Transfers reward agents not young players

The share of transfer funds channelled into training young players under a FIFA compensation scheme has hit a record low and is a tiny fraction of rising agents' fees, world players' union FIFPro said on Monday.

FIFPro, which is seeking to abolish the current transfer system, said it had presented the data, compiled by world governing body FIFA but not publicly released, to members of the European Parliament at a Brussels event on Monday.

"The transfer system is rewarding agents far more than football clubs that produce talent," said FIFPro secretary general Theo van Seggelen.

"How can this be right? It's critical the system is overhauled."

In 2001, FIFA introduced a system of training compensation for clubs who developed players between 12 and 21 to encourage spending on youth academies.

However, the latest annual report by FIFA's Transfer Matching System that tracks spending, showed that sum last year was only $20.7 million, or 0.5 per cent of a record $4.2 billion of players' transfer fees.

That percentage matches the previous record low set in 2012, FIFPro said.

Training compensation is paid to clubs when a player they developed signs his first contract as a professional and on each transfer until the end of the season of his 23rd birthday.

By contrast, clubs' payments to agents increased by 15 per cent to a record high $228 million.