Money Laundering through the Football Sector – July 2009
32 - © 2009 FATF/OECD
matching system to ensure that all parties agree on the details of the transfer, secondly a contract validation
system to ensure that the terms of a transfer are correct and thirdly a payment recording (settlement)
system. The advantages are twofold: it facilitates transfers and shows where the money is coming from and
going to, with the aim of making transfers more transparent
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. The system will become the source for all
international transfer certificates for professional players by September 2010
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, and in future it will
become a clearing house (timeline to be determined).
FIFA Club Licensing Regulations
110. After UEFA had a positive experience with club licensing regulations, FIFA sought to implement
a global licensing system, in collaboration with national associations and confederations. FIFA Club
Licensing Regulations were thus drafted based on the UEFA Club Licensing manual. The principles were
approved by the 57
th
FIFA Congress in May 2007.
111. The club licensing system has the following overall objectives: safeguarding the credibility and
integrity of club competitions; improving the level of professionalism within the football family; ensuring
sporting values in accordance with the principles of fair-play; ensuring safe and secure match
environments and ensuring transparency in the finances, in the ownership and in the control of clubs.
Players’ Agents Regulations
112. The most recent FIFA Players‟ Agents Regulations were approved by the FIFA Executive
Committee on 30 October 2007 and came into force on 1 January 2008. The new features include licences
for players' agents being renewable as opposed to having lifetime validity, with the aim of making sure that
agents are up to date with the rulings that are in force. Disciplinary measures against agents with dishonest
intentions have also been significantly strengthened, and players will also have to pay their agents
themselves in order to increase the transparency of the various transactions. In concrete terms, agents will
receive payment exclusively from the client who engages them.
Early warning system on betting activities (EWS)
113. The early warning system is an independent subsidiary of FIFA aimed at protecting football from
match-fixing derived from sports betting by highlighting any irregularities which occur in betting on
football at a sufficiently early stage. This preventative alert system was tested during the 2006 FIFA World
Cup Germany™. It monitored all 302 events of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing on behalf of the IOC.
The FIFA Congress decided at the end of May 2007 to institutionalise the system and will use it to monitor
gambling activities related to qualifying and tournament matches for South Africa 2010.
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As part of a valid transfer, clubs will have to provide the following combination of details: counter club
information; counter clubs association (ITC management); player name; type of transfer (permanent, loan); total
transfer amount (plus solidarity and/or training compensation if any); transfer type (single-payments, instalments);
club agent and commissions if any; player agent if any; payment details of source bank (from club) and
destination bank (to club), amount and value date.
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From May 2008 to April 2009, 47 countries began the implementation of the system. Phase 1 (since May 2008):
Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, China, Côte d‟Ivoire, Greece, Hungary, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands,
Norway, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Spain. Phase 2 (since November 2008): Argentina, Australia, Austria,
Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Congo, France, Germany, Japan, Lithuania,
Morocco, New Zealand, Nigeria, Peru, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea,
Switzerland, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay and the United States.