By Martin Banks - 16th June 2010
We need to shine a light into this murky world
Emma McClarkin
Belgian centre-right deputy Ivo Belet has called for EU-wide action to "put an end to illegal activities involving footballers' agents."
The demand, with the football world cup in South Africa well underway, comes amid rising concern about the involvement of agents in the sport.
Addressing a special debate on sport at the European parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday, Belet called for a halt to organised crime in football.
Belet, parliament's rapporteur on the future of football, said, "Now that the world cup in South-Africa is in full swing, we want to reiterate that 30 per cent of all football transfers are done by agents who do not have a licence.
"This opens the gateway to human trafficking, money laundering, fraud and corruption.
"As football leagues have limited powers to tackle this problem and can only regulate those agents who are registered with them, a European initiative is needed."
His comments come ahead of a plenary vote on Thursday when MEPs will be asked to back a parliamentary resolution calling for the introduction of a European licence system for football agents.
The resolution also asks that players' agents not be allowed a mediator's fee for football transfers involving minors.
It says efficient controls and enforcement of sanctions should ensure that all players' agents stick to the rules.
His comments were endorsed by UK conservative Emma McClarkin, her party's culture and sports spokesman.
During the parliamentary debate on sports agents, she said, "I fully support efforts to make the activities of sports agents, mainly in football, more transparent.
"We need to shine a light into this murky world, where exploitation could be rife and matters such as dual representation – whereby the agent can be representing a player and the same club that is trying to sign the player - need to be looked at.
However, she stressed that any legislation that comes forward to regulate this sector must be from the national sporting bodies or authorities such as Fifa or Uefa, not the EU.
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