FIFA SOCCER SPORTS AGENT WITH PASCHALIS TOUNTOURIS | E048 PODCAST

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ABOUT THE GUEST

Paschalis Tountouris is a renowned Greek football agent and entrepreneur. As the founder and CEO of Prosport, an international sports agency established in 2004, he has been a leading figure in the industry. Under his leadership, Prosport has been awarded Greece’s Agency of the Year for three consecutive years: 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Throughout his career, Tountouris has brokered over 350 professional deals in more than 30 countries. His notable clients include Greek national icons such as former team captain Giorgos Karagounis, international players like Konstantinos Tsimikas (who transferred to Liverpool F.C. in a landmark €17 million deal in 2020), Anastasios Douvikas, Dimitrios Kourbelis, and rising stars Konstantinos Koulierakis and Sotiris Alexandropoulos. Additionally, Tountouris has represented prominent international players, including South African standouts Andile Jali and Bernard Parker, Zimbabwean captain Knowledge Musona, and manager Giannis Anastasiou.

Apart from his work in sports, Tountouris has been a strong advocate against racism. In 2008, he organized a high-profile conference in Athens to address racism, gathering support from politicians, journalists, and sports personalities.

Tountouris also serves in the political realm. Elected as a councilor for Thessaloniki in May 2023 with the New Democracy party, he previously held the position of deputy chairman of the National Sports Centers of Thessaloniki (E.A.K) since September 2019.

Prosport Website:
https://www.prosport.gr/

Paschalis’ LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paschalis-tountouris-06876225/

Pachalis’ Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/tountouris/?hl=en

George Stroumboulis sits down with Paschalis Tountouris in Athens, Greece on the Invigorate Your Business Podcast to talk about all things football, the soccer business, sports agencies, professional football players, contracts, Greek soccer, racism and so much more.

“Being a football agent is like managing a family. Every player needs attention, strategy, and a long-term vision.”
— Paschalis Tountouris

MEDIA RELATED TO THE EPISODE

George Stroumboulis sits down with Paschalis Tountouris in Athens, Greece on the Invigorate Your Business Podcast to talk about all things football, the soccer business, sports agencies, professional football players, contracts, Greek soccer, racism and so much more.

George Stroumboulis interviews Paschalis Tountouris in Athens for the Invigorate Your Business Podcast, diving deep into the business of soccer, player negotiations, and the evolving landscape of Greek football.

In Athens, George Stroumboulis and Paschalis Tountouris explore the dynamic world of sports management on the Invigorate Your Business Podcast, touching on soccer contracts, agency life, Greek football, and much more.

George Stroumboulis hosts Paschalis Tountouris in Athens for an Invigorate Your Business Podcast episode, discussing the ins and outs of the soccer industry, professional player contracts, and the Greek soccer scene.

On the Invigorate Your Business Podcast, George Stroumboulis chats with Paschalis Tountouris in Athens, diving into the world of soccer business, the role of sports agents, high-profile contracts, Greek football, and beyond.

ABOUT THE “INVIGORATE YOUR BUSINESS” PODCAST

The Invigorate Your Business with George Stroumboulis podcast features casual conversations and personal interviews with business leaders in their respective fields of expertise. Crossing several industry types and personal backgrounds, George sits down with inspiring people to discuss their business, how they got into that business, their path to the top of their game and the trials and tribulations experienced along the way. We want you to get inspired, motivated, and then apply any advice to your personal and professional lives. If there is at least one piece of advice that resonates with you after listening, then this podcast is a success. New episodes weekly. Stream our show on Spotify, YouTube, Apple, Amazon and all other platforms.

ABOUT GEORGE STROUMBOULIS

George Stroumboulis is an entrepreneur to the core, having launched several ventures across multiple industries and international markets. He has held senior-level positions at progressive companies and government institutions, both domestically and internationally, building an extensive portfolio of business know-how over the years and driving profit-generating results. George’s ability to drive real change has landed him in several media outlets, including the front page of the Wall Street Journal. George was born in Toronto, Canada to his Greek immigrant parents. Family first. Flying over 300,000 miles a year around the world puts into perspective how important family is to George’s mental and emotional development. With all this travel to global destinations, the longest he stays even in the most far-out destination is 3 days or less - a personal rule he lives by to make sure he is present and involved in family life with his wife and three daughters. To read about George’s global travels, stay connected with his blog section.

FULL SHOW TRANSCRIPT

George Stroumboulis: 0:00

Welcome to another episode of Invigorate Your Business with George Stroumboulis. In today's episode, I sit down with Paschalis Tountouris. Paschalis is a leader in the sports agent arena. He has built Prosport agency here in Greece and has been ranked the top agency in Greece over the last several years. He is responsible for over 350 contracts signed in over 30 countries around the world and has gotten his players placed on some of the biggest clubs around the world, including Liverpool in England. Paschalis is a trailblazer in this industry. We're going to learn a lot about this cutthroat industry starting now.

George Stroumboulis: 0:40

My name is George Stroumboulis, and I'm extremely passionate about traveling the world, meeting new people, and learning about new businesses. Join me as I sit down with other entrepreneurs to learn about their journeys. This episode of Invigorate Your Business starts now.

So, we are in Athens, Greece. We're going to kickstart this. I'm excited for today's episode. This is the first time that I'm sitting down with someone in the professional sports arena. Paschalis Tountouris—in English, is that how you say it for the English speakers? You are a FIFA sports agent. You represent several top-notch players here in Greece, South Africa, and around the world. You've done 350+ different deals in over 30 countries. That's a big deal.

Your agency, Prosport, here in Greece is the leader, has won awards—top agency in Greece the last four or five years, right? You started in the early 2000s. You are the guy when it comes to soccer players being represented professionally. So first of all, congratulations. That's just amazing—seeing Greeks kicking ass in the space.

Paschalis Tountouris: 1:58

Thanks, George. Actually, for me, it's also an exciting moment because I would like to share my insight, and it's always good, through you and through your podcast, to communicate directly with the Greeks abroad, especially in the States and in Australia, where I know that your podcast is actually very successful. So thanks for having me here, and I hope that we will enjoy our conversation going forward.

George Stroumboulis: 2:21

Absolutely. I appreciate that, and I'm lucky because I caught you at a period where you're not traveling, right? This next week, you're like, "This is the perfect time!" So this is exciting. I just landed today, sitting down here. We're going to jump into this.

You represent players here. Let's talk about Greece specifically. Right now, you have so many professionals that are playing at major clubs around the world, right?

