A business that"s collapsing: the football player trade

Clubs from the Romanian 1st Football League set a negative record this summer: they failed to sell even one domestic player to any of the major championships in Europe (Italy, Spain, England, Germany). Only two players got transferred abroad, so far: Ovidiu Petre left from Steaua to Al Nasr (Saudi Arabia) for 1.5 million Euros, and Mihăiţă Pleşan went to play for a French club that recently promoted to the first division, Arles Avignon, in a very small deal - 100,000 Euros. Florin Bratu was borrowed by Litex Loveci (Bulgaria), and is basically in an evaluation period. The deals by which Ioniţă (Rapid - FC Koln) and Lobonţ (Dinamo - AS Roma) left the Romanian 1st League to play abroad happened during the championship break, and they were essentially concluded in 2009. Two factors contributed to this state of things: the lack of results obtained by the clubs and the absence of Romania"s national team from the final tournament of the World Championship.

Steaua, Dinamo and Rapid were the clubs that sold the most players over the last 19 years, whereas the other Romanian clubs had to be happy with selling their players to these three clubs. The clubs that gained relevance in the domestic championship over the last three years, CFR Cluj, FC Timişoara, Unirea Urziceni and FC Vaslui, stood out mostly by their purchases of foreign players and less by the sales of their own players. Without money coming from the sale of players abroad, the domestic transfer market suffered a setback.

The agents, the people who intermediate the transfer of players between clubs, in exchange for a fee, are feeling the collapse of the transfer market. Romania has 54 accredited agents, of which 19 have suspended their operations for various reasons (at their request or due to their failure to pay their professional insurance policy). Every agent that passes the accreditation exam needs to conclude a professional liability insurance policy in their own name, with a certified insurance company. The insurance policy needs to cover all the risks that could ensue from the operations of the agent as well any claims for damages made after the agent has ended his activity, but which are deemed as stemming from their professional activity. If not insured, the agent can provide a bank guarantee from a Swiss bank for a minimum of 100,000 Swiss Franks. 35 agents are currently struggling to survive on a market that"s collapsed.