FIFA Transfer Matching System GmbH Zollikerstrasse 226 8008 Zurich Switzerland
Tel.: +41-(0)43-222 5400 Fax: +41-(0)43-222 5401 globaltransfermarket@fi fatms.com
Global
Transfer
Market
2011
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As you may know, in 2007 the 57th FIFA Congress voted
to create an online system for international professional football transfers as one of the recommendations of the FIFA Task Force “For the Good of the Game”. The objective of the Congress decision was to increase integrity and transparency in the transfer market, notably by ensuring that football authorities have more data available to them on each and every transfer transaction. The system is also used to enforce FIFA’s rules on the protection of minors in transfers.
Since the programme’s inception on 1 January 2008, national football associations and professional football clubs worldwide have been trained to use the system to conduct international transfers. In September 2009, the fi rst ever electronic international transfer certifi cate was generated through TMS, allowing player Jean-Joel Perrier to transfer from Scottish side Celtic to Toulouse in France.1 Finally, after a one-year transition period, the use of TMS became mandatory for all international transfers of professional male footballers on 1 October 2010.
As a result, and now that the fi rst full calendar year of operations has drawn to a close, we are extremely pleased to be able to present, for the fi rst time, information and
1 “Transfers to receive transparency,” 26 February 2010,
www.fi fa.com
commentary on the professional international transfer market.
With all 208 FIFA member associations and over 5,000 football clubs currently using the system, we are confi dent that the information contained in these pages will provide unique insight into the global football market, and have a great impact on our understanding of the game in all its diversity.
This could not have been achieved without the full participation of all member associations and clubs, and we would like to thank them for their continued support of the programme.
I hope you will enjoy this inaugural edition of Global Transfer Market. If you have any feedback or suggestions please use the contact details at the back of the report to get in touch with us.
Mark Goddard General Manager
FIFA Transfer Matching System GmbH
FOREWORD
Welcome to
Global Transfer Market 2011
,
the
fi
rst FIFA Transfer Matching System (TMS) annual
What is TMS?
The transfer matching system (TMS) is an online application used by football clubs and national associations worldwide to transfer professional players internationally. The system works by matching data provided by the transferring clubs, such as the player’s identifi cation and employment details, agreed transfer fees and agent involvement. Based on this information, national associations use the system to request and deliver international transfer certifi cates (ITCs) electronically. The ITC will allow the association to which the player is transferring to register him, so that he can participate in offi cial matches for his new club.
What information will I
fi
nd here?
The information contained in Global Transfer Market 2011
is exclusively based on individual transaction data provided directly by professional football clubs in TMS. It has been aggregated and anonymised in accordance with our applicable data protection policies.
The transfer market data concerns only international transfers of professional male football players within the scope of 11-a-side football. The data does
INTRODUCTION
not cover domestic transfers, nor does it include players registered as amateurs. The only exception is the data on minors, which also includes amateurs and female players.2
This edition of Global Transfer Market covers completed transfers entered in TMS between 1 January and 31 December 2011. A completed transfer is one for which an ITC has been received by the national association to which the player is transferring. The term “transfer” refers to the movement of a player’s registration from one association to another and includes out-of-contract players being engaged by clubs in a new association, and agreements between clubs to transfer the player’s registration either permanently or temporarily (loans).3 All amounts are expressed in US
dollars.
What’s next?
Thanks to TMS, football authorities have access for the
fi rst time to global, directly reported data on the transfer market. Global Transfer Market 2011 presents aggregated information from the fi rst year of mandatory use of the system. As additional information is entered in the system and we continue to work to enhance the integrity and usability of the data, future editions will be able to provide unparalleled insight into the evolution of the global market for international football.
2 Under FIFA rules, a minor is a player under the age of 18. 3 Loan extension agreements and agreements to transfer a player
permanently at the end of a loan are also entered in the system, but are not counted as a “transfer” for the purposes of this report as there is no player movement.