Paschalis Tountouris: 2:55

True.

George Stroumboulis: 2:56

We could get into specific names, but teams like Liverpool, Wolfsburg, Sporting Lisbon, Celta Vigo.

Paschalis Tountouris: 3:02

Yes, a lot of clubs over the years, in different countries, in the top five leagues, which, for the Greek industry, is quite huge because we, as a country, end up enjoying and watching them play at the highest stages in European football.

George Stroumboulis: 3:13

Absolutely. You got into soccer when you officially launched your agency in 2004, right? Which was a pinnacle year for Greeks who love soccer—2004, the year Greece won the Euros.

Paschalis Tountouris: 3:23

A few months before that. It was before I knew what was coming, right?

George Stroumboulis: 3:27

I hoped! Yeah. So go back—like you see the progression of soccer in Greece, right? 1994, Greece makes it to the World Cup for the first time. Fast forward, 2004, we win the Euros. Fast forward to today, Greece is on a great mission, good young team, good squad. So we're seeing progression, right? When did you jump into soccer and start caring about it?

Paschalis Tountouris: 3:53

Okay, I left Greece. Actually, I was playing basketball. I was in basketball as a youngster because, in 1987, Greece won the EuroBasket, the European Championship in basketball, and it was a huge moment. It was actually the biggest sports success ever at that time in Greece.

George Stroumboulis: 4:31

Come on, let's call Fasoulas "The Spider!"

Paschalis Tountouris: 4:32

I'm from Thessaloniki, so I don't want to get between Aris and PAOK. Anyway, for all the kids at that time, it was huge to be part of a basketball team. Every part of the country—you’d see basketball courts outside.

Paschalis Tountouris: 4:57

In 1996, I went to study in the UK. That’s where everything started. I always wanted to combine business with sports. I realized that football was massive—much bigger than basketball. The stadiums, the fan culture—it was on another level.

I started making some research. I met my good friend and mentor, Michael MaKaab. He was double my age, and he came from South Africa.

George Stroumboulis: 5:55

So, Michael MaKaab.

Paschalis Tountouris: 5:57

And what was he doing? He was a coach and he was a businessman as well, but he used to coach some of the major clubs in South Africa, like Orlando Pirates, which is like huge, multi-million of fans around the country. And through my stay in London, during my stay in London, I met Mike. So he gave me this motivation to get involved more in the country and because it was Virgin, because I didn't have a football background, for me it was also a great opportunity to start over working, let's say, in bringing South African players to bigger markets in Europe. Wow. So that was the link. They had a huge company which was called Promark Sport and you know I joined Promark Sport, I was a shareholder there which was called Promark Sport, and you know I joined Promark Sport, I was a shareholder there.

Paschalis Tountouris:6:46

And a few years later, around 2002, 2003, we had the big meeting in Cape Town where we set up the strategy for the next years. And there is where I said I feel that the Greek football is starting to grow. Let's get also our offices, because I was still in London, let's get our offices in Athens. And then we brought the offices in Athens a few months before the success, right before Greece won. Wow, good timing. That was the beginning, let's say, of the pro sport era, which I felt that this name was closest. I didn't like the pro-max sport, to be honest, but okay, it happened overnight. So since 2004, yes, we opened the offices in Athens and after that we started to grow in the European industry even more.

George Stroumboulis:7:28

That's incredible. So, while we're talking about 2004,. What did that mean? Like, obviously you were a fan. You're in your early twenties when they won in 04, right, I was in my early twenties, it was just on another level. You lived in. Greece Was when Greece won basketball in 87?.

Paschalis Tountouris:7:44

I was very young to be honest, I remember it like I was like nine years old, so like I couldn't. I have memories but I haven't felt it the same way that we enjoyed the football and also winning European championship in football. It's something that hopefully can happen, but it's very rare for a small country like Greece to celebrate such a win and such a success. So, yes, it was massive for Greece. Actually, those period was like amazing for Greece. We had the Olympics. At that time, we enjoyed, like so many, successes in every aspect of individual sports, but also team sports like football.

George Stroumboulis:8:22

And economy. At the time, Everything was just yeah.

Paschalis Tountouris:8:26

I don't know if you had the privilege to be here at that time or if you watched some videos on YouTube, but it was amazing. Everybody was celebrating, we were enjoying, the Greek people enjoyed it, and the only unfortunate event because, to be honest, that was something that was sad is that we didn't really we didn't get this opportunity to improve our industry, to improve football, to structure our football industry in a better way, because what better opportunity would we ever have than this? So, yes, that's why it took like okay, it took more than 15, 20 years to go back again to the level that we are now do you think Otto Rahagel, the coach at the time.

George Stroumboulis:9:13

Without him, that wasn't happening. It was amazing it was.

Paschalis Tountouris:9:17

It was a great team, great personalities, great characters, yep, and obviously the leader was a guy that came to adjust with the Greek mentality in a very quick way and in a very amazing, unique way. Everybody loved him.

George Stroumboulis:9:32

Yeah, so you launched this right before the pinnacle of Greek soccer, in a system that it's Greece, right, it's especially back then like there's no system, there's no youth development. Like when you go to Germany, right, where there's tens of thousands of amateur players. So you come here at the time Greece wins, you open up your agency. Where do you even go? Like are you trying to latch on to these players after they won? Like how do you navigate that?

Paschalis Tountouris:9:58

So, still, the project was to transfer South African players from South Africa to Europe, but the base was Greece. So we're placing South African players in Greece, we're placing them in England because of the Commonwealth, it was easier for a South African player at that time to get a work permit rather than another foreign player to play in the premiership. So, yes, it was still the same structure, but at the same time, we started to sign some young Greek players and Greek talents as well. So we grew the company. We managed to transfer some of the top internationals of South Africa to the major leagues, to the Premier League, to Spain, to Italy, to France, and through this, I started to gain recognition, to gain respect in the industry. People started to get to know me better and also I started to learn different cultures, different mentalities, to deal with people from several countries, and we ended up dealing to more than 30 countries at those days.

Paschalis Tountouris:11:07

Yes, and the peak of this whole project was the 2010 world cup in south africa, which was something that was like a unique experience as well. Greece participated in that event. It was after the 2004 and we had a great team as well. So, yes, until that time, until 2010,. 2012,. Our involvement with the Greek players was not that big. We had the presence but we were not like so much involved because there were so many too many things to do, right.

George Stroumboulis:11:38

In 2010,. That was South Africa World Cup yes, greece lost to Costa Rica. Was that the World Cup? That was South Africa World Cup yes, greece lost to Costa Rica. Was that the World Cup? No, in shootouts that was in 2016.

