8 Aug 2018
Loughborough University launches a world's first professional education programme for sports agents
The course will start at Loughborough's London campus in October.
Loughborough University and the Association of Football Agents will launch a professional certificate for aspiring football agents later this year.
The venture is believed to be the first partnership of its kind between a higher education institution and professional trade organisation.
The 10-week course will begin on October 4, 2018, at Loughborough's London campus, located within the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, near Stratford.
Participants will learn about the legal and practical workings of what it takes to be an agent.
The programme will be based on three core pillars of the agency profession and market:
Regulatory frameworks
Covering legal frameworks governing agents in different sports and explaining to comply with the regulation
Contemporary legal issues
Analysing a range of issues including player/athlete representation and contracts, dealing with minors, financial crime and corruption in the transfer market, and betting and match-fixing and how to deal with them
Business practices
Explaining the practicalities of being an agent including negotiating transfers, approaching clubs, managing parents, understanding the psychology of players, and expanding a professional network
Course leader Dr Serhat Yilmaz, of Loughborough’s School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences (SSEHS), said: “The programme intends to raise the professional standard of the agent market through education.
“The number of agents within the sport industry has significantly increased over the years, but there is still a lack of constructive initiatives helping them to develop and maintain knowledge and skills to operate in a very dynamic and international transfer market.
“The programme aims to fill this gap, and is staffed by some of the industry’s most experienced legal practitioners and serving professionals.”
Alongside the academic team from Loughborough, also including Professor Chris Harwood, and Dr Elisavet Manoli, Barrister Nick De Marco QC of Blackstone Chambers, Mel Stein of Clintons and the President of the AFA, Daniel Geey of Sheridans, William McAuliffe of Levy Kauffman-Kohler are all the part of programme teaching roster.
The AFA Chairman Mike Miller said: “We are very pleased that an education course is offered now for our members. We have been advocating for a better regulatory framework of agents in football with an element of continuous education.”
There are no formal academic prerequisites for the programme, however, some business experience and numerical proficiency are recommended.
Further information about the course and the way to apply can be found here.