Olisa Agbakoba Legal’s (OAL) Intern, Pauline Mbanza on Sport Arbitration and Agency

No sports person wishes to only play for one club or play in only one league. Most sports professionals and in this case, footballers want to make a change in the clubs and leagues they play in.

This kind of change is influenced by many factors which include but are not limited to career development and finances. These sportspersons are not limited to a specific number of leagues or clubs they must play in, however, for them to change from one club to another, they need a representative who is referred to as an agent and recently updated to intermediatory by the FIFA, to negotiate the transfer from one club to another.

This is supposed to make the transfer easy and smooth going to avoid any conflicts. Often times people wonder what a sports agent must specialize in to become an agent. Is it law, sports management or market? People wonder if sports agents are paid or if they determine market prices for sports persons during transfers and any other negotiations.

Many times the question is what happens when conflicts arise during transfers or between a sportsperson and a club or league? In this video, our intern, Pauline Mbanza focuses on football and addresses these questions and discusses who a sports agent is and why it is important for any budding sports professional to hire a lawyer as their agent. She also discusses how conflicts in football are resolved