Slovaks earn thousands for their former clubs

This summer, foreign clubs paid over twenty-seven million euros for transfers involving Slovak footballers. Part of this amount will also benefit smaller Slovak clubs that were involved in the development of these players between the ages of 12 and 23. Slovak players have likely never been in such high demand on the football market since the country's independence. Eighteen-year-old László Bénes transferred from Žilina to Borussia Mönchengladbach for around six million euros.

This is a record transfer for a player from the Slovak league. Fenerbahce Istanbul was also willing to invest a similar amount in national team captain Martin Škrtel. Ondrej Duda became the most expensive player in the history of Legia Warsaw, which received about five million euros from Hertha Berlin. Around three and a half million was spent by clubs on Matúš Bero (Trenčín – Trabzonspor) and Róbert Mak (PAOK Thessaloniki – Zenit St. Petersburg). (…) Altogether, foreign clubs spent over twenty-seven million euros on Slovak players this summer.

“This is the result of the national team’s success and also the performance of youth national teams. Having this many national team players transferred in a single window is uncommon,” explained sports lawyer and football agent Jozef Tokos.

Under FIFA rules, a portion of the transfer fee also goes to the clubs that contributed to the players’ development—known as "solidarity payments." This provision, which benefits some clubs immensely, was introduced by FIFA in 2001 and amended in 2005. It can be thought of as a type of development fee—five percent of the transfer sum is divided among all clubs that helped develop the player between the ages of 12 and 23.

For each of the first four years (ages 12–16), the previous club receives 0.25 percent of the fee. For the remaining seasons (ages 17–23), they receive 0.5 percent per year. It doesn't matter whether the club was the player's home club or just a loan destination. What matters is that the club took care of the player during that period, and now it’s being rewarded. “It motivates clubs to invest in developing players and to move them to the right club at the right time, where they can be sold for more,” added Tokos. The actual amount is calculated using tables, with the number of years spent at each club being the main criterion.

“Solidarity payments and training compensation are two mechanisms FIFA introduced worldwide to promote solidarity among clubs—to ensure they recover costs invested in players who later became successful,” said Tokos. The new club is required to pay the solidarity contribution within thirty days of registering the player. Slovak clubs may sometimes struggle to determine the exact transfer fee. “There is an obligation to pay training compensation and solidarity contributions automatically. This comes directly from the regulations. Clubs should be proactive—if they don’t receive the amount, they should turn to FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber,” added Tokos. It is common even for renowned clubs to pursue their rights to development fees through FIFA. “My company also represents clubs in such cases. In the past two years, we’ve completed more than twenty successful cases, including one with FC Porto,” Tokos said. (...)