What Is FIFA's Clearing House? The New System Behind Transfer-Fee Payments
The system that's supposed to make sure the club that actually trained a player gets paid when he moves on.
What it is: FIFA Clearing House SAS (FCH) — an independent, Paris-based payment institution, wholly owned by FIFA1
What it processes: Training Compensation and Solidarity Contribution payments between clubs1
Went live: 16 November 20222
The problem it targets: In 2018, only about 19.3% of money owed to training clubs worldwide was actually paid3
India connection: Mumbai City FC was hit with a FIFA-ordered national registration ban during the 2024-25 ISL season over exactly this kind of unpaid solidarity payment4
The problem this was built to fix
Under FIFA's rules, when a player transfers before his contract runs out, the clubs that trained him between the ages of 12 and 23 are owed a cut of the fee — a standard 5% split among them, known as the Solidarity Contribution, plus a separate Training Compensation payment when a player signs his first professional contract.1,3 The idea is simple: if your academy spent years developing a player who later moves for real money, you should see some of that money.
In practice, most of it never arrived. In 2018, clubs worldwide were owed $351.5 million in Solidarity Contributions — but only $67.7 million was actually paid out, roughly 19.3%, and that share had fallen from 28.1% in 2013.3 For comparison, agents collected $548 million in commissions that same year, while training clubs collectively received only $90 million combined across both payment types.3 As FIFA's Emilio García put it at the time, "the money is being kept away from the clubs that have really developed the players."3
Before the Clearing House, the signing club was simply expected to track down every club that had trained the player and pay each one directly. With players who'd passed through five or six clubs by age 20, across different countries and football associations, that system relied entirely on goodwill — and goodwill wasn't showing up.
How it actually works
The Clearing House removes the club-to-club chase entirely. FIFA tracks every player's club history from age 12 through an Electronic Player Passport (EPP), which records exactly which clubs trained him and for how long.1 When a transfer happens, the signing club pays the FCH, and the FCH — using the EPP and an allocation statement approved by FIFA — distributes the correct share to each training club automatically.1 FCH charges no fee for this.1
It isn't run by FIFA's football side — it's a separate, independent entity based in Paris, licensed as a payment institution by France's banking regulator (the ACPR), and it keeps club financial data confidential rather than sharing it back to FIFA.1,2 FIFA's own projection when it launched was a five-fold increase in what actually reaches training clubs, up from an estimated $70-80 million a year — which, if accurate, was still only around a fifth of what's genuinely owed.2
Why this isn't just a European story
This system has real teeth in Indian football, not just in Europe. During the 2024-25 ISL season, Mumbai City FC was hit with a FIFA-ordered national registration ban — relayed through an AIFF circular — after the club's solidarity payments faltered, blocking it from signing or registering any new players until the dues were cleared.4 That's the enforcement side of this same training-reward system playing out on an Indian club in real time.
It also cuts the other way, in India's favour: if a youth academy anywhere in India develops a player who eventually transfers — between ISL clubs, or abroad — that academy is one of the "training clubs" this entire system exists to pay. Whether Indian academies are actually set up to claim what they're owed through the EPP process is a separate, less-covered question.
KickZone Take
A five-fold increase sounds significant until you remember the starting point was roughly a fifth of what was actually due — so even a big improvement on paper can still leave real money unpaid. The Mumbai City FC case is the more useful takeaway for Indian fans: this isn't an abstract European compliance system, it's already affected an ISL club's ability to sign players.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who actually pays the Clearing House?
The club signing the player pays. The Clearing House then distributes the correct share to each club that trained that player between ages 12 and 23.1
What happens if a club doesn't pay?
FIFA can impose a registration ban, blocking the club from signing or registering new players until the debt is cleared — exactly what happened to Mumbai City FC in the 2024-25 ISL season.4
Does this apply to transfers within India, or only international ones?
The Clearing House processes training rewards under FIFA's regulations generally, and the Mumbai City FC case shows FIFA enforcing it on an ISL club directly — so it isn't limited to cross-border transfers alone.4
Sources: 1. FIFA, "FIFA Clearing House Intro". 2. FIFA, "FIFA Clearing House Begins Operations". 3. World Football Summit, "FIFA's Plan to Ensure Clubs Actually Receive the Compensation They're Due for Training Players". 4. The Bridge, "ISL: Mumbai City FC Transfer Ban by AIFF, Solidarity Payment".