Paschalis Tountouris:11:46

We didn't qualify after the group stages. That's right. We lost from all the clubs, from the teams that we played yes, okay, that's right In the group stage.

George Stroumboulis:11:55

So you've represented Karagounis. Yes, for the listener that doesn't know anything about soccer or Greek, kirk Karagounis is like the man on that team. Right, he was the captain of the 2014, I believe. So how do you even go about attracting talent?

Paschalis Tountouris:12:10

It was a milestone. I was in London at that time for my career. It was a milestone. Maybe we could say, george, that this was a turning point for me to start getting involved in the Greek industry and build around it. What year are we at now? We are in 2010, 2011,. If I'm not mistaken, I think we are 2011, more or less, actually, 2012. It was the year that Greece participated in the European Championship, two years after the World Cup in South Africa. Greece was really struggling. No, sorry, apologies, greece had a fantastic Euro. We ended up losing against Germany, if I'm not mistaking, in the quarterfinals or in the top 16 in the European Champions that time.

Paschalis Tountouris:12:51

So after that, I lived in London for this year and our offices I was dealing there mainly and I got an opportunity for him in September at Fulham. George actually was at his mid-30s, but always like him. There was nobody up to that point like George His mentality, his professionalism, his love of the game, unique in every sport, not only football, to be honest. That's why everybody loved him. So there was an opportunity for him at Fulham. I knew the CEO was a good friend of mine and until then he was without a team, so I get to know him. We traveled together, we built a relationship through this deal and actually he was amazing.

Paschalis Tountouris:13:40

If I'm not mistaken, he was 36 years old During the medicals his his last official game was like in the Euros, which was in June of the same year, so like in September in the medicals. It was amazing, 36 years old. Yes, the guys from the team were amazed by the result. They say it's not possible for somebody at 36 to be that flexible, to have this flexibility in the body. It was unique and, yes, we started to have an amazing year. Actually, we extended the contract for another year. We've done some great endorsements deals during this period of time. We created a great friendship and collaboration which stands up to now, and we're still working on a lot of projects together.

George Stroumboulis:14:22

That's amazing. Talk to me, like all these players right, these instant, overnight superstars, this Greek team in 04 we're talking about. They were on. Most of them were playing within Greece local teams. I think there was a couple of people in Germany, right, Like they were scattered, I think they went in Germany afterwards.

Paschalis Tountouris:14:40

If I'm not mistaken, there was only one player in Germany during that time. It was Kary Steas. He went through the coach, otto Rehangel, because Rehangel is a legend in Bremen. So Kary Steas went to sign to Bernd Bremen At that time through the recommendation of the coach. And yes, I think it was only Kary Steas at that time. It was only Angelos there.

George Stroumboulis:15:03

So was the consensus of these players. We just won this. We're on a global stage. Everyone's rushing now to find big contracts, and Greek teams can only pay so much. I'm just curious how that evolved.

Paschalis Tountouris:15:14

Actually, george, at that time, greek teams could afford huge amounts of money Actually, even the mid-table team in Greece at that period of time, because of the huge TV rights. We're talking about a growing economy. At that time, we were living our dream in Greece. You see what happened later, but that's a different story. So, yes, there were large amounts of money that an average player, an average football team, could earn. So imagine the big teams were spending huge, large amounts of money. So imagine the big teams were spending huge, large amounts of money and only now, almost 20 years later, we are able to reach the same salaries that we used to pay 20 years ago In Greece.

George Stroumboulis:15:54

In Greece. So what is because this is what I know a lot of the listeners are going to love to hear like, what is an average? We're not going to name individuals or, if we can, it's public information. We'll get to some of your players now who are making tens of millions of dollars, right, like where we are today, but like a caragunis, these types of 5-10 players. What were they making before 04, right, and then where did they end their career for?

Paschalis Tountouris:16:17

caragunis a different story, because he had the five-year contract that he had to locked. He was locked only getting his salary like 600 euros or something per month.

George Stroumboulis:16:28

He was playing for five years Panathinaikos.

Paschalis Tountouris:16:30

He was playing for five years with that salary, but anyway he was getting bonuses through successful games in Europe. But still, you know, there were foreigners that were earning large amounts of money we're talking about maybe one million net or one and a half million euro net or half a million euro net, which was huge amounts of those days, big money and they could compete at that time with an average team in the bundesliga and even in the premier league, because those markets were still didn't have this big gap that we are facing today. So, yes, I mean I, I mean I was thinking, I was telling you, like an average team, let's say Xanthi, those days they could afford. Or Ofi Creta, those days they could afford to pay €300,000 net, €350,000 net. So the average Greek player would say, okay, why should I move to? Or Panionios in Athens?

George Stroumboulis:17:22

similar amount.

Paschalis Tountouris:17:22

So they were saying why should I move to a small city, in a small team, in germany or in belgium or in a small city, let's say, in italy, rather than stay here and make even more money?

George Stroumboulis:17:35

and be a local celebrity.

Paschalis Tountouris:17:36

People know you all this I totally argue with this perspective, with this approach, but definitely, uh, there was, that was the mentality those days, to say, okay, I can sit here, I can enjoy myself. There was not going to be the progress that you could be able to have if you played in a bigger league, but still it was. For them, it was an easier life, absolutely.

George Stroumboulis:17:57

And now, knowing these and we'll wrap up on the 0-4 team, but knowing these players now. They're all late 40s, right, most of these guys late 40s, similar age.

Paschalis Tountouris:18:05

Yeah, similar age right.

George Stroumboulis:18:07

We're a little younger but they're in their late 40s. They've had successful careers. Like you're always seeing endorsements I see a lot of them. You know Karagounis was just in Toronto a couple months ago and then you know they do these types of things.

Paschalis Tountouris:18:17

He's traveling. He the all-stars. They love him in Italy because he played in International, so they travel around the world and he participates. Also, sam Semner he's an ambassador for FIFA and some games UEFA also invites him to. But, generally speaking, we are talking about a generation of really nice guys. Every one of them. They have their own personality. Maybe Greek football didn't use them properly to get advantage of their knowledge and their know-how in the industry, but still they are nice guys, successful personalities, family guys never created. I haven't heard any scandal from any of those guys. So it was a team and they're still meeting and they're playing games together. Yes, they're calling Legends 2004. So, yes, it is the pride of Greece. Football still, and we are all of us are very proud of what they have achieved and it will be in our memories forever, forever.