“
Football and transfers are
deeply affected by globalisation,
and the use of new technologies
allows clubs to respond to the
demands of international business
”
–
Four things you may not have known about
transfers
Every year, transfers populate the front pages of the sports media around the world. The movements of globally recognised players triggering the payment of millions in transfer fees are diligently tracked and analysed. But these transfers constitute only a small piece of the puzzle – the reality of the market is very different.
1. There is a transfer being concluded every
45 minutes
The size of the international transfer market is much greater than the few dozen or even the few hundred transfers that may attract the attention of journalists. Between 1 January and 31 December 2011, over 11,500 international transfers of professional footballers were recorded in TMS.4 That is an average of 31 transfers a day, if transfers were distributed evenly across the year. But as we can see in Figure 1, this is not the case. While there is always a transfer being concluded somewhere on the planet on any given day, transfers are highly concentrated during the months of January, July and August. Those three months alone account for over 60% of all transfers conducted in 2011. This is explained by the fact that the highest number of associations have open registration periods (so-called “transfer windows”) at this time (see “What is a registration period?” below). On 31 August, the busiest transfer day of the year, 317 transfers were closed in a mere 24 hours.
4 An additional 165 loan extensions or loan-to-permanent
agreements were conducted through TMS over the same period.
THE 2011
INTERNATIONAL
TRANSFER MARKET
2. Most players are transferred when no longer
under contract
The second insight we can draw from the data relates to the type of transfers being processed in TMS. When most people think of transfers they think of an agreement between two clubs. Yet 70% of the transfer activity in TMS concerns an out-of-contract player signing with a new club as a free agent (Figure 2). In over half of these cases, the player’s last professional contract had expired. The remaining cases concern players whose contract was terminated early (30% of free agent signings) or players previously registered as amateurs (15%).
When there is an agreement between clubs for the transfer of a player, two-thirds of the time the transaction is a loan (either outgoing or returning). This means that only 10% Figure 2: Transfers by type Figure 1: Monthly transfer activity in 2011
8%
Return from
loan
12%
Engage
player on
loan
10%
Engage
player
70%
Engage out of
contract
0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 TransfersJanuary February March April May June
July August
of all transfers constitute a club-to-club agreement for the permanent move of a player, i.e. approximately 1,100 transactions in 2011.
3. The transfer market is dominated by a handful
of associations
While there are 208 FIFA member associations, all using TMS, only a few associations are responsible for the majority of the transfer activity. Fifty per cent of all incoming transfers (players coming into a particular association) are spread between only 24 associations, and the top fi ve associations by volume of incoming transfers cover by themselves 18% of the overall activity.
Figure 3 shows the top fi ve associations by volume of total transfers, that is, players coming in and players leaving the association.5 We can see that one single association is very much the market leader in the transfer of professional footballers, with more than 1,350 individual transactions per year, representing 12% of all international transfers worldwide.
4. International transfers involve big money …
sometimes
As one of the means of improving transparency in the market, TMS requires clubs to input all fi nancial information
5 The fi ve associations are not named, in application of current data
protection policies.
related to their transfers. An individual transfer can involve one of four different types of payments:
• Agreed transfer compensation: the fi xed sum agreed between two clubs for the transfer of a player (as in, “Player is transferred from Club A to Club B for USD 1 million”);
• Conditional transfer compensation: a variable amount that the player’s new club may end up owing to the former club, generally dependent on the player’s performance during his tenure with the new club (as in, “If Player makes more than 40 appearances for Club B, Club B will pay Club A an additional USD 250,000”);
• Training compensation and solidarity contribution: both are intended to offset the cost of training a young player, but:
– Training compensation is calculated based on indicative training costs and paid by the player’s new club to his former club; while
– Solidarity contribution is calculated as a percentage of the agreed transfer compensation amount and is distributed between all the clubs that trained the player up to the age of 23
In 2011, over USD 3 billion in fi nancial compensation was declared in TMS by transferring clubs.6 Eighty-two per cent
6 Exchange rates taken on the day the transfer was completed. An
additional USD 100 million was refl ected in TMS in relation to loan extensions and loan-to-permanent agreements.
