To an outsider it may seem incomprehensible, but today there is really no sure way to confirm who is the agent of a football player.
Swedish football has, at the initiative of the supporters, begun work for increased transparency where the clubs must more clearly report how much money is paid in fees to various agents for player transfers.
Now the three big Stockholm clubs AIK, Hammarby and Djurgården have jointly issued a communique stating that they also want to see greater transparency about who the agents actually are. It is signed by the chairman of the respective club.
- It could be that we don't really know who represents whom. It's a problem, says Mattias Fri from Hammarby.
- Sometimes we can end up in situations where there are several who claim to represent the same player or the same club, and it is clear that it creates a bit of disorder. We think it would be good if you knew who represented who, quite simply.
One solution the clubs propose is a mandatory national agent register under the auspices of the Swedish Football Association, where it should be clear which agents represent which players and it should be based on properly written agreements.
"The basic principle is simple: there must be a clear and verifiable record of who represents a player in connection with transfers and contract extensions. This strengthens the player's legal certainty, facilitates the clubs' control and makes it possible to more clearly review the agents' roles and responsibilities," the clubs write.
The fact that there is no such list today is partly due to the fact that the regulations that the International Football Association, Fifa, tried to introduce came up against the patrol. But Sweden does not have to wait for international rules, but can create its own, say the clubs.
- We can have as much control as we can have, but a register would help increase the hygiene factor in Swedish football, says AIK chairman Mikael Jomer.
AIK in particular, but also other clubs, have been noticed for having been involved in a series of deals with a controversial agent network with suspected links to organized crime. Several clubs have made decisions not to cooperate with the current agent network, but it is difficult at the moment to be completely sure that it is being followed.
- The challenge is, after all, who represents the players in the extension when we have to explore at all levels. This would also provide transparency if several stakeholders were to come and say that they are representatives of a player, says Jomer.
- If you as a club make such a decision, this would make it easier to know who you are dealing with. Before putting a lot of resources into it, says Hammarby's Mattias Fri.
A responsibility also lies with the individual players in whom they choose to represent them.
- Ultimately, it is the players who choose their agent. That's the way it should be, we must protect it. But then there is also a responsibility over who you choose as your representative. Many of these questions we feel perhaps come more to us as clubs rather than to the players. But we also want to highlight that it is not us who choose the players' agents, it is the players themselves, says Mikael Jomer.
Since last spring, there has been a working group within Swedish football that has been working on the question of how to increase transparency around the sums paid out to agents. That the three rival Stockholm clubs go out together, they hope, will speed up the issue also of transparency around who the agents are.
If one is to be honest in the discussion about it, Swedish football is very dependent on transfers
- When the three of us who are bitter competitors on the field can agree on something, there is strength in that, says Mattias Fri.
- We must have a discussion about this in football. Is there a wider interest in this? Are there more people who see this need? And how should we implement it in such cases?
The fact that it is not completely obvious to everyone to just report things like this openly, he believes, is due to a fear that it will be more difficult to get certain player deals done.
- If you are to be honest in the discussion about it, Swedish football is very dependent on transfers. It is fundamental for elite football to develop and move forward. And it is clear to change the conditions for that, no one really knows what the consequences of that will be, says Fri.
