Day 28 – Players: Contracts, loans, transfers, and purchases

Topic Point: Like American professional athletes, players are under contract withtheir clubs. They are signed, rather than drafted, and have terms like ourprofessional sports. Professional soccer around the world utilizes acommodity-based system for player transfers from one club to another. Ratherthan a trade, a club may sell or loan a player to another club. The exceptionis Major League Soccer which has a draft and allows player trades, consistentwith American professional sports leagues.

To sell the rights to a player, a transferfee is paid to the selling club by the purchasing club. The total sale price ofa player is the sum of the transfer fee plus the wages and signing bonus of thenew contract for the player. The player must agree to the new contract for thetransfer to go through. Even if two clubs agree to the transfer fee, the playercannot be forced to move.

A club can loan a player that is undercontract to another team. The player will return to the original club after theloan terms are complete. This is typically done for a young, promising playerthat the parent club wants to keep but cannot offer the desired playing timewithin their current roster. It is an opportunity for the loaning club todevelop their talent without losing rights to the player; the borrowing clubtemporarily receives a player that may help them improve their roster andresults. Both clubs can benefit financially by sharing the cost or adding aplayer at a discounted rate.

A player that is reaches the end of theircontract can transfer for free, much like a free agent in American sports. Ateam may try to sell a player before the end of their contract, but thetransfer fee often is lower since the contract is close to expiring.

For the national team, players arecompensated for their time when called to the national team. Since the rosterfor competitions will change, players are not under contract, nor do they get aregular salary. They are essentially paid a stipend, plus bonuses for prizemoney associated with team results in specific competitions.  

Ted Lasso: InS1E6, we learn that Jaime Tartt is on loan to AFC Richmond from ManchesterCity. This comes up again in S1E9 when Jaime reveals his belief that Ted hadcontrol over his return to Manchester City.

In S2E11, Edwin Okufo wishes to purchaseSam Obisanya from AFC Richmond. He states that he will pay a considerabletransfer fee to Rebecca. Rebecca does not agree to the transfer, but grantspermission to Okufo to speak with Sam. Sam ultimately declines the offer toplay for Okufo’s club in Morrocco, demonstrating that the player has to agreeto terms with the new club.  

Soccer-related note: While Major League Soccer has a draft and allows for player trades,the National Women’s Soccer League eliminated the college draft in 2024 and wasthe first American professional sports league to implement a completelyfree-agent based model for their athletes.

Major League Soccer also departs from therest of the soccer world by offering players 10% of the transfer fee. For therest of the professional soccer world, 100% of the transfer fee goes to theselling club.

There are transfer windows within which atransfer can be made, similar to trade deadlines in American sports leagues.

American Sports comparison: American professional sports leagues utilize a college draft for newentries to the league, though some players may be undrafted free agents. Playerscan have some influence in a trade but, generally, the team controls the fateof a player until they play out their contract and become free agents. In worldsoccer, the athlete has autonomy which is like most employment outside of thesports world!

Interactive

‍