George Stroumboulis:19:18

Yeah, absolutely, really quick. 1994, Greece makes the World Cup for the first time ever. I go with my dad and my sister and my cousin from Evia was visiting us, right, so we drive down to Boston and it was Greece versus Nigeria, right? I think we lost 4-0, 4-0 and 2-0. You're talking about 1994? 1994, right, so I'm 12, 13 years old. We drive down, we're staying at the hotel.

Paschalis Tountouris:19:41

My cousin from it was 2-0 Nigeria just to yes, yeah, 4-0. Thankfully, 4-0 was the other two games.

George Stroumboulis:19:46

Yes, exactly, nigeria was the best of it. The day of the game. We wake up In the hotel. Is this guy? My cousin starts talking with him. He's like you want to meet the team Goes, yeah, and my cousin knew Apostolo. There was a defender, number four Apostolakis, apostolakis. Yes, okay, so number four, my cousin knew him. Okay, we go to the hotel. We go inside Now this is the day of the game, that they're playing a world cup game and I had my hat on and we're going for autographs. We meet the coach, um Panagoulia.

Paschalis Tountouris:20:19

Perfect, perfect, the top personality.

George Stroumboulis:20:21

We meet him. Then we start going to table. We meet everyone. This is the day of the game and what blew my mind was everyone was really nice, chill. I think they were just excited to be there. But I remember everyone's drinking coffee. Some guys are smoking. The day of the game was 1994. And we got our autographs. It was a dream, but it was just back then how they took soccer, versus where they were and where we are today.

Paschalis Tountouris:20:44

It's a totally different way of approaching not only soccer, every sport that time. If you remember also the dream team in the Olympics in 1992, I remember Michael Jordan was always smoking a cigar before the game or even in halftime during halftime. Eating their McDonald's.

George Stroumboulis:21:01

Yes.

Paschalis Tountouris:21:01

You know it was a different times but still it was, I think, a very proud moment of pride for the Greek communities in the States at that time. Huge Because, because, don't, don't forget that there was no. So it was very difficult to communicate with a mother like Greece through. There was no internet, there was no video calls. It was the news were very difficult. I remember when I was studying in the UK we were buying the newspaper from Piccadilly Circus kiosk one day later. So in other words, still there was a value in the news 24 hours later. Now it's not even 10 minutes later.

George Stroumboulis:21:40

It's too instant, right now, yeah absolutely so.

Paschalis Tountouris:21:43

Yes, I mean it was huge and it was also a milestone for Greek football. The participation in the States, even though there is some bad publicity out of it, because Alketas decided to get the guys around to visit a lot of people from the diaspora. Yes, but still I would have done the same, to be honest, Because the love of the country and bringing the young generation of those days close back to Greece, back to our roots, it's invaluable and I wouldn't change it for any football win.

George Stroumboulis:22:22

Absolutely. It was just perceived, from what I've heard, that he was prostituting the team for his own pockets, versus, like you know, the Greeks, once they get a hold of a piece of information, they'll always spin it right Versus like. All I know is I still have the memories, I still have the ball in the hat, like that was the most magical time you know, culturally right.

Paschalis Tountouris:22:41

We Greeks love conspiracy theories. Absolutely knowing calquitas pana willis personally even though he's I was very young, I was like a kid, but we had also family relations with him I would never, would never, uh, believe that something happened. Like him, he didn't. He didn't need it to do that at that time. You know he we're talking about a person. That time he was already served as the national team coach of the United States of America football soccer teams, so he was independent financially. He didn't really need to promote himself in the states.

George Stroumboulis:23:13

He was a legend already he already had the football yeah, not as a Greek, as an, as an, as an American, as an American figure which is a big deal right in the states to do that, so you have so many players. I've always wondered when you're a sports agent and you're at the top of your game here in greece and in europe, right, top agency voted for the last several years right, like that's a big deal, right and we're very proud and happy for that absolutely and you have all your talent, your, your partners, your players.

George Stroumboulis:23:40

how is it managing and I'm not comparing them to like having kids, but but I'm trying to see. I have three daughters and you always have to make sure each one's developing, each one has attention. How do you manage so many players and making sure you're always giving them the best and the best deal and the best contracts and the best endorsements and when they call, you're always available and they don't feel like you're promoting someone else? I couldn't imagine.

Paschalis Tountouris:24:05

It's a daily battle. You're a hundred percent right. It's not like growing kids, obviously, but there are kids. And going back from where I started, it's quite funny If you consider that you know.

Paschalis Tountouris:24:18

The players that I was representing when I started my career were more or less my age, even older at some point. George is a few years older. Sorry, george, I had to say that. So right now, when we meet the parents of the potential clients that we have, they're even younger than me, so you just feel the change of the generation. But the challenges are the same. The structure of life and the family is the same. Maybe technology is different. You have other issues to worry about, like Instagram, how they use the technology and how does it affect them in their life, but the challenges are the same and it's a cycle, absolutely. So, yes, it's challenging.

Paschalis Tountouris:25:00

Everybody wants to be unique.

Paschalis Tountouris:25:02

When you represent him, you need to show the same amount of respect, even if it brings you a contract of 10 million euros or dollars or $10,000, with the potential to develop and grow, and this is something that we really feel proud of at Prosport.

Paschalis Tountouris:25:21

We really respect every single player that we ever represented and we are direct with them, and if we've done the best and we saw that it didn't work out, we straight and direct enough to say listen, I think you should move on. We are not able to help you anymore and that's why it's the consistency that makes a difference. We are already more than 20 years in the industry and we're still here and we're growing. We haven't reached our peak and I have great ideas for the future and we're very excited of what is happening and when the times are changing, when the technology is changing, we want to be there. We want to take advantage of every new innovation and also be part of it. So I'm excited and it's really never going to stop. I think I will never stop doing this job for as long as I'm alive.

George Stroumboulis:26:17

Yeah Well, we were talking off camera when we first met and just hearing some of your ideas for the future right, and what you're planning and the different segments and what you're trying to do. It's like this is not just, hey, let's just try to latch onto some players and see where this goes. It's like it's a vision, and everything that you're planning, from my understanding, will only help your pool of talent and your team and your partners which is true, incredible man, thank you, thank you.

Paschalis Tountouris:26:40

Thank you for saying that it's not just about Greece too.

George Stroumboulis:26:42

Right. Like you, you started your career working with South Africans, coming up here and expanding so really quick. Let's talk about some of the biggest contract and names, right, and then I want to start talking about the relationships that you have to have with clubs. But one of a marquee client that you have is Kosadinos Tsimikas. Right.

