Updated
Plain answers to the questions this industry never writes down. What agents charge, how clubs find players, what a contract expiring really means, and what the figures nobody publishes would tell you if they did. Every number here carries its source.
Our analysis of 113,510 arrivals from another league over three seasons: where a stated fee stops appearing, how heavily clubs rely on free transfers, and the roads each league actually recruits along.
Updated , 6 min read
Our own analysis of the transfer market, and the published figures that frame it.
Only 17.7 per cent of international transfers in 2025 carried any fee, and that was a record high. What that shape means for clubs recruiting on a budget and for players out of contract.
Updated , 2 min read
FIFA counted 128,694 professional male footballers at 3,986 clubs across 135 countries. What that ratio means for anyone trying to find a club.
Updated , 2 min read
Below the top tier, most moves carry no fee and modest wages. The deal is worth doing, but finding it costs too much, so good players sit available while clubs never hear the name.
, 3 min read
A small fee market takes the money and the headlines. A much larger market of free transfers, short contracts and modest wages is where most clubs actually recruit.
, 2 min read
Third-party ownership means an outside investor owning a share of a player's future transfer fee. FIFA has banned it since May 2015. What counts and what does not.
, 2 min read
The 1995 Bosman ruling let out of contract players in the EU move without a transfer fee and ended quotas on EU players. Why it still shapes the market.
, 2 min read
In 2024 the Court of Justice of the EU found parts of FIFA's transfer rules on breach of contract contrary to EU law. Why, and how FIFA's rules changed for 2027.
, 2 min read
How clubs below the top tier find players, and what it costs them.
Elite clubs run funded scouting departments. Everyone else recruits through their existing network of agents, coaches and their own players. What that means, tier by tier.
Updated , 2 min read
Rarely as a department. What club staff pages and licensing rules actually show about recruitment staff outside the elite, and why no governing body measures it.
Updated , 3 min read
Few vendors publish a rate card. What buyers report paying for data access, what clubs and agents pay on the paid transfer marketplace, and why the absence of public pricing matters.
Updated , 4 min read
Foreign player slots, not transfer budgets, are often the binding constraint. How the rules, the windows and the networks decide who gets signed.
Updated , 2 min read
A player request is a club stating the position it needs and the terms it can offer, so agents and players can respond. What a complete one contains, why writing it down changes the outcome, and how one works on FTBL Exchange.
Updated , 3 min read
A football recruitment platform connects clubs that need players with the agents and players who can fill the position. How it differs from scouting software and data tools.
, 2 min read
A free agent is a player with no contract, so a club can sign him without a transfer fee. How to find one, check him and register him, step by step.
, 3 min read
At a small club the sporting director is often the whole recruitment department: finding players, agreeing terms and planning the squad, usually with little help.
, 2 min read
Transfer windows limit when players can be registered, but out of contract players are often an exception. How the rule works and what to check.
, 2 min read
Twenty goals in one league are not twenty goals in another. How clubs compare players across leagues: league strength, minutes, age, data and video.
, 2 min read
Training compensation is what a club pays the clubs that trained a player from age 12 to 21, when he signs his first professional contract or moves abroad before 23. How it works.
, 2 min read
When a player is transferred for a fee during his contract, 5 per cent of the fee goes to the clubs that trained him between 12 and 23. How the share is worked out.
, 2 min read
A player registered in one country can only be registered in another once the new association receives an international transfer certificate. What it is and the rules around it.
, 2 min read
A loan moves a professional to another club for a fixed period. The rules on length, written agreements, recalls and FIFA's limit on how many players a club can loan in and out.
, 2 min read
Most clubs below the top tier sign players for no fee, on modest wages, with one or two people doing the work. A practical recruitment process that costs next to nothing.
, 2 min read
A sell-on clause gives a selling club a share of the fee if the player is sold again. How they work, common variations, and why they matter to smaller clubs.
, 2 min read
A player passport lists every club a player has been registered with since the year he turned 12. It decides who gets training compensation and solidarity payments.
, 2 min read
TMS is FIFA's online system for international transfers. Clubs and associations must use it for every international transfer in eleven-a-side football, and it is free.
, 1 min read
Under FIFA's rules clubs must release players called up for international windows and major tournaments, without payment. The dates, the duties and the exceptions.
, 2 min read
Under FIFA's rules a club that delays a due payment to a player or club by more than 30 days can be fined or banned from registering players. How the overdue payables rule works.
, 2 min read
FIFA defines a club-trained player as one registered with his current club for three seasons or 36 months between 15 and 21. Where the definition matters.