“
In 2011, over
USD 3 billion in
fi
nancial compensation
was declared in TMS
by transferring clubs.
”
p
82%
Agreed transfer
compensation
10%
7%
1%
Solidarity
contribution
Training
compensation
Conditional transfer
compensation
Total:
USD 3 billion
Figure 4: Financial compensation in international transfers Figure 3: Transfer activity: top fi ve associations Outgoing Incoming 12% 8% 7% 6% 6% 0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400internationally are aged between 22 and 27 at the time of their transfer, and over 75% are 27 or under (Figure 5). Players do continue to be transferred internationally to play professional football well into their thirties, but the numbers taper off signifi cantly over 35. The oldest player transferred internationally in 2011 was born in 1965, and therefore aged 46 at the time of his transfer.
On the other side of the scale, very young players are also transferred internationally as professional footballers, although most minors retain amateur status until they reach 18 (see “Lifting the veil on the movement of minors” below). Professional players under the age of 18 were the object of only 1% of international transfers in 2011.
Brazilian players are the most sought-after
International transfers of professional players are heavily skewed to a few dominant nationalities, with Brazilians and Argentinians together making up 20% of transfers this year (Figure 6). Brazilian nationals alone account for 13% of transfers in 2011, or more than 1,500 individual transactions. These include transfers of Brazilian nationals into and out of Brazil as well as between foreign associations.Two other South American countries are represented in the top ten nationalities, namely Uruguay and Colombia. The most transferred European nationals are from France, Serbia, England, Spain and Portugal, while Nigerians are the most represented from the African continent with 3% of international transfers.
of this amount constitutes agreed transfer compensation. Taking a closer look at the agreed transfer compensation fi gures over the year, we fi nd that the average amount of agreed transfer compensation is over USD 1.5 million, while the median is only USD 200,000,7 which means that a few transfers with very high dollar amounts are skewing the average – most transfer fees are actually relatively low. Moreover, fi nancial compensation of any kind is only at issue in less than 14% of transfers. In the remaining 86% of cases, the transfer is conducted without any money changing hands.
Introducing the professional player
Transfers in TMS concern only professional male footballers. Clubs must provide details about these players when conducting transfers internationally through the system, allowing us to paint a picture of the typical professional player. So who is he? According to the data, the typical professional footballer is 23, Brazilian, and not paid as much as you would expect.
Players peak at 23
It does not come as much of a surprise that most international transfers concern players in their early to mid-twenties. Over 50% of professional players transferred
7 The median represents the numerical value separating the upper
half from the lower half of a sample.
“
On 31 August, the busiest transfer day
of the year, 317 transfers were
closed in a mere 24 hours.
”
Figure 5: Age distribution of players in international transfers 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 Transfers Player age
The myth of the millionaire player debunked
Any player who has a written contract with his club and earns more than it costs for him to play football is considered a professional football player by FIFA. Thousands of such players are transferred from one association to another through TMS, and yet practise their profession far away from the glitz and glamour that fans usually associate with international professional football.Based on a sample of players8 transferring into ten different associations in different parts of the world, we estimate that the average annual fi xed salary for a professional football player is around USD 244,000.9 This average, however, is heavily skewed upwards by a small number of extremely high salaries. Most footballers make signifi cantly less than this average fi gure, as demonstrated by the fact that the median salary is a mere USD 43,000. This means that half of the professional footballers in the sample earn more than USD 43,000 a year and half of them earn less. Global salaries are therefore not distributed evenly but concentrated at the lower end of the scale with a signifi cant range from the low four digits to multi-million dollar amounts.
8 Sample size n=60 per association, except the African association
where less data was available and therefore n=36.
9 All amounts are provided in USD, based on the annual average
exchange rate.