Paschalis Tountouris:27:03

Please keep the name, keep the word marquee for future reference in the MLS, because marquee players they get huge amount of money in the States. So keep the marquee and Tsimikas words together for future Gotcha.

George Stroumboulis:27:18

So it's not used against you for negotiation. I got you, I got you.

Paschalis Tountouris:27:22

So, yes, for me, and this will always be, karagounis was a milestone, but the second milestone is Tsimikas, and you know it was a unique moment because, a Greek player coming from the north part of Greece, I knew him since he was 12, 13 years old. He had this attitude, this winning spirit, this great mentality since kid confidence. He was amazing. It was a unique moment. His transfer to Liverpool, because we were talking about a Greek player transferring from a Greek club with a Greek agency to the biggest states in Europe at that time, because Liverpool, in those days they were the Champions League winners and they were the champions of England, of the UK, but actually they haven't won since then. I hope this year it will be different. This is 2020, right.

George Stroumboulis:28:17

He got signed in 2020. Exactly.

Paschalis Tountouris:28:20

And they were still the winners of the Champions League and the winners of the Premier League. So it was unique. Jurgen Klopp approached us. We were working since October, november, for the deal to finish in August, to be finalized late August, and also we had to deal with the coronavirus at that time, the COVID crisis, which started in a few months, a few weeks after our meeting with the Liverpool officials in February. So it was difficult times, but it was also very exciting times and since then I truly believe that at the club's level, we're talking about 2004 generation.

Paschalis Tountouris:29:02

But at the club's level, I don't see any other player at such a high level to be that successful in the history of Greek football. I think Tsimikas is so far made it to the top. They respect him so much there. They love him. Superstars they love him. He's the closest friend of Mohamed Salah, who's a legend, world brand. Alexander Arnold Van Dijk. You know. You can feel the respect that the club and his teammates all for him and that's why I still believe this season he's doing great and I'm sure that he's the number one Greek player ever, the most successful Greek player at the club's level so far in our history.

George Stroumboulis:29:45

That's a powerful statement to say that right, and you were able to help him negotiate this deal. A lot of questions here Walk us through the cycle of you see a 12-year-old who's got this attitude and you're like, okay, I see something in him to signing up. It's public information. We could talk about his contract.

George Stroumboulis:30:04

Yeah, it's okay 17 million euros right In 2020, signed a major contract. How much was he making in Greece versus there? Walk us through the cycle from 12 years old to signing that contract. And then, even for him, I would love to get in his mind You're signed to Liverpool. That's amazing, but the next day the work starts, true.

Paschalis Tountouris:30:24

Okay, he's unique, as we discussed. First of all, when you see 12 years old, you see the talent, you see the qualities, you see the speed, the ability to control the ball, the technical skills, but for me the most important is the mentality. When you see a winner, when you see a mature guy fighting for his place, hungry to succeed, that's the first good characteristic, first good characteristic. And then going forward, specifically to Kostas, I think what made him different than several other players of his generation is that hunger and that continuous, let's say, effort to make his dream come true. So yes, we had difficulties. They didn't play him at his team, so we had to go alone in different markets, in Denmark, for example, in January, with minus 10 degrees, jesus no. But you know what, in every team that we transferred him or we loaned him at that period of time, the directors, the coaches, the teammates were in love with him. So directors were telling me listen, could you bring us another Tsimikas please? Another left back? It's impossible. But find a similar player as a striker, a similar goalkeeper.

George Stroumboulis:31:42

Because of the attitude.

Paschalis Tountouris:31:44

Because of that, they loved him. That's why it's not coincidental what is happening now in Liverpool as well. He's like a unique guy and unique personality. He's got it. He's got this star mentality from birth and you know, we've been together for so many years. He's a loyal person, he's a family guy. You don't see him in any scandal as well, hopefully, and that will remain like this.

George Stroumboulis:32:08

It will remain like this. It seems like it's about his career, his dogs. He seems like a good guy. You know what I?

Paschalis Tountouris:32:13

mean he's one of a kind. So, going back to the transfer, we had many options Because he had a fantastic season at that time at Olympiacos. He played in the Champions League, so we had a lot of options. Olympiacos was the biggest brand and still is one of the biggest brands in Greece there are two, three clubs at the same level.

Paschalis Tountouris:32:35

And a global brand like Olympiacos is a global. You know it was the years that Olympiacos was consistently the champion of the country, so it was a big stage as well. We have to give credit to them by doing exceptional job, also to the Champions League competition and, yes, they managed to really promote. They played against Arsenal in England and that was a turning point also for Liverpool to be convinced that this guy can be our next, let's say, left back. But, as I said before, we had from very interesting and interesting football projects we had. We have serious interest for him, but he chose as an agent. You know, I showed him all his options, we discussed everything, but he chose Liverpool. He chose Liverpool. He chose Liverpool Even though he had to fight against Robbo Robertson, andy Robertson, who at that time was the best left back in the world, and he had to fight for his place, but he didn't care.

Paschalis Tountouris:33:32

World. And he had to fight for his place, but he didn't care, he was, he was there, he was right after the, challenging himself and getting to the point that, yes, um, it's hard. I respect my uh, the other player that you know, but I will go for it, I'll try. I believe in myself. There are also a lot of games champions league, fa cup, carabao called. Now it's the League Cup, in England, the Premier League. So there are like more than 55, 60 games and a successful season. So, yes, I'll get my chance, I'll get my opportunities and I'll show the people what I can do.

George Stroumboulis:34:02

That's incredible. So two things there before I forget. I want to talk about 12 years old, like when, when can you actually sign someone? And then the other thing is you're presenting as an agent all these options before he picked Liverpool. Is that you like? I want to get into the mind of an agent. Like you're calling these clubs, I have this player. What's your offer Like? How does that work?

Paschalis Tountouris:34:24

Okay, everybody has a different strategy and approach. Going back to your first question, rhodes. Going back to your first question about 12 years it's too early, 12 years, it's very young. Now FIFA has some new rules and regulations about minors and the players that you are able to sign. You need to have a special permission to sign under 18-year-old players. Oh, really, more or less. Let's say you can sign officially somebody six months before he's eligible to sign his first professional contract in the country in the federation that he's playing. In greece, for example, we can sign uh somebody when he's 14 and a half years old, still as an agent, as an, not as a contract, the first contract you can sign in when he turns uh, 15, but if someone is a talent at 14 and a half, you, as Pascal, could go and say I'm signing you for five years and you lock it in.

