BusinessDay 18 Feb 2018

Sunday 18 February 2018
C002D5556
BD SUNDAY 47
Sports
FIFA calls for reform of transfer market system
…. As record $6.37bn spent on transfers in 2017
ANTHONY NLEBEM
World football
governing
body, FIFA,
says it making
plans to
reform the transfer market
system, along with rapidly rising
agent fees.
FIFA’s Global Transfer Market
Report last month detailed
that football clubs spent a record
$6.37bn (€5.2bn) on transfers
in 2017, with teams from
the English Premier League
again laying out more money
than their rivals.
The global figure represented
an increase of 32.7 per
cent on the 2016 outlay. Some
15,624 transfers took place
internationally in 2017, 6.8 per
cent more than in 2016. Only
15.8 per cent of transactions
involved fees, however, with the
remaining 84.2 per cent of deals
being free transfers.
FIFA also noted that about
two thirds (67.4 per cent) of
the $6.37bn spent came from
only 50 clubs representing 13
member associations. Premier
League clubs accumulated a net
spend of $988m.
FIFA president Gianni Infan-
ANTHONY NLEBEM
LaLiga president, Javier Tebas,
has revealed the organisation,
which oversees the
top two divisions of Spanish club
football, will convert its LaLigaTV
service into an OTT platform in
August, with the new product to
offer sports content aside from
football.
Tebas made the announcement
in a wide-ranging interview
in Friday’s edition of Spanish
newspaper Expansión. The platform
will be free to use, but will
require registration to access.
Tebas said content will include
live and on-demand action from
the top-tier LaLiga, as well as the
second-tier Segunda División and
other domestic sport in Spain.
“LaLiga will launch its own
multi-sport internet television
platform in August,” Tebas told
Expansión.
“This is the best way to reach
our fans directly. In addition to our
own content, we will broadcast
other sports whenever they have
sufficient quality, which will be
the key factor beyond the level
of audience that each discipline
can generate.”
Expansión said the OTT platform
will fall under the wing
of the LaLiga4Sports project, a
digitally-focused initiative involving
Spain’s 64 sports federations
and the Spanish Paralympic Com-
tino revealed that: “For international
transfers alone, we have
seen some $6.4bn circulating.
This is double the amount just
four or five years ago. You could
say the system is healthy because
there is lots of money. But
the trend is worrying and that’s
why we need to act.
“That’s $6.4bn, transferred
from one country to another,
over a period of a few months.
And at the same time, the commission
fees paid to agents are
increasing as well, to more than
$500m.”
Infantino also called for
greater transparency in the
transfer market and compared
the sums paid to agents with the
$60m heading to clubs in training
compensation and solidarity
payments. Under existing rules,
every club a footballer played
for, from the age of 12 until he
turns professional, is entitled
to a share of any transfer fees
paid until the player turns 23.
However, this system has been
criticised for its lack of enforcement.
“A solution would be to sim-
LaLiga to launch multi-sport internet television platform
Nigerian Breweries Plc, an
operating company of
Heineken International and
the Nigerian Football Federation
(NFF) on Friday, February 9, 2018,
held a colourful ceremony in Lagos
to officially kick off their historic
multimillion naira partnership.
The five-year partnership deal
worth N2.2b (N450m per annum)
will have Star Lager and Amstel
Malta as official alcoholic and malt
beverages of the National Football
Teams of Nigeria.
“This strategic partnership that
we are unveiling today is very significant,
not only because of what
the NFF and the national football
teams stand to gain but also because
of what is in it for the fans and
supporters of Nigerian Football,”
said Amaju Pinnick.
Major stakeholders in the Nigeria
sports industry were present at
the event, along with some of Nigemittee.
Tebas said LaLiga will not initially
focus on monetising the
service, with user registration
instead seen as a key benefit. He
added: “We want to optimise the
data of our users, carry a good
big data strategy, to improve the
experience of the fans and predict
their behaviour, know what they
like or what they see.”
In November, Tebas said
LaLiga expects to earn €2.3bn
($2.8bn) per year from its broadcast
rights within three seasons.
LaLiga currently generates
around €1bn per season for its
domestic rights, and a further
€650m from the international
market. Tebas said that new
contracts should bring in around
€1.3bn per season for domestic
rights and €1bn for overseas, if
negotiations progress smoothly.