Salaries also diverge signifi cantly across associations. Figure 7 shows the average and median salaries in the ten associations reviewed, as well as the deviation from the global average and median salary. All three Western European associations in the sample have averages above the global average. But the difference even within Western Europe is great. “Western European association 1” has by far the highest average salary at USD 675,000, but also the lowest median salary in the region, indicating that the range of salaries in this association is extremely wide and that the distribution of salaries is signifi cantly skewed. A few players earn very large sums of money while half of the players earn an annual fi xed salary of less than USD 83,000. By comparison, salaries in “Western European association 2” are somewhat more evenly distributed, with a high median salary of USD 196,000. Meanwhile, average salaries in “Western European association 3” are signifi cantly lower than in the other two, at barely above USD 325,000 (less than half of the average salary in “Western European association 1”). Analysis suggests that this may be at least partly explained by the origin of the players transferring into this association. The data also goes some way to explaining the attractiveness of players from South America, where median salaries are among the lowest in the world. The growth of professional football in emerging markets such as Asia is also supported Figure 6: Top ten represented nationalities in international transfers
Figure 7: Average and median football salaries
by the very high median salaries there – indeed the Asian association sampled had the highest median salary overall, at USD 240,000.
This is not the whole story, however. Football salaries also typically contain a variable component based on the performance of either the player or the club, or a combination of the two. Contracts reviewed include incentive schemes based on criteria such as:
• Number of appearances by the player during the season; • Points earned during a match in which the player
appeared;
• Club position in the league table;
• Club qualifi cation for competition or promotion to higher division.
Just as with fi xed salaries, all associations are not created equal with respect to conditional compensation. In one of the Western European associations sampled, the average player could potentially make up to four times his salary in conditional compensation, and average conditional
compensation for a player transferring there amounts to 50% of his fi xed salary.10
In another association, located in South America, the effect of the variable component on a player’s total salary is much less signifi cant. Here, conditional compensation is calculated exclusively based on club performance (points won per match and qualifi cation in national and international tournaments) and the likely increase in salary through the incentive scheme is typically below 10%.
Finally, it is worth noting that while average and median football salaries are lower across the board than what sports fans might expect, a comparison with GDP per capita11 still shows that footballers generally enjoy a higher standard of living than most (particularly in Western Europe and Asia) (Figure 8).
10 Determined using simple assumptions regarding average player
and club performance.
11 International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database
2011, fi gures for 2011 in USD.
Brazil
Argentina France Uruguay Colombia
Serbia Nigeria
England Spain Portugal
0 200 Player nationality 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 Transfers 13% 7% 3% 3% 3% 3% 3% 2% 2% 2% 0 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 600,000 700,000 USD
Western Europe 1Western Europe 2Western Europe 3 Eastern EuropeSouth America 1South America 2North America
Africa Middle East Asia Average salary Median salary Global average USD 244,000 Global median USD 43,000
Agents reap the bene
fi
ts of international transfers
Clubs are required to enter information relating to agents when processing an international transfer through TMS. They should declare the involvement of agents assisting them in relation to the transfer, as well as the name of any agent assisting the player. Commissions paid to club agents must also be disclosed in the system, but not those commissions paid by players to their own representatives. In 2011, clubs disclosed a total of USD 130 million in club agent commissions. Figure 9 illustrates the distribution of those commissions in 2011. The average club agent commission is around USD 240,000 (compared to an average transfer value of USD 1.5 million), while the median commission comes in at around USD 80,000 (compared to a median transfer value of USD 200,000).What is a registration period?
According to FIFA’s rules, players can only be transferred during one of two annual registration periods (commonly referred to as “transfer windows”). This rule exists in order to guarantee the sporting integrity of national and international competitions between clubs, which may only modify their squads at two specifi c times of the year. The rule also increases
contractual stability between professional players and clubs. It is up to each national football association to set its own registration periods, but they must meet certain criteria: • There can only be two registration periods per year; • One of the registration periods must fall between two
seasons and cannot be longer than 12 weeks; • The other will occur during the season (usually in the
middle) and lasts up to four weeks.
