We are just a couple of days away from the deadline day of Summer Transfer Window which will be 31st August 2015 midnight local time of the corresponding country. On 2014 deadline day FIFA handled 400 transfers involving 464 clubs and a total of £263million spent on the last day of transfer window which was 65% percent of total spending done by clubs in whole window. Which goes to show how much hectic it can get, but thanks to FIFA’s ITMS Software (International Transfer Management System) it takes only 10 minutes for clubs to register a transfer if all documents are uploaded into the system without any mistake. Today we take a look at how the system works.
How FIFA handles Deadline Day Transfers ?
- Like we mentioned before FIFA introduced a software called ITMS (International Transfer Management System) back in 2010 which is currently used by around 6500 clubs around the world. All clubs has access to ITMS and this is how they can register a transfer with FIFA.
- Once club signs a player anytime during the transfer window and all formalities are done, documents signed by all parties including (buying club, selling club, players personal contract and lawyers), both buying and selling clubs have to upload a standardized data into the FIFA’s ITSM system. Data from both clubs should match and once uploaded by both clubs the transfer can process.
- If all documents are submitted and there are no errors (for example in amount) it takes only 10 minutes to register a transfer with the help of ITMS.
- Information submitted by both selling and buying club should match otherwise there can be a error which might cause problems on the deadline day transfers. If buying club enter transfer fee in GBP and selling club in Euro this can cause problem. So its vital both clubs should enter same information.
- If clubs failed to submit documents before the deadline time, transfer will not go through no matter what.
- Since 2010 when FIFA introduced the new software, every now and than clubs have complained about errors which caused by the software. According to FIFA statistics the number of complaints have dropped significantly and FIFA always advice clubs to do the business before the deadline day.
- Most of the big clubs have a designated small team which operates their ITMS system while sometimes chairman or any employee of smaller clubs can register a deal using clubs profile in ITMS.
Clubs of course have to inform both their national football associations and FIFA, if they failed to submit completed transfer information to either FIFA or National FA they deal will not go through. But this part only comes after long hard negotiations between the clubs, buying club and the player and of course if player passes the medical.
Here is a small infograph showing how transfer deals are done.