LaLiga rights are currently being
marketed in certain overseas
markets and Tebas said a domestic
tender for rights from the
2019-20 season will be launched
between March and May “at the
latest”.
Tebas also broached the subject
of his future, amid reports
linking him with a similar position
at Italy’s Lega Serie A. LaLiga
clubs this week approved a pay
rise for Tebas amid reported interest
in the executive from Lega
Serie A.
Tebas has been widely linked
to a senior role at Serie A in the
wake of the league’s new domestic
rights deal with Spanish
agency Mediapro. Lega Serie A,
the organising body of the top
division of Italian club football,
last week accepted an offer for its
domestic broadcast rights from
Mediapro worth €1,050,001,000
per season, exceeding the minimum
revenue target of €1.05bn
that had been set.
The Lega will now take the
offer, for the three seasons from
2018-19 to 2020-21, to the Italian
antitrust authority before it can
proceed with officially assigning
the rights. However, the organisation’s
interest in Tebas has
been widely reported and LaLiga
has sought to lock down its most
senior executive.
LaLiga clubs this week approved
a contract worth a basic
€1.2m per annum, plus a further
€250,000 in bonuses. The deal is
also said to include a non-competition
clause should Tebas choose
to leave LaLiga.
Tebas told Expansión: “I want
to be in Spain, but there are many
factors to consider when you
receive an offer. I am very flattered
that they look at the CEO
of the Spanish employers. Italy
wants to go to being an industry,
as has happened in LaLiga, where
we have enhanced our professionalisation
from 30 employees
to 300.”
ply say there is, for example, a
five per cent fee that has to be
paid for solidarity and training
compensation,” Infantino said.
“This five per cent, which can
be more or less, could be transferred
to a central account and
then FIFA or the confederations
would redistribute to the clubs
responsible for the players’
training.”
Concerning agents and intermediaries,
the FIFA president
added: “I think the rise of commissions
paid to agents has
taken a worrying direction. And
many agents agree with me and
would like more oversight.
“It’s also a question of football’s
ecosystem, today there
are no rules in place. Anyone
can do what he wants. But the
reality shows us that there are
risks of bribery, corruption and
money laundering. It’s not me
saying it; there are many reports
from government authorities
that show this is the case.”
In September, the English
Premier League became the
first major European football
league to revamp rules governing
the summer transfer
window, with the deadline for
incoming deals set to close
before the start of the 2018-19
season.
Nigerian football legends attend
NB Plc, NFF partnership kickoff
MABEL DIMMA
The rule amendment means
the summer window will close
at 5pm GMT on the Thursday
before the start of the season,
meaning August 9 for the 2018-
19 campaign compared to August
31 for this season.
The new rule, which applies
only to the acquisition of players,
will be for Premier League
clubs only and has no bearing
on other leagues and competitions.
Clubs will still have the
ability to sell players to other
leagues in which the transfer
window is open, as they can
now to leagues that have different
transfer window dates, such
as Major League Soccer.
Infantino said he supports
the Premier League’s initiative,
although he conceded that a
winter window would still be
needed.
He added: “It makes sense
when you start the season to
know what your squad is. And
then you play the season with
your squad. You (should not) be
able to change one week, two
week or months into the season
and risk losing maybe your best
player. It’s not right. We have
to protect the values that have
made football what it is, as well
as the game’s integrity.”
ria’s most accomplished male and
female National Team ex-players,
including famed USA ‘94 World
Cup team member;, midfielders
Garba Lawal and Mutiu Adepoju,
Goalkeeper Peter Rufai, as well as
Samson Siasia, Daniel Amokachi
and Augustine Eguavoen, the last
three also having served as national
team coaches since retirement
from football.
Also in attendance at the event
were former Super Falcons players
Anne Chiejine and Okunwa Igunbor,
as well as former captains of
the Super Eagles from the 80’s and
90’s, Segun Odegbami and Henry
Nwosu.
Meanwhile the two Nigerian
Breweries brands will be providing
support to National Team players
and coaching crews of all national
football teams, as well as offering
premium enjoyment to passionate
football fans that will be cheering
the teams during and after their
matches.