FIFA's latest annual report revealed an unprecedented surge in spending by professional clubs on player agent fees and services, with total payments in 2025 (between January 1 and December 1) reaching a staggering US$1.37 billion. This represents a remarkable increase of over 90% compared to the previous year, reflecting the significant inflation in the global transfer market and the growing role of intermediaries in the football industry.
FIFA explained in its official statement that this figure represents the highest total annual spending ever recorded in the history of the game, far surpassing the previous record set in 2023, which stood at $889.4 million. This astonishing increase is primarily driven by the purchasing power of European clubs, which accounted for the lion's share of global spending.
English dominance and growth in women's football
As expected in the current sports economy, English clubs topped the list of global spenders, benefiting from the Premier League's massive television broadcasting revenues. Their clubs spent over $375 million on agent fees. German clubs came in second, spending $165 million. Meanwhile, England led the list of countries importing players through deals involving agents, accounting for 51.1%, while Serbia emerged as the largest exporter of players through intermediaries, representing 28.7% of such deals.
Financial growth wasn't limited to men's football; women's professional football also experienced a significant surge, with clubs spending over $6.2 million on agent services. While this figure may seem small compared to men's football, it's highly significant, representing 13 times the amount spent in 2020 and more than double last year's figure ($3.1 million), indicating rapid development and increasing professionalism in women's football.
The regulatory context and FIFA's attempts at control
These astronomical figures come at a time when FIFA is seeking to impose greater oversight and transparency on the work of player agents through new regulations and mandatory licensing exams. The report stated that this year saw the first-ever online, supervised version of the football agent exam, which attracted a record 16,117 applications, mostly from the UK, France, the US, Spain, and Brazil. As a result of these measures, the number of officially licensed agents reached 10,525 as of December 4, 2025.
Commenting on these figures, Emilio Garcia Silvero, FIFA's Head of Legal and Compliance, said: "The numbers recorded this year confirm the growing importance of football agents in professional football, and we expect this trend to continue next year." Silvero added that these figures reinforce the need for comprehensive and enforceable regulations to ensure the integrity of financial transactions and support the development of the game.
Economic experts point out that this significant increase in agent commissions reflects the complexity of modern transfer deals, where the agent's role is no longer limited to negotiating salary, but now includes managing image rights, sponsorship, and strategic planning for the player's career path, making them an integral part of the football system, despite the ongoing controversy surrounding the amount of money that leaves the game and ends up in the accounts of intermediaries.
