March 11 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino has again raised the idea of setting football transfer fees by algorithm instead of clubs negotiating a market value price for contracted players.
Infantino made the suggestion at FIFA’s annual law conference in Tokyo.
The idea has existed for several years and Infantino reignited it amid a global transfer market that is now worth more than $10 billion annually.
“Now more than ever it is fundamental for us to talk about these and other topics,” Infantino said.
“For example, to discuss about the possibility to use an algorithm to estimate the fair value of transfer fees in order to increase transparency in the transfer system and help the football stakeholders.”
FIFA’s interest in a price-setting algorithm has aired occasionally since it set up a transfer task force in 2017 reporting to a committee that included delegates from clubs, leagues and player unions. No proposal followed.
It is unclear how a FIFA-approved method of setting fees would be accepted by clubs who would have their selling options limited, or how it would comply with competition law in the European Union (EU).
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