The New England Football Regulator

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:12 pm on 3 May 2022.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:12, 3 May 2022

Can I thank Jenny Rathbone for those questions? She's quite right in saying that criminal offences lay at the heart of the tragic events that surrounded the death of Emiliano Sala. The fan-led review, the Tracey Crouch review, is definitely worth reading by any Members of the Senedd interested in the topic. I think it makes a series of very important recommendations, and they will have an impact here in Wales because of the participation of at least five clubs from Wales in English leagues.

On the specific point of agents, I think the review makes particularly interesting reading. It points out that there had been a regulatory regime around the operation of football agents until 2015, when the FIFA regulatory regime ended, and it led to deregulation of that industry. FIFA now describe the result as the law of the jungle, with conflicts of interest rife and exorbitant commissions—it puts the words 'commissions' in inverted commas—being earned left and right. The report makes it clear that English football is the world's biggest market for agents. It has some very striking figures. It quotes figures from FIFA over the last decade. It says that the English football business—and that includes the clubs, therefore, involved in English leagues in Wales—spent $919 million in paying for the services of agents over a decade. In Germany, the figure was $376 million, in Spain $264 million, in France $190 million—$190 million in France and $919 million in the English game. As the Tracey Crouch conclusions put it:

'It is concerning that English clubs appear to pay so much more than any other leagues—money that is lost to the game. It is also concerning that the lack of regulation of agents could not only be costing clubs money...but that criminal activity may also be involved, including exploitation of children.'

These are very serious charges that are rehearsed I think soberly in the text of the report. There is a recommendation in that fan-led review. It's been accepted by the UK Government, to whom it is directed, and that is that the Government should explore ways to support the regulation of football agents operating in English football, by working with relevant authorities, including FIFA.

From the supplementary question that Jenny Rathbone put in front of us this afternoon, Llywydd, you can see the strength of that recommendation, and it is good to be able to say that it has been accepted by the UK Government. We must now look forward to seeing that Government work with others to bring the operation of football agents back under a significant and defensible regulatory regime.