UEFA meets licensed match agents

Exchange experiences
The meeting was organised with a view to the exchange of experiences, not only with UEFA but also between the match agents themselves. Talks were also held on new draft UEFA licensed agents regulations, which are expected to be approved by the UEFA Executive Committee in December.

UEFA licence
Anyone who wishes to arrange matches, tournaments or tours within UEFA's territory involving representative teams and/or clubs affiliated to UEFA member associations must have a UEFA match agent licence. Only officials or employees of UEFA member associations or UEFA-affiliated clubs are exempt from this obligation as long as the relevant member association or club are taking part in the event in question.

UEFA's property
The licence is issued in the form of a credit card, and remains UEFA's property. It is valid for an initial period of five years and may then be renewed for eight-year periods. In return, the licence-holder must, among other things, respect UEFA's statutes, regulations, directives and decisions, and act according to principles of loyalty, integrity and sporting fairness, as well as conclude a professional liability insurance or a bank guarantee, in order to protect contractual parties against any financial damage which may occur.

New regulations
UEFA's licensed match agent activities have accelerated over the past decade. The first licensed match agent regulations were approved by the UEFA Executive Committee in 1997, revised regulations came into force in 2003, and this year sees discussions on a third edition of the regulations, which have gone through a broad consultation process with FIFA and the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), as well as with the current licensed match agents.

Meeting experts
A total of 154 individuals now hold UEFA match agent licences – compared with 29 in 1999 and 52 in 2003. They come from 27 of UEFA's 53 member associations, and nearly 50 match agents were able to attend the meeting in Geneva. The chairman of the UEFA sub-committee for match agents, Giangiorgio Spiess, attended the Geneva gathering, together with UEFA Executive Committee member and UEFA Players' Status, Transfer and Agents and Match Agents Committee chairman Joseph Mifsud, UEFA sub-committee members João Leal and Henrik Ravnild, and FIFA representatives.

Interests of football
"The UEFA sub-committee is working for you, to enable you to carry out your activities as efficiently as possible in the interests of football," Spiess told the match agents. "We are also protecting you – helping you to work under the best possible conditions."

Active work
"UEFA is the only [FIFA continental] confederation which organises match agents and has regulations," added Mifsud. "A lot has happened since the last meeting between UEFA and the agents – the number of agents has gone up. The sub-committee has been introduced, and has been extremely active in 2008, working on the new regulations. Thank you for your honest work in carrying out your business. If this work is carried out in a professional and honest manner, both European football and the licensed match agents will benefit."

Agents' spokesman
George Gregoriou (Cyprus) was re-elected in Geneva as spokesman for the UEFA match agents, with Paul Montmartin (France) elected as deputy spokesman. Their role is to represent the licensed UEFA match agents as observers during the UEFA sub-committee meetings and share their experiences with this body.