There is no rule that requires football associations to set matching registration periods, and we notice that there are indeed differences across the globe. On any given day of the year, a national association somewhere in the world will have on open registration period. However, there is a tendency towards harmonisation, particularly within the same confederation. Naturally, the more open transfer windows there are during an association’s registration period, the more business opportunities will be available to that association’s clubs.
Figure 10 shows the number of associations with an open registration period during each month of the year. The alignment of periods around January and July/August is evident, driven by UEFA with its 53 associations but extending beyond to other confederations.
Figure 8: Football salaries compared to GDP per capita Figure 9: Distribution of club agent commissions in international transfers
Figure 10: Open registration periods by confederation
0 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 600,000 700,000 USD
Western Europe 1Western Europe 2Western Europe 3 Eastern EuropeSouth America 1South America 2North America
Africa Middle East Asia Average salary Median salary GDP per capita Average commission USD 240,000 Median commission USD 80,000 10,000 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000 300,000 350,000 400,000 450,000 500,000 600,000 700,000 800,000 900,0001,000,0001,500,0002,000,0003,000,0004,000,00 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 OFC CONMEBOL AFC CONCACAF CAF UEFA
January February March April May June
July
August
PROTECTING THE
RIGHTS OF MINORS
IN TRANSFERS
While TMS is known mostly for its impact on international professional transfers, since October 2009 it also plays a key role in protecting the rights of players under 18, both boys and girls, amateurs and professionals. The key, underlying belief is that increased transparency and access to data on the movement of young players will mean greater protection for those that need it most.
Tackling old problems for young players
Typically, the mention of transfer of minors evokes one of two images: either the horror story of the exploited child, or the success story of the young prodigy. Most cases, of course, fall in neither category. But in all instances it is clear that players under the age of 18 are a vulnerable population that needs to be protected. FIFA’s role is to manage the careful balance between preserving a child’s chances of having a successful footballing career and safeguarding the interests of the overwhelming majority that will never achieve that dream.
This is why FIFA’s regulations generally prohibit the international transfer of minors, or the fi rst registration of foreign minors in an association. The purpose behind this rule is to keep children at home, playing with their original training clubs until they turn 18 and are old enough to make decisions about their future. However, exceptions to this rule are necessary to ensure that promising youngsters do not miss out on opportunities.
The four exceptions to the rule are:
• The minor’s parents are moving to another country for a reason not linked to football;
• The transfer is within the European Union (EU) or the European Economic Area (EEA) and the player is over 16 (and certain stringent conditions are met, such as the level of academic and football training);
Figure 11: Age distribution of minor players in transfers
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 12 13 14 15 16 17 Player age
Lifting the veil on the movement of minors
In 2011, over 13,000 international transfers or fi rst registrations of foreign minors were reported or requested by associations around the world. Almost 90% of these were covered by the limited exemptions, while around 1,500 individual applications were submitted to FIFA. Only 1% of all the minors considered were professionals (just under 11% of the individual applications).Focusing now on the individual applications, we can see that although applications can be made for children from the age of 12, 45% of the applications concern players aged 16 or 17 (Figure 11).
The most popular reason supporting applications for minor transfers is that the child is following his or her parents who have moved to a new country for reasons other than their child’s potential football career (Figure 12). When it comes to those players under 18 who are professionals, however, the vast majority are relying on the rule allowing players over 16 to move within the EU or EEA. This would tend to indicate that the phenomenon of the young superstar is very much a European story.
• The minor’s home and the club are both within 50km of a common border; or
• The foreign minor has been living for at least fi ve years in the country where he wishes to be registered for the fi rst time.
