Football agents are controversial. Some have grown to become larger than their role suggests. Their shady involvement in sporting transactions has been the topic of criticism.
However fans and the media feel about them, though, football agents are involved with the teams and players atop all football bets.
The football agent industry can be lucrative, but it isn’t all the glamour of Jorge Mendes and Mino Raiola.
How To Become A Football Agent:
Being a football agent is about more than taking a cut in multi-million-pound deals. It’s about finding talent, sticking up for your client and building a catalogue of contacts.
Much like those wondering how to become a football manager, the path to being a football agent requires luck. It’s not a straightforward career to aspire to.
There is no checklist of experience and qualifications to guarantee a successful life as an agent, and those without a background in the sport are at an obvious disadvantage to former players, managers and scouts.
So where do you start? Here are a few tips for aspiring football agents.
Build Legal Knowledge
It might not be the most exciting part of the job, but contracts are a key responsibility of any football agent. Agents don’t need to be trained solicitors or anything of that ilk, though an understanding of legal terminology is helpful.
The best football agents need to know what to look out for in a contract. This is an important part of the job, and a significant chunk of what clients are paying you for.
There are courses potential agents can take to clue up on the required legal info, but many will just accumulate the knowledge through experience.
Register With The FA
It’s compulsory for all football agents to register with the Football Association as an intermediary. This carries a hefty £500 fee and will require a criminal record check as well as a test of ‘good character and reputation’.
People looking to become agents can begin the registration process today. Of course, with a sizeable fee involved, this isn’t an early step to take.
It’s something to put into action once other parts of the process are complete and you are ready to take that leap to the world football agenting.
Get Experience
How many jobs want experience? Becoming a football agent is no different. There are a lot of benefits to building up experience and aspiring football agents have a few different avenues they can go down.
Existing football agencies will offer internships and may take agents on placements. Other ways to get involved in the business sides of football clubs could be work experience at a specific club or shadowing a current agent.
Building up experience in the industry will help to understand so much of what an agent needs to know and do. Trying to jump straight in without experience is a recipe for disaster, as is the case in the majority of jobs.
Build Contacts
Journalists and scouts are always told to build contacts. Agents are the same. A good football agent will know club officials, he’ll build relationships with players early in their careers and likely have a line of communication with high-profile reporters.
Getting to matches will help organically build some relationships. Agents shouldn’t be content standing on a sideline or at the back of a stand scrolling through Twitter. It’s time to chat, time to get to know people who could help you down the line.
Developing a book of contacts, like a budding reporter, is one of the foundational skills of the top football agents.
Identify Talent
Football agents starting out need to get ahead of the competition by identifying talent early. Spotting a player before more established agents have made an approach is important.
Maybe a scouting qualification or two could help with this. Again, though, this is about knowing people, knowing where to watch, getting tips on which player could be about to break through.
There are so many skills required to become a successful football agent – the knack for picking out good players before others have noticed is key.
Understand Media
Working with the media is integral to a football agent’s work. They will be dealing with media enquiries on a daily basis, keeping up with online betting odds and transfer news.
The traditional media is important to market your client, to get interviews, to develop a reputation, but social media is an increasingly important tool.
Players can build their brand through their social channels and develop a following before on-pitch performances warrant it – good use of social media is a way to get exposure for a young talent long before they are starring in the top flight.
Evaluate The Market
Money is king. That’s true beyond football, but it’s the bread and butter of an agent’s job.
They are looking for the route to the most money for their client more often than not, and need to get a good understanding of the going rate. This can be transfer fee, wages, endorsements or signing bonuses.
This part of the job expands beyond financial nous, however. Agents are constantly searching for landing spots for their players.
Transfers can be forced to generate a bit more cash, or it can be about finding a new home for an unhappy player, but it’s the agents responsibility to know where could be a good team for their client.
Does X club need a ball-playing centre back? Have Y got the budget to add an extra winger? These are questions agents must know the answer to - or be able to find out quickly and easily.
There’s a broad range of skills required to become a football agent. Amid the legality, the business mind and media savvy, the in-depth knowledge of the sport cannot be overlooked.
*Credit for the main photo belongs to Joel Ryan / Invision / AP*
FIRST PUBLISHED: 2nd December 2020
