[FAQ] I Need An Agent, How Can I Find A Good One for My Football Career?

I guess every upcoming player as well as those out of contract, will need an Agent to introduce them to a new club and possibly help them negotiate a good contract after a successful trials and nedical test. To Finding a credible and experienced Agent to work with you isn't an easy job. I guess that is the reason an average of ten people contact me daily to ask the same question:
"I need An Agent, How Can I Get a Good one for my football career?

I get tired answering the same question again and again every day. I guess my taking time to put the answer in black and white may relieve me of this stress. So I will go ahead to tell you all I know - the good, the bad and the ugly way of finding a player's agent.

To find a player's Agent for your football career, you may have to adopt  these four strategies:
1.Tournament Exposure
2. Referrals
3. Cold Call
4. Pulling the Agent

Before I go on to explain these four strategies, let me first tell you what an Agent may require from you as a player, so you can start preparing yourself before the opportunity to meet an Agent comes.
1. Get your International Passport intact and get ready to travel within a short notice.
2.  Enlist on the TransferMarket or Soccerway website, so Agents can easily see your profile as well as status/rating.
3. Get a professionally shot and produced video footage of your best performances in match situations. Post the video footage on YouTube or Vine. The Agent may need to show it to clubs to convince them of your skills and ability.

Having said that, lets go straight to explain the four strategies you can use to find an Agent for your football career.
1.  Tournament Exposure: if you play well in a top class Tournament like Fifa U17 or U20 World Cup, some of the best agents could spot you and come for you. So do your best to get a call up to any of the cadet national teams of your country.

Read This: Want to Get A Call Up  to Nigerian U17 National Team? Follow this 4 tips.

Of course, there are other top class Tournaments like Arsenal Festival, Villareal Cup, M15 tournaments that attract Agents and Scouts across the world. This is the best way to find an agent...or would I rather say, this is best way for an agent to find you.

If you get discovered in a tournament like this, there are usually no further obligation. The Agent will take care of everything. At times, more than one Agent may be coming to get your consent and you may be the one to choose. However, you should seek advise from your officials or FA, because choosing an Agent is delicate and instrumental to your football career path and success.

2. Referral: Look for a player on contract abroad and ask him to introduce you to his Agent. This is an ugly way of finding an Agent. The player may not want to introduce you to his own Agent and it may require aggressive and passionate appeal. Perhaps, if you are close to him, he may introduce you to anothet Agent; all well and good.

Read This: 5 Topmost Player's Agents and Managers in Nigeria

Another set of people that can refer you are ex-international footballers or well travelled Sports journalists. But they may want to make money out of you....you may pay through your nose to secure such referrals. But if you do, be sure it will be a good Agent.

3. Cold Call: Search the web to see list of Licensed Player's Agents on Fifa.com or theplayersagent.com... You could also search "Player's Agents" on linkedin.com. Then, you may decide to send a message/email to each one of them that got your attention. You may also pick up your phone and call the direct line of these Agents.

This is a bad and horrible way to find an Agent. Most real Agents does not respond to messages like this and may delete or treat them like junk mails.

Most people that response to just any mail may be impersonators/fraudsters or upcoming Agents with little or no experience. You must be careful to find out that the response you get online are from the right people or you may fall victim to dupes. Do your due deligence!

4. Pulling the Agent: There are Sport Marketing and management organization that organize trial camps and get several Agents and Scouts to Attend. These organisations invite these Agents, pay their flight ticket to Nigeria, accommodate, feed/transport them for the period of their stay.

Check out: Football Talent Exhibition Lagos Nigeria

This is a decent way of finding an Agent, but the player will pay lot of commission....as there will a lot of people lined up...the Agent, Sponsors of the program, academy or club where the player came from, then the NFF Statutory.

For me, Tournament Exposure and Pulling the Agent may just be the best way to find an Agent.