Understanding The Mechanism Of Transfer Of Players In The Football Industry

Neymar Jr., the player with the most expensive transfer value in history when he moved from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain in August 2015. (Marca/Lapresse)

JAKARTA Every summer or before the turnaround of professional football competitions in a country, large amounts of money will change hands among participating clubs due to activities called transfers of players. So, how exactly does the transfer work?

Football is a global market, and top players continue to move. David Beckham, for example, has continued to move from England, Spain, Italy, France, and the United States during his career. Or Cristiano Ronaldo, who has tested the highest caste football competition in Portugal, England, Spain, and even Saudi Arabia.

Top professional footballers usually sign work contracts for a certain period of time. Generally for five years to stay in one club. If the player moves to another club before his contract expires, then the interested club will pay compensation to the old club. This is what is called a transfer fee.

FIFA applies the rule that player purchases can be made twice a year, or known as a transfer window. The duration of transfer window in each country is different. In Europe, the early transfer window of the season closes on August 31. Meanwhile in the United States, the closing of the transfer window is carried out on August 9. At the beginning of the season, the transfer window will be opened longer, while in the middle of the season it will be shorter.

The transfer process is a complicated job involving players, agents, clubs, and lawyers to discuss contracts in detail. The first thing to discuss is of course about salary and bonuses, whether bonuses of performance or loyalty. After that, a physical test will be carried out to ensure the physical fitness of a player. If it turns out to be an injury, then it can affect the player's transfer fee.

"Regarding the transfer of players is indeed a crazy job. This is like cutting our age to two years. In my opinion, there is no business that is more complicated than the transfer of players. This work is even running for a full year without a break, starting with monitoring of players to meet the needs of the club," said a former Premier League club manager who was not named by BBC Scotland.

An example of a case is the transfer of the biggest player in history, namely the transfer of Neymar Jr from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in August 2017. The transfer value of this Brazilian striker is insane, 222 million US dollars or around Rp3.3 trillion! Neymar's transfer is still listed as the most expensive in the world to date.

The Rp3.3 trillion money was not transferred by PSG to Neymar, but to Barcelona. The two clubs will then discuss the player's old contract, regarding its various rights and obligations. After calculating, the money was deducted by US$45 million for agent fees and various administrative affairs. Neymar earns US$54 million per year, has not been deducted by taxes.

Jadi Barcelona mendapatkan dana segar sebesar sebesar 177 juta dolar AS, atau sekitar Rp2,7 triliun. PSG berharap mendapatkan keuntungan dari hak citra Neymar sebagai peseran sepak bola dunia. Masalah baru akan muncul soal hak citra pemain jika mendapatkan kontrak ad. Club maunya menguasai sepenuh hak citra pemain, namun pemain pasti bakal menolak. Umumnya hasil kontrak ad akan dibagi 50:50 antara pemain dan klub.

The existence of a star player is the main source of money for a club. According to the UK's financial and accounting consultant analysis, Deloitte, sales of souvenirs related to a star player were able to generate 43 percent of the club's revenue. A total of 39 percent of revenue comes from selling television broadcasting rights, while from tickets only 18 percent.

So it is clear that in terms of transfer, a club must be really observant to observe and smell the potential of its target player. While the player must also know very well his potential to contribute to the club that buys it, both in terms of achievement and economy.

Professional footballers should thank Jean-Marc Bosman, former Standard Liege club player, RFC Liege, and various clubs in the Belgian League. In 1995, Bosman sued UEFA rules that limited players' movement to change clubs even though the contract was over.

The interested club still has to pay to the old club to find the target player, even though his contract has expired. The player seemed to be held hostage, because he had to wait for the old club to agree on the transfer fee from the new club.

Bosman juga menggugat pembatasan pemain asing dari luar Uni Eropa (EU) untuk bermain di negara anggota EU. Gugatan Bosman kemenangi Pengadilan Eropa pada 15 Desember 1995, dan mulai transfer gila-gilaan serta transfer pemain yang lebih lebih lebih lebih di antara klub-kelub profesional Eropa.

The number of foreign players in Europe is increasing rapidly. In the Premier League, for example, the number of foreign players from outside England reached 70 percent. The emergence of great figures on the ground has an impact on the soaring value of television contracts, increasing club revenues, and all of that also has an impact on the soaring value of player transfers. According to FIFA data in 2016, there were 14,591 transfer deals worldwide with an average value of 328 thousand US dollars, or almost IDR 5 billion!

Many opinions then say that star transfers with extraordinary value eliminate competitive value in a league. Only rich clubs like Manchester United, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, or Real Madrid make a profit.

The International Federation of Professional Footballers (FIFPro) has expressed protests against the player's transfer giga. Big clubs are said to have eliminated the balance of competition. They were able to buy elite players, to then dominate league competition in their country for a long time. Meanwhile, small clubs struggled because they had no stars.

FIFA data proves that player transfers by paying a large amount of money, it turns out that only 14 percent of all footballer displacements in the world. As many as 86 percent of player transfers are made free of charge, aka a player spends a contract period at an old club to then change clubs without the need for transfer fees.