“Training Compensation and Solidarity Payments: Ensuring African Academies Get Their Share”

African football consistently produces elite-level talent. Many of these players move to clubs outside the continent at young ages, often through international transfers governed by global regulations.

While the movement of talent is well documented, the financial distribution mechanisms behind these transfers receive less attention.

The central question is whether training institutions in Africa consistently receive the compensation they are entitled to under existing regulations.

Under the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP), two mechanisms are designed to reward clubs involved in a player’s development:

• Training Compensation – payable when a player signs their first professional contract and on certain subsequent transfers before the end of the season of their 23rd birthday.
• Solidarity Contribution – 5% of any international transfer fee is distributed to clubs involved in the player’s training between ages 12 and 23.

These mechanisms apply globally and are mandatory in international transfers.

In principle, they are intended to ensure that clubs investing in youth development share in future transfer value.

The FIFA Clearing House

In 2022, FIFA launched the FIFA Clearing House, an independent entity established in Paris to centralize, calculate, and distribute training compensation and solidarity payments.

The system was introduced to:

• Increase transparency
• Reduce payment disputes
• Ensure training rewards are processed automatically

For clubs to receive funds, players must be properly registered in FIFA’s Transfer Matching System (TMS) and domestic association databases. Incomplete registration or documentation can delay or prevent payments.

This places administrative responsibility on clubs and national associations to maintain accurate player records.

Structural Gaps Affecting African Clubs

Challenges that may affect access to training rewards include:

• Informal academy structures without federation affiliation
• Weak domestic player registration systems
• Limited legal or administrative capacity to track international transfers
• Delays in dispute resolution processes

These are structural governance issues rather than failures of the regulatory framework itself.

It is important to note that many African clubs and federations have improved compliance systems in recent years, particularly following digitization efforts supported by FIFA Forward funding programs.

Economic Trade-Off: Early Transfers and Domestic League Impact

Early international transfers can provide immediate revenue for clubs through transfer fees and solidarity payments. However, when top players leave domestic leagues at very young ages, competitive balance and commercial growth of local leagues may be affected.

This is an economic trade-off rather than a regulatory violation.

Stronger domestic leagues typically retain players longer through:

• Improved commercial structures
• Professional contract enforcement
• Competitive wage frameworks

Balancing export revenue with domestic league competitiveness remains a strategic policy question for national associations.

Policy Considerations

For National Associations:

• Maintain accurate digital player registration systems
• Ensure clubs are educated on RSTP compliance
• Strengthen enforcement of contractual standards

For Academies and Clubs:

• Formalize player agreements
• Ensure consistent federation registration
• Maintain development documentation

For Sponsors and Investors:

• Support institutional capacity-building
• Invest in governance systems alongside infrastructure

The global football regulatory framework provides mechanisms intended to compensate youth development institutions.

The effectiveness of these mechanisms depends largely on administrative capacity, compliance, and documentation.

African football’s financial sustainability will not be determined solely by talent production, but by institutional strength and governance maturity.

Youth transfers are economic events.Whether they generate long-term ecosystem value depends on how well systems function behind the scenes.