Transfer intermediaries - the most important changes.
Somewhat in the shadow of preparations for the Polish national team's qualifying match, the Polish Football Association (PZPN) adopted and published new regulations regarding transfer intermediaries. I have already written about plans in this regard on the blog while discussing FIFA's recommendations. In this article, I will try to discuss the most important changes.
Managerial licenses are disappearing, and from April 1, 2015, when the discussed regulations come into force, one must familiarize oneself with the concept of a transaction intermediary. A transaction intermediary will be an entity registered with the association, representing a club or player in contract negotiations. Importantly, from now on, intermediaries can be natural persons, legal entities, and organizational units. Those already active in the market as managers, as well as those entering the market, have the freedom to choose the organizational form of their business activities. They can thus conduct intermediary activities in the form of a partnership, a corporation, or a sole proprietorship.
Contrary to appearances, giving up the license does not mean that "transactional intermediary" will be free of charges. To become a transaction intermediary, one must submit an application for listing with the PZPN along with the appropriate declaration and pay a registration fee of PLN 1,000. Previously, to take the exam to become a player manager, one had to pay a "recruitment" fee of PLN 5,000, and the obtained license remained valid for 5 years. After this period, it was necessary to take the exam again, which entailed the obligation to pay another fee of the same amount. From this perspective, it seems that the fee to the association has been reduced by five times. However, it remains exactly at the same level. This is because registration must be done separately for each playing season. In practice, therefore, the fee to the PZPN amounts to PLN 1,000 per year.
As for the transparency of transactions, a real revolution is looming here. The PZPN has decided to publish, in addition to the list of names of intermediaries 1)I expect that in the case of legal persons and organizational units, this will be the company name intermediary transaction agreements as well as the total amount of intermediary remuneration received from clubs and players within a year.
Given that the mentioned circumstance may be discouraging for some individuals, the question arises, what are the legal consequences of operating without prior registration. An individual undertaking mediation in a transaction without the required registration will not be able to be listed for the next two years, and in the event of further violations, for the next 5 years. This is not a particularly severe punishment, but it should be noted that the PZPN has no authority to impose financial penalties on individuals and entities that are not members of the association and not subject to disciplinary responsibility of a sports association under the Sports Act. Therefore, to ensure compliance with the regulations, the existing solution was used, and disciplinary action will be taken against clubs and players using the services of an unregistered intermediary in the association.
Already signaled earlier, albeit extremely important, the change concerns underage players. Firstly, only a natural person can conclude a contract with such a player. Secondly, the intermediary cannot receive any fees in connection with the conclusion of a contract or transfer of an underage player. So what is the economic justification for entering into such contracts? It seems that with the abolition of the maximum duration of the contract (currently it can be concluded for any fixed period), intermediaries can conclude long-term contracts with talented young players, counting on future profits after the player reaches 18 years of age.
What about existing contracts? They remain valid if the manager registers as an intermediary. Interestingly, contracts concluded before April 1 cannot be extended. The rationale behind this regulation is not entirely clear to me. Since new contracts can be concluded for a period longer than two years, why can't existing contracts be extended by annex, especially since the new regulations do not differ radically from the previously applicable ones?
I won't go into great detail about the requirements for candidates for transaction intermediaries as they are similar to the previous ones. An intermediary can only be a person with an impeccable reputation, including not having been convicted by a final judgment for an intentional crime or an intentional fiscal crime prosecuted publicly, and not being subject to disqualification during registration, and not having been disqualified for corruption in the past. In the case of legal entities and organizational units, the above requirements apply to persons authorized to represent the entity. Summarizing the above requirements an intermediary cannot be a person punished with disqualification for corruption at any time, disqualified for other violations for the period of a given playing season, finally sentenced for an intentional crime until the conviction is expunged.
At this moment, intermediaries are not obliged to have insurance, although the PZPN has reserved the right to introduce such a requirement by a separate resolution.2)I wrote about the existing obligation of insurance here
Contrary to appearances, despite the announced deregulation, not much has changed. We will see if the new regulations will affect the reorganization of entities operating in the market, for example, by transforming the legal form of their business. The most far-reaching change seems to be related to the publication of contracts and intermediary remuneration, which will surely not please the latter.
Foto: nicksarebi / Foter / CC BY