The era of traditional football agents is coming to an end.

According to a sports economics platform, citing Tasnim, until a few years ago, a football agent’s most valuable asset was their phonebook. It contained hundreds of contacts—club managers, coaches, and players—along with the trust of stars and the power to make a single call that could alter the fate of a transfer worth hundreds of millions of euros. But the football market is evolving, and this time, agents themselves have become investment targets.
In late 2025, Goldman Sachs, one of the world’s largest investment banks, invested approximately $1 billion in Excel Sports Management, a sports management company. This move signaled a clear shift in the economic structure of athlete representation.
In football, too, major agencies are moving toward mergers and the creation of international networks. Under this model, a high-profile agent no longer solely manages a star’s affairs. Instead, a team of legal, financial, business, media, and analytical specialists works alongside the player.
This trend is gradually bringing European football closer to the model prevalent in American sports. In this model, an agency earns income not only from player transfers but also from managing contracts, advertising, media rights, investments, and even off-field commercial activities.
During the first two decades of the 21st century, football witnessed the rise of a new generation of “super agents.” Figures like Jorge Mendes, Mino Raiola, Jonathan Barnett, and Kia Jorahchian were more than just transfer intermediaries; they became powerful players in the football market.
Jorge Mendes is a prime example of this generation. After just one outstanding season with Joao Felix at Benfica, he secured the player’s transfer to Atletico Madrid for €127 million—a deal that was one of the most expensive in football history at the time. Mendes also earned approximately €36 million from the transaction, as he reportedly held 30% of the player’s economic rights.
Today, the total value of players managed by Gestifute is estimated at around €1.86 billion. In December 2025, Mendes received the award for best football agent for the 13th time at the Globe Soccer ceremony.
The new generation faces different competitors. One notable example is Jay-Z, an American rapper, music producer, and businessman. He founded Roc Nation in 2008 and launched its sports division, Roc Nation Sports, five years later. The company now represents over 100 footballers, including players like Vinicius Junior, Yann Dacosta, and Gabriel Martinelli.
This shift indicates that the market is no longer solely defined by an agent’s personality. A company’s brand, capital, and infrastructure can be equally important.
The growing influence of super agents has not gone unnoticed. As more money entered the industry, questions arose about commissions, conflicts of interest, and the transparency of intermediaries’ activities.
In 2023, FIFA attempted to bring the market under greater control by implementing new regulations for football agents. These rules included mandatory licensing, commission limits, and restrictions on certain forms of simultaneous representation of players and clubs.
Under this framework, an agent representing only a player can, under specific conditions, receive up to 3% of the player’s salary. If representing both a player and a club simultaneously, this figure can rise to 6%. For a representative of a selling club, the commission cap is set at 10% of the transfer amount.
These reforms faced widespread resistance from agents, and the implementation of some provisions was challenged in certain European countries. However, in July 2026, the European Court of Justice upheld football bodies’ right to impose strict regulations on the agent market.
Despite these restrictions, the representation market continues to grow. In 2025, clubs paid approximately $1.37 billion in commissions to agents—a figure nearly double that of the previous year and a historic record. That same year, agents were involved in 3,100 international transfers.
The industry’s revenue growth naturally attracted the attention of major investors. While a highly successful agent has limited capacity to expand their business, a company can acquire other agencies, integrate their clients, and become a global network.
A notable example is Bruin Capital’s entry into the football representation market. In 2024, the company established the As1 structure, consolidating four European agencies under one umbrella. The result was a network of over 300 players and coaches from 35 countries, including stars like Bruno Fernandes, Luis Diaz, and Moisess Caicedo.
In the latest CIES Football Observatory ranking, CAA Stellar/Base also topped the global agencies list. The company represents 84 players with an estimated total value of around €2.56 billion. Following them are Gestifute (€1.86 billion), The.Team (€1.27 billion), LTT Sports (€1.1 billion), and Rogon (€1 billion).
In this new model, an agent is no longer a lone individual. Behind the player stands a team of lawyers, analysts, marketing specialists, media experts, and financial advisors.
However, the market’s transformation does not solely mean that large companies are gaining power. Some of football’s biggest stars prefer to distance themselves from even these structures.
For a player earning tens of millions of euros annually, forming a personal team of lawyers, financial advisors, and business specialists can be more appealing than paying a permanent commission to an agency.
Kylian Mbappé is a prominent example of this model. A significant portion of his professional and business activities is managed through a family structure and his own companies. The complete preservation of his image rights during his transfer to Real Madrid was one of the model’s key achievements.
In 2026, Mbappé’s staff announced that he had decided to operate without an agent and manage his career directly. This decision reflects that some players prefer greater control over their professional and financial decisions.

The introduction of “data” into negotiations
The new competitor to traditional agents is not only investors and family offices but also data and analytics, which are reshaping the market.
Today, a player no longer needs to rely solely on their agent’s claim to determine their true value. Specialized football analysis companies can provide highly accurate reports on a player’s performance, market value, tactical fit, income potential, and even the likely trajectory of their transfer value in future years.
Companies like Analytics FC prepare multi-page custom reports for players, analyzing individual performance, their impact on team results, tactical attributes, and potential market value.
This transformation challenges the traditional power of agents, much of which was based on exclusive information and connections. Today’s player can directly acquire some negotiating power from the data and analytics market.
Ultimately, the future of the football agent market will likely not be controlled by a “super agent” like Mendes or Raiola but by a combination of capital, technology, data, global networks, and specialized teams.
Super agents may still exist, but their business model is evolving. In modern football, having just the phone numbers of club managers is no longer enough. Capital, information, and the ability to build a global infrastructure are now as valuable as connections.
End of message.