Updated
Plain answers to the questions this industry never writes down. What agents charge, how clubs find players, what a contract expiring really means, and what the figures nobody publishes would tell you if they did. Every number here carries its source.
Our analysis of 113,510 arrivals from another league over three seasons: where a stated fee stops appearing, how heavily clubs rely on free transfers, and the roads each league actually recruits along.
Updated , 6 min read
Our own analysis of the transfer market, and the published figures that frame it.
Only 17.7 per cent of international transfers in 2025 carried any fee, and that was a record high. What that shape means for clubs recruiting on a budget and for players out of contract.
Updated , 2 min read
FIFA counted 128,694 professional male footballers at 3,986 clubs across 135 countries. What that ratio means for anyone trying to find a club.
Updated , 2 min read
How clubs below the top tier find players, and what it costs them.
Elite clubs run funded scouting departments. Everyone else recruits through their existing network of agents, coaches and their own players. What that means, tier by tier.
Updated , 2 min read
Rarely as a department. What club staff pages and licensing rules actually show about recruitment staff outside the elite, and why no governing body measures it.
Updated , 3 min read
Few vendors publish a rate card. What buyers report paying for data access, what clubs and agents pay on the paid transfer marketplace, and why the absence of public pricing matters.
Updated , 4 min read
Foreign player slots, not transfer budgets, are often the binding constraint. How the rules, the windows and the networks decide who gets signed.
Updated , 2 min read
A player request is a club stating the position it needs and the terms it can offer, so agents and players can respond. What a complete one contains, why writing it down changes the outcome, and how one works on FTBL Exchange.
Updated , 3 min read
How agents work, what they earn, and how they find the next club.
Football agents usually charge around five per cent of the player's contract value, not a share of the transfer fee. What that means in practice, who pays it, and why FIFA's fee cap is suspended.
Updated , 5 min read
Public career databases, then a direct approach on social media, plus requests circulating between agents. The workflow, and the economics that limit it.
Updated , 3 min read
Contracts, pay and finding a club, with or without an agent.
Most professional footballers move without an agent acting for them. The routes that actually work, what to be careful of, and why being out of contract is not the emergency it feels like.
Updated , 3 min read
About half of the contracts signed in international moves run a year or less, so being out of contract is routine rather than a crisis. What the free agent market looks like, and why the queue is getting longer.
Updated , 2 min read
Most professionals earn far less than the game's reputation suggests. What FIFA's 2025 pay data and the wage bands agents report show, and why late payment is a normal risk of the job.
Updated , 3 min read
FTBL Exchange is free for players, agents and clubs. Clubs post requests, agents propose the players they represent, and players apply themselves.
A person checks every new account before the board opens.