Paschalis Tountouris:35:18

You have to do it maximum for two years.

George Stroumboulis:35:20

Okay, so two years, that's the regulation.

Paschalis Tountouris:35:21

Yes, and you have to renew and renew and renew and renew.

George Stroumboulis:35:24

And then you have to show your value, okay, so that's Exactly, and the players as well. But then you go to places like Brazil where they're signing kids at eight years old because they just sign and they right Like it's another world.

Paschalis Tountouris:35:35

It's a different story. They changed it was actually. It was a different. It was a different world 10 years ago. Football was a different world because we had this TPA third party ownership. So in other words, we have a friend investor. He says, listen, I go to a club, I get the owner, I say I like Tsimikas, okay, I'm investing 2 million euros and give me 20% of his shares of the future transfer. This is forbidden right now and actually I'm like supporting the decision of FIFA because you don't need outsiders to have influence in the industry, because obviously then we have betting, we have other things that are laundering, money laundering, so it's okay.

Paschalis Tountouris:36:17

The way it is right now obviously doesn't create good opportunities for profit in individuals or in companies or even in agents. It minimizes the benefits, but still it's a clean industry, right, a cleaner industry. At that time, in lat, latin America, in Southern America, you still, locally, can operate like this. There are still agents that hold big percentage of their rights, of their players, of their clients, and they deal in a gray area. Let's put it this way, george. But yes, in Europe you don't do that.

George Stroumboulis:36:50

You don't do that anymore. Yes, that's incredible. The money aspect. Someone playing soccer here that makes you, said, 600, but say they make a thousand euros a month playing for a club, right, and then they have the opportunity to go somewhere and we're not talking 3 million. How does that change their decisions? Because staying here like I'm looking at it as a father If my kid was playing in the league here making 600 euros or a thousand, starts getting into their 20s, there's no career.

George Stroumboulis:37:22

At what point do you sit there and say, look, soccer's not for you, because it's, it's a. And then, side note to that, I have a younger cousin who played soccer here in the system on one of the junior teams we won't name the names right, but he thought at 14 years old he was the magaki, the cool guy hey, I play for junior, whatever team here in Athens and he thought he was a local celebrity, all these guys. And he got to live in the academy and all this. And after a period of time it gets a little dirty where if you want to play you got to pay us, like they have all this stuff too right. And finally I remember telling them like this isn't for you, like this isn't. If you're a true talent, they're going to see it right. So it's just dealing with all that stuff.

Paschalis Tountouris:38:04

It's a great question, Just not to forget. I don't know from where the 3 million of Chimicas came as a number, I don't know how it is, but it's okay. I don't approve the amount, but okay. So, like I was just going to, it's a great question because you can see several kids. You know their dream is to become the next superstar in football. Right, Because they see the lights, they see the publicity and you know the girls coming journalists, your headline.

Paschalis Tountouris:38:37

But, to be honest, let's think about it.

Paschalis Tountouris:38:39

How many dozens of thousands of young kids play football, soccer in Greece at the moment?

Paschalis Tountouris:38:48

You know how many of those guys will actually manage to make that much money in their careers that you can say, for example, afterwards that they don't need to work or I will just invest, I will just sit with my family, I will retire at a very young age and I will live and enjoy my life traveling around the world and experiencing and making some seminars or events.

Paschalis Tountouris:39:09

Anyway, very few, like maybe 10 every generation, maybe 15, no more, Okay, Maybe 20 maximum out of dozens of thousands of kids. So, yes, it's a matter of like what every family expects when you are 20, 21 years old and you haven't really reached the top level. It's very difficult to recover and cover up. So I will always insist and I will always encourage the parents never to stop the education. Actually, there are some nice ideas, that we have, some educational programs that we have in mind in order to help to give proper advice to the families and to the young players to develop themselves, not to leave school and try and obviously fight for the dream but at the same time be realistic, be realistic.

George Stroumboulis:40:05

Yeah, and that's not just in Greece. I see it in Canada with hockey, in the States with soccer, basketball, everything. Most of the times, I feel it's the parents that have bigger dreams for their kids, and the actual kids in many cases.

Paschalis Tountouris:40:18

They try to make their own dreams part of the life of their kids.

George Stroumboulis:40:21

Absolutely, and you see it at nine-year-old my daughter, nine-year-old soccer player and the parents and the yelling and the this and I see it with hockey with my nephews. So how do you advise? Like parents today that are spending money, they think their kids are going somewhere, but realistically you could probably see a kid play five minutes and no, this kid's not going there.

Paschalis Tountouris:40:40

True, and sometimes you have to be cynical. Sometimes you have to be straight and direct and say listen, no, you have to be. I think maybe they don't like you, maybe they they will get angry, maybe they will, they will not be happy. But obviously I'm not the pope. I cannot, I cannot, I cannot turn down all the dreams of of a kid, but still you have to be cynical, you have to tell them, tell them the truth and the long term. It works well for us as a company and personally as well. So, from one, from one point, you have to encourage the kids to join a football club, to join a basketball club, to join sports, absolutely Because you're working out your body, you're working out your brain, you're working, you know like, you stay away from bad habits and everything that could get you in trouble, you know. So, yes, from one point, trouble, you know. So, yes, from one. But on the other side, you have to realize the difference between professionalism like to be a champion and to work for it and to just become an athlete and and to work and have a healthy body and a healthy career and, through football, to to be able right now. By the way, yes, I have to add that there are so many jobs out there right now because of the innovation in technology and the improvement of like football industry and the growth of everything that has to do with FIFA and the love of the game and the building. So you can. You can work for FIFA. You can work for construction companies that are building stadiums. You can work the data, the market agent, the scouts. You know there are so many. When I started, there were a few few jobs there. You had to write Scout. You have to be agent, or like a player or coach. Yes, right now you have to be an agent, or like a player or a coach. Yes, right now you have the marketing department, endorsements, a digital part of it, scouting, analytics. You know, like journalists at the top level. There are so many ways and so many professional opportunities that the football industry has created over the years and it's exciting for a guy and also creates an experience for him to play and then be ready to study, to grow as a professional in this industry, and also it's a trend right now.

Paschalis Tountouris:42:59

If you look at so many coaches around Europe, they are in their mid-20s or early 30s, so they never played at the high level, but they joined huge clubs. The coach of Brighton right now is 30 years old. Geez Never played professionally Not at the top level, but he still was. Mourinho also never played football. He was a previous generation, but still there are so many coaches. The coach of the national team of Germany the same. He's still young. He started his career when he was in the mid or late 20s as a head coach of Hoffenheim and then he went to Leipzig. So there are many directions that you can follow, from being part of a football team or being part of football rather than being a professional.