Since October 2009, the application of these exceptions has been controlled by FIFA through TMS, in one of two ways. First, through individual requests for an exception, processed in TMS and decided on a case-by-case basis by a specialised committee. Second, for 22 associations (mostly located in Europe) through a limited exemption that applies only to amateur players joining strictly amateur clubs and that requires all registrations to be reported in TMS at regular intervals.12 In this way, TMS ensures that young players worldwide receive equal protection.
12 These 22 associations have submitted a specifi c request to
benefi t from the limited exemption. The exemption applies for a fi xed time period only but can be renewed.
Figure 12: Requested exceptions for minor transfers
In fact, the data seems to show that the issue of minor transfers is, in general, very much focused around the European continent. As we saw above, 90% of reported minor transfers are covered by the exemption applicable to 22 associations, most of which are European. Moreover, if we look at the top ten most represented nationalities among the 1,500 individual applications, we see that nine of them
are from the European continent (the exception being, unsurprisingly, the ever-popular Brazilians) (Figure 13). FIFA has been working for many years to ensure that children all over the world receive adequate protection and equal opportunities, and progress continues to be made in that area. Access to information through TMS constitutes a vital part of this process.
Figure 13: Top ten represented nationalities in minor transfers 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 Amateur Professional
Common border Parents‘ move EU/EEA 5 years‘ residence
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Albania Brazil France Portugal
Netherlands England
Romania Belgium Hungary Germany
“
In 2011, over 13,000 international transfers
or
fi
rst registrations of foreign minors
were reported or requested by
COMPANY
ACTIVITIES
TMS is operated by a subsidiary of FIFA set up in 2008, FIFATransfer Matching System GmbH. The company is responsible for developing and maintaining the online application, and ensuring that all FIFA member associations and their professional clubs receive the proper training and support to conduct their transfers through the system. The company is also in charge of monitoring and enforcing the use of TMS in accordance with FIFA’s regulations. The three departments of FIFA TMS GmbH work closely with all football stakeholders to guarantee a transparent and effi cient transfer market.
Client Services
A dynamic group of international and multilingual
individuals, the Client Services team supports and educates TMS users worldwide on all transfer-related matters. The team was responsible for training member associations
and their clubs prior to the 1 October 2010 milestone, and offers a dedicated helpdesk service for all users. Service Level Guidelines issued this year demonstrate the team’s commitment to offering a timely and effi cient service to all associations and clubs.
In 2011, 6,650 requests were received by the Client Services Helpdesk, with peaks of activity around January and July/August. Ninety-fi ve per cent of these requests were answered within the time specifi ed by the Service Level Guidelines. In 2012, the team expects to be able to further improve on this achievement.
The Client Services team also works to support the development of the TMS user community and foster communication and experience sharing among stakeholders by organising regular refresher and information courses on TMS.
Information workshops for national associations were held around the world between March and May 2011 in order to revisit the main TMS functionalities and educate users on their regulatory obligations, but mostly to allow association users of TMS to share their experiences with each other and with the team. The feedback received was overwhelmingly positive, and the workshops had a visible impact on user performance in the system. Similar courses will be organised in the future to capitalise on these results and address the needs of TMS stakeholders.
Integrity & Compliance
At the end of 2011, the Integrity & Compliance department of FIFA TMS GmbH celebrated the fi rst full year of
enforcement of the TMS system. This team of lawyers and investigators was set up in October 2010 to ensure that transfers are properly conducted through TMS and to prevent the system from being used in contravention of the principles of integrity and transparency that TMS seeks to promote. The Integrity & Compliance department provides education and advice to clubs and national associations on how to comply with their regulatory obligations with respect to international transfers. The department also relies on its broad investigation powers to monitor, correct and sanction non-compliant behaviour by clubs and associations. At all times, the team works in an integrated manner with FIFA departments as well as external parties to ensure that the international transfer market operates smoothly and fairly.
