FIFA track transfers with new online system

FIFA said on Wednesday that a more transparent online system for international player transfers would become compulsory on October 1, helping to protect under 18 year-olds.

The Transfer Matching System (TMS) has been tested in 18 countries since February 2008 and gradually expanded, currently covering 3,633 clubs, allowing footballing authorities to see more details on each transfer.

Each club involved in a transfer has to enter the same details including bank accounts, amounts of money, timing and pay, with added documents such as identity documents and contracts, or it will be blocked.

“This is an historic moment for football,” said FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

“TMS is a relatively simple online system but it will have a tremendous impact on the international transfer of players.

“The most important thing is that it increases the transparency of individual transactions and helps us tackle issues such as the fight against money laundering and protection of minors in transfers,” Blatter added.

World football’s governing body FIFA argued that by keeping track of player histories it can ensure that clubs are compensated properly for training upcoming youngsters who then leave, and help limit the international movement of under-18s under rules introduced last year.

FIFA slapped a transfer ban on Chelsea that was overturned on appeal in May, in a dispute between the Londoners and Lens over the transfer of now 19 year-old Gael Kakuta from the French club in 2007.