George Stroumboulis:43:44

Absolutely. And what you said before about Tsimikas, for example, is he has a great attitude. Obviously he's talented but having that great attitude, the coaches want that.

Paschalis Tountouris:43:53

This is the number one attitude, george. Yeah, that's the mentality for every player, and we're not going to talk only about Tsimikas.

George Stroumboulis:44:00

Sorry, parents need to listen to this, because it's not how great you are, only it's the attitude. It's so important.

Paschalis Tountouris:44:11

And this is also part of their responsibility as parents, our responsibility as parents to help the kids get their own personality and their own personal behavior, not to force them to become something that we dream or something that we like them to become. We have to give them the space to develop their own personality and to develop their mentality in a way that they are happy. So, yes, I think if you leave your kids free and if you don't put them under pressure or if you don't force them to do things that they're not happy, it will be definitely helpful. And I'm not a psychologist, obviously, but being a part of so many families and their decision-making and looking at kids growing and as I said before, it's a cycle I can have an opinion on what could make the kid successful and what could make a kid problematic.

George Stroumboulis:45:05

Yeah, absolutely, that's very interesting. So we talked a lot about a particular soccer player right in Greece, but you represent so many up-and-coming players players that are on the national team, players that are playing on international. Can you name some of the other names?

Paschalis Tountouris:45:22

Yes, for example, some similar characteristics, with great mentality, strong personality, great attitude, is Konstantinos Kouliarakis. We finalized his transfer to Bundesliga, to Wolfsburg, from Pauk Tesaloniki. Amazing guy, amazing boy, 20 years old, starting 11 of the Greek national team already Incredible, great potential. I have to mention also Tasos Duvikas, where we did a deal to Celta Vigo, which is one of the most historical teams in La Liga in Spain. So he competes against Barcelona, real Madrid on a weekly basis. He's also a player of the national team and also you know some other guys that we said how they developed.

Paschalis Tountouris:46:01

I'm very proud of Dimitris Goutas. He's playing in Championship in England, which is the second division, but it's the sixth best league in Europe and very difficult, very demanding competition and he was nominated as the player of the month for a few times already in his career. He's a star player there and there are not a lot of Greeks that managed to do that. His name is Dimitris Routas and he grew and developed his game over the years. He's now almost 30 years old, he's still 29. But he, you know he keeps improving his game and he's also a role model by you know how hard he worked to get there and his patience and his decision-making on his career path.

George Stroumboulis:46:51

Wow, yeah, that's's it, and a lot of these players are representing a really strong national team, like they've been doing great recently them internationals.

Paschalis Tountouris:46:57

We at some point also we're talking about dimitris kurbelis, who is among the captains of the greek national team, and we transfer him to saudi arabia another topic, maybe for some other podcast for the future right. For me, that was also a book by itself. So, yes, we represent some great guys and some top professionals. That's incredible.

George Stroumboulis:47:18

You touched upon just the international aspect, right. How is it dealing with clubs? So just walk me through. You have a player you think he is talented. Do you have a number in your mind and then try to seek clubs, or how does that process actually work to find this player a home?

Paschalis Tountouris:47:37

Okay, there are many parameters. First of all, where is the player placed? Don't forget an important factor the players don't belong to the agency. The players belong to the clubs that they have signed their professional or amateur contracts Professional contracts or they are amateur in some youth clubs or academies. So we are just there to support every different project with every different way. For example, if a player belongs to a club like Olympiacos, like Panathinaikos, aek or PAOK, then you try to understand if he's a regular player, he's a young age player, then there is potential, the price tag more or less you know, and then you try to find the right club that could be the next step for his development and for his career.

Paschalis Tountouris:48:25

We have great teams. We have teams that have successful seasons and years in European competitions over the past two years year. We have great teams. We have teams that like have successful seasons and years in european competitions over the past two years. Like olympiacos won the the conference league last year. So like we are uh, but we are still uh like three or four steps below the top range european club. So every player has to make the right steps to develop into a world star and it's difficult to make the step from Olympiacos to Liverpool. It's quite tricky and difficult, but for Cimi it was good because he played also in the Netherlands during his loan period from Olympiacos and also he competed with the national team and in the Champions League competition, so that could make things easier. Also, he competed with the national team and in the champions league competition, so that could make things easier.

Paschalis Tountouris:49:12

But normally you have to to to adjust your dreams and and make them like a bit more like. You have to make more wise decision on where you go. Yeah to your next, uh to your next step of your career. That's why I say every. Everything is different depends where you play. If you are in a small or average team in Greece, that gives you bigger flexibility to approach clubs that could afford your transfer fee, because when you play to a meat table Greek club, it's cheaper for somebody to get you out Right, rather than when you play to these top four clubs, it's more expensive. You need to approach bigger clubs but at the same time, try not to ruin the potential in the career of your player, because if you go to a club and you don't play regular football, it's difficult, it's difficult.

George Stroumboulis:49:54

And then that's where other agents will probably promise the world and they get in each other's head. Talk to me about transfer fees. Right, do agents broker that, or is that between teams? Do you get paid commission for it? Could be yes.

Paschalis Tountouris:50:07

Under the new FIFA regulations, yes, and also a paid commission for entrance could be yes, you, you under the new fifa regulations, yes, and also the previous regulation yes, we, we can be involved uh in the club to club transfer fee. Yeah, we can introduce the player, obviously, um, we, we have to be careful and we we cannot have a conflict of interest between all the parties because you don't want to influence a deal at the same time negotiate for your players contract, because it's it's quite, as I said, conflict of interest, but nevertheless, uh, yes, the answer to your question is we have also, uh their ability to be part of, uh the transfer fees percentage of the transfer between the two clubs, between the two okay, and when your players signing a new contract, are you physically with them, like you go to the clubs?

George Stroumboulis:50:49

you're there, so you're a player signing a new contract, are you physically with them, like you go to the clubs? You're there, so you're traveling.

Paschalis Tountouris:50:52

It's a long process. It's a long process, you know, maybe the fans and the people outside of the game. They just see the day that we have the shirt and the signature and you know it's a publication of that. But mainly this takes a lot of hard work, effort, travels, negotiations. Sometimes the negotiations don't go the way that you are expecting them to go, so you just have to be patient. You have to have a client that he really trusts you and that's important. That's a big factor of success, Because you don't have to convince also your own party that your, let's say, ideas are the right ones. So, yes, if you be patient and you have a good communication and collaboration with the players, always things go smoother, faster and more successful.