January February March April
May June July
August
September October November December
200 0 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 Requests
Transfer
activity
Helpdesk
activity
Figure 14: Helpdesk monthly activity in 2011
“
TMS allows clubs and
associations to transfer players
quickly while guaranteeing
Figure 15: 2012 timeline for redesigned system
Several compliance initiatives adopted this year have already yielded very positive results. It is worth highlighting the team’s participation in workshops to improve associations’ understanding of FIFA regulations (see “Client Services” above), as well as the introduction of a new, streamlined sanction procedure to quickly and effi ciently deal with minor infringements that may have a major negative impact on transfers.
The work of the team directly benefi ts all actors in the international transfer market, notably by ensuring that better, more reliable information is available to all parties and to the wider public. From a club perspective, the ability to rely on accurate information and the comfort of knowing that transfer market regulations are systematically and equitably enforced are important factors in increasing trust and transaction effi ciency across the board.
The international transfer market is highly dynamic and volatile, and constantly raises new legal challenges. Throughout 2012 and beyond, the Integrity & Compliance department will continue its efforts to deliver transparency to the market through broader, more in-depth investigations and improved education initiatives.
Application Management
The focus of the Application Management team during 2011 was on the redesign of TMS. It has been over four years since the original system was developed and now that global implementation is complete, there is at last time to step back and take stock of what has been built.
The redesign project is intended to achieve three key objectives: • To improve usability. A recurrent theme in the feedback
received from associations and clubs that use TMS is the usability of the system. Since the average football club only uses TMS occasionally, the redesign aims to improve user-friendliness so that all clubs fi nd the system intuitive and easy to interact with.
• To enhance security features. In 2011 alone, the details of over 11,500 transfers were entered into the system, each supported by confi dential documents. TMS is hosted by a leading infrastructure provider whose ISO certifi cation ensures that the necessary processes are in place to protect all of this sensitive information. The company is very conscious of its users’ need for privacy and as part of the redesign project steps are being taken to guarantee that the system itself keeps pace with the evolving threats to online applications.
• To migrate to state-of-the-art technology. As well as addressing security issues, the latest technologies provide a broader range of tools to make TMS more responsive and engaging.
As part of the project, FIFA TMS GmbH welcomed a focus group of seven clubs and six national football associations to Zurich in May for a formal feedback session. The feedback received has proved to be extremely useful in shaping the way the new system will look.
The fi rst functionalities of the new system will be released in April 2012, and all associations and clubs will have transitioned to the redesigned TMS by 1 November 2012.
Training begins New system goes live for clubs All clubs are using the
new system
New system goes live for associations
1 November
All users are
on the
new system
5 March
2 April
4 June
1 October
Publisher:
FIFA Transfer Matching System GmbH Zollikerstrasse 226 8008 Zurich, Switzerland globaltransfermarket@fi fatms.com General Manager: Mark Goddard Editor: Isabelle Solal Contributors:
Jose Luis Andrade, Ana Isabel Belzunce, Zora Born, Laura Dijak, Alexandre Gros, Sonia Gusella, James Holroyd, Nadia Masella, Hélène Valat
Graphics:
Jonas Kämpe
Photos:
Getty Images
Layout and production:
Serge Born, Hans-Peter Frei, Stephan Scholz, Linda Schwartz
Translation:
FIFA Translations
Printing:
Vogt-Schild Druck AG, Switzerland
Contact:
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please use the postcard provided or contact:
FIFA Transfer Matching System GmbH Zollikerstrasse 226
8008 Zurich, Switzerland
globaltransfermarket@fi fatms.com
An electronic version of Global Transfer Market 2011
is also available at www.fi fatms.com.
Global Transfer Market 2011, including all images, trademarks and text therein is exclusively owned by FIFA Transfer Matching System GmbH, except as otherwise provided. The reproduction of photos and articles – even partially – is prohibited unless permission has been sought from the publisher and a reference is made to the source.
Any views expressed in Global Transfer Market 2011
do not necessarily refl ect those of FIFA Transfer Matching System GmbH or FIFA.
