the name of the intermediary who worked on a transfer deal but not the details of any individual transfer deal i.e. what fee was paid.
At the end of the season, what will be published is the total amount a club has paid in fees to an agent during that season, as is what happens now anyway.
There will also be a total ban on agents' fees for players under the age of 18, and a recommendation that the cap on agents fees should be three per cent.
Intermediaries, clubs and players would still be free to agree what fee percentage they wish.
The AFA has filed a complaint with the European Commission and as an alternative, has proposed the idea of becoming self-governing.
"The AFA represents probably 95 per cent of all agents operating in England at the moment, and my members are unanimously unhappy about these reforms mainly because they are illegal in many ways," Stein told The Morning View on Sky Sports News HQ.
"This is a FIFA initiative and I'm not sure The FA really would have wanted it. On the basis of 'if it ain't broke, why fix it?' - the regulations were working nicely here.
"The fact of the matter is that we're being globally punished for things that are happening in South America, Africa and Eastern Europe. Stuff over which we've got no control."
Stein added: "It's the recommendation that we've challenged. We've brought our challenge against FIFA. The FA have been dragged into this. I don't think they would have done anything had they been given the choice.
"The French Federation have said 'we're not doing it - we're only going to deal with licenced agents'. So this may well have a talent-draining effect as far as English football is concerned.
"Every walk of life where people are represented to get the best contract they can, there is freedom of trade. How is it that there is simply a selective persecution of football agents for three per cent?," said Stein.
This is a FIFA initiative and I'm not sure The FA really would have wanted it
"And why three per cent? The industry norm over the years has kind of developed at five per cent."
The changes also mean intermediaries will no longer be required to have a license, which the AFA argues would allow people without proper checks and qualifications to act in transfer deals.
Stein, who explained that the AFA is currently in talks with The FA, said: "We feel that we and The FA have an obligation to ensure that we have a cleaned-up football administration.
"We've worked really, really hard to scrub up the image of agents over the years.
"And now we're being faced with an influx of people we simply don't know. They're untrained and have no experience whatsoever, and all they need to do is to be able to write their name, not have a criminal record - and you can represent anybody you like. That cannot be right."
He continued: "What we're going to try to do, and I think The FA are going to buy into this, is self-regulate. We'll hopefully take a lot of the burden off The FA - FIFA have washed their hands of that burden.
"But we'll take it. We'll set up an education programme and we'll try to get to the point where clubs will only want to deal with people who have our seal of approval."
Tranmere chairman Mark Palios, who was The FA's chief executive from 2003 to 2004, insists English football does not require FIFA's changes, calling the reforms from world football's governing body "half-cooked".
"This is, again, FIFA trying to fix something that's a worldwide problem and it's not something that I think The FA would welcome," said Palios.
"We have a reasonable balance in terms of regulating agents in English football. It's a case of 'one-size fits all' that doesn't actually fit at all in terms of this country."
FIFA says the new regulations are also intended to prevent money-laundering - it states that only 25 to 30% of transfers worldwide are conducted by licensed agents.
But Palios believes that the reforms may not improve the situation.
"What I'm most concerned about is that almost anybody could be an intermediary if they pass the equivalent of the 'fit and proper person's test'," he said.
"They could avoid exams and insurance - those are sensible regulations to have in place. But people will always find a way around regulations, and that is one of the problems FIFA has."