, 2 min read
Per 90 figures put players with different minutes on the same scale. How they are calculated, why clubs use them, and when they mislead.
, 2 min read
Expected goals, or xG, measures the quality of a shot as the chance it becomes a goal. What it tells clubs about strikers and teams, and its limits.
, 2 min read
How agents work, what they earn, and how they find the next club.
Football agents usually charge around five per cent of the player's contract value, not a share of the transfer fee. What that means in practice, who pays it, and why FIFA's fee cap is suspended.
Updated , 5 min read
Public career databases, then a direct approach on social media, plus requests circulating between agents. The workflow, and the economics that limit it.
Updated , 3 min read
Most agents find clubs through people they already know: sporting directors, coaches and other agents. Why that limits where a player can go, and how to hear about positions earlier.
, 2 min read
Under the FIFA Football Agent Regulations, an agent needs a FIFA licence to act in international transfers. The eligibility rules, the exam, and what it takes to keep the licence.
, 2 min read
A FIFA licensed agent holds a FIFA licence to act in international transfers. An intermediary works on moves without one. What each can do, and how clubs can tell.
, 2 min read
A football scout finds and assesses players for a club or agent. What the work involves, how scouts report, and how it differs from being an agent.
, 2 min read
What a sporting director wants from an agent's message: a player who fits a real need, the facts up front, one link, and no chasing. A practical guide for agents.
, 2 min read
Contracts, pay and finding a club, with or without an agent.
Most professional footballers move without an agent acting for them. The routes that actually work, what to be careful of, and why being out of contract is not the emergency it feels like.
Updated , 3 min read
About half of the contracts signed in international moves run a year or less, so being out of contract is routine rather than a crisis. What the free agent market looks like, and why the queue is getting longer.
Updated , 2 min read
Most professionals earn far less than the game's reputation suggests. What FIFA's 2025 pay data and the wage bands agents report show, and why late payment is a normal risk of the job.
Updated , 3 min read
Most professional footballers who move between countries sign short contracts. Half of the deals in 2025 ran a year or less, and most moves were players whose contract had ended.
, 2 min read
What a football CV needs, in the order a club reads it: position, age, passport, career, minutes, contract status, video and contact. With a checklist.
, 2 min read
How long a football highlights video should be, what to put first, and the mistakes that make a club stop watching.
, 2 min read
A gross salary is before tax, a net salary is what the player takes home. Why the difference matters in football, and how to compare offers from different countries.
, 2 min read
Trials abroad are mostly for young players. What clubs expect before they invite someone, how to avoid paying for a fake trial, and what works better for older players.
, 2 min read
Under FIFA's rules, a player who has not been paid at least two monthly salaries can end his contract with just cause, after a written warning and 15 days. How it works.
, 2 min read
What to check before you sign with a football agent: the licence, the written agreement, its length, the fee, and whether they actually know clubs at your level.
, 2 min read
FIFA bans international transfers of players under 18, with five exceptions. What they are and what a club taking a minor must provide.
, 2 min read
What to agree before you sign, beyond the headline wage: net or gross, bonuses, housing, flights, length, release terms and when you are paid.
, 2 min read
From 1 January 2027, FIFA's rules give players earning under EUR 150,000 a year 5 per cent of the fixed fee when they are sold abroad. How the new rule works.
, 2 min read
Breaking a football contract without just cause means paying compensation, at least the rest of the contract in principle, and in the protected period, sporting sanctions.
, 2 min read
The protected period is the first part of a football contract, when breaking it brings sporting sanctions as well as compensation. How long it lasts at each age.
, 2 min read
Disputes between clubs and players with an international dimension go to FIFA's Football Tribunal, unless both sides chose a recognised national chamber. Time limits and interest.
, 2 min read
Between clubs, a player has to stay fit, stay visible and be ready to sign at short notice. A practical plan for free agents.
, 2 min read
A free transfer is a move where no transfer fee is paid, usually because the player's contract has ended. Most moves in football are free. What it means for players and clubs.
, 2 min read
FIFA's rules give women players at least 14 weeks' paid maternity leave, the right to keep playing while pregnant, protection from dismissal, and the right to return.
, 2 min read
Scouts and clubs look for players they can check quickly. How to make yourself easy to find and easy to judge, at any level.
, 2 min read
FTBL Exchange is free for players, agents and clubs. Clubs post requests, agents propose the players they represent, and players apply themselves.
A person checks every new account before the board opens.