George Stroumboulis:51:43

Right, your player signs a big contract. They have money that they didn't have. Do you coach them? Do you have someone on your team that coaches them about finances? Yes, hey guys, don't go buy 10 cars. How much do they listen to you? On average, is it well received?

Paschalis Tountouris:52:00

Another great question, george. Actually, I'm sure that you must have read an article about the NFL players NFL, I think. Correct me if I'm wrong. The players make even more money than the NBA. So there was an article I was reading a few years ago that 75% of the players that were NFL professionals. They get bankrupt only five years after they're ending their career.

George Stroumboulis:52:30

So, by the way, there's a documentary on Netflix that talks specifically about NFL players. Okay, and their average career is, I believe, three years. Only the average career, Because you have the big linemen, then you have the quarterbacks. So yeah, please go on.

Paschalis Tountouris:52:44

So yes, but they get bankrupt three, four years after their retirement. So, yes, it's a problem. It's a problem because you know we're talking about young guys. Yes, and we were young guys.

Paschalis Tountouris:52:58

When I was making my first money, as I said, starting my career early, I was spending like crazy. You know you cannot hold them. It's adrenaline. And, by the way, sometimes I'm not against some type of spending because by spending you change your status and by changing your status maybe you gain more confidence. And by gaining more confidence maybe you can compete against these top athletes around the world. If you want to get to the new level, obviously not overdo it. But, yes, we advise them. There are some financial advisors that we use, not internally but also outside the company. We've seen some success over the years in the real estate or in the stock market. There are ways to protect them. But, going forward, I think this generation of players because they have access to technology and they're more educated than the previous generations, I think they're more careful with their investments and the way that they can stay out of bad influence and scams.

George Stroumboulis:54:07

Yes, so bad influence. That's the money side. What about the girl side? The girl, yeah, like just girls in general. Like you're a professional soccer player, girls are throwing themselves at you. Many of them want to get pregnant, so they have security. Like, how do you balance that as an agent to make sure your players have their mind right?

Paschalis Tountouris:54:25

I have a great team around me, great people, top guys that really do great job in the daily service of the players, talking with them about everything that they should do, even with a private life, with a personal life, giving them proper advice. But, yes, imagine now with the social media, I mean Instagram. It's how many girls come across to all the superstars, the players. It's massive, Crazy.

Paschalis Tountouris:54:54

So, yes, that's why we go back to what we were discussing before about the mentality and the personality and how dedicated you are to follow your dream and don't get interrupted by other. Let's say means yeah.

George Stroumboulis:55:09

This is a tough market in general. It's very competitive in Greece, right? You know, someone opens up a bakery here. They go across the street. It's just Greek. They do it the same outside of the country as well. In the States Canada, we have that, I would imagine, similar to real estate agents in Greece before the crash. Everyone thought they were a real estate agent just because they sold someone's property. Was it like that from a sports agent standpoint? Like, oh yeah, he's my cousin, I'll be his agent.

Paschalis Tountouris:55:35

But it's not only in Greece. Everybody's an agent all over the world, like, especially now with the immigration that are coming from countries that football is in their DNA, but they're like in less developed markets than European countries.

Paschalis Tountouris:55:52

So, for example, like what African nations or African nations, or like Northern Africa especially, or even Eastern countries like Turkey, like even Iran. You know, like immigrants that are moving to Belgium where they see the growth of the Netherlands or Northern Africa, you know like every, every people like that they're getting into our, the European communities and societies. They they want to to become agents because they feel through that they can really get more money, they can get a successful career. So that's why, finally, and I'm very happy of this FIFA has in place some new regulations that you have to have a license and you have to take exams and you need to study. For us it's good, and the protection also of the players and the clients. So suddenly somebody cannot just wake up in the morning and say, okay, I'm an agent because I am a restaurant owner. Just George, who is a superstar? George Trumbullull is the next superstar of football. You know he's my client in the restaurant.

George Stroumboulis:56:53

So now I'm an agent. Some of the biggest.

Paschalis Tountouris:56:55

By the way, some of the biggest agents in the world started like this. The late Mino Raiola. He was working in a restaurant in the Netherlands.

Paschalis Tountouris:57:01

So, yes, like so. You cannot avoid it, because everything has to do with personal relations and the trust of the player. But we have to be realistic as well and give the guys the proper advice. You know some parents we've been said that. You know, I want somebody that is next to my kid 24-7. It's not the attribute to be there 24-7. The best attribute for an agent is to be able to assist you, to help your kid create a strategy for his career, and to be there also after his career ends.

Paschalis Tountouris:57:34

You know like we call it dual career. It's like the opportunities that you've got as an individual and as a sports professional after your retirement, which is huge, like we said before, with NFL players, your retirement, which is huge, like we said before, with NFL players. So I would rather speak to a young guy once every while, once a week, once a month, and give him proper advice, work for him besides the scenes, rather than being 24-7 personally. But, on the other hand, you need to have good associates in your company, good employees, good people that are next to you, that really, uh, be in charge of the daily service.

Paschalis Tountouris:58:15

And trust me, george, this is very difficult. It requires patience, it requires passion and energy for what you're doing. That's why it's very difficult to get the right people in this industry to join you, to have vision, to have dreams, to have the same ethics and to be there for the guys, and they have also to be loyal to what they're doing. So that's why we're proud for Prosport and that's what I think that's the recipe of our success, not the deals that Tunduri has made or whatever. I think it's a joint association of great people, of top guys that are sharing the same passion, the same vision, the energy, the love of what they're doing and actually, the love of the people that we take care of their careers Right, Let me ask you average football career.

George Stroumboulis:59:04

You get me excited now, you know.

Paschalis Tountouris:59:05

No, no, no, I love to talk, you know about this.

George Stroumboulis:59:08

But I love this because we chatted yesterday when I was in New York and we were just chatting and you're like, hey, you know, do you feel like you know enough about this industry to talk? And I'm like I know enough as your average person. But that's what I love about it, because I'm asking stuff that I know the listeners want to know about this. Right, you have access to all this stuff. So many different places to go from here. Talk about international, actually, no, where do you go to find talent? You find talent here in Greece. There's other markets around the world Like where do you go? What's that process to say? You know what? I think this person I could lock in for the next 10 years of his career. Where do you go? And I know you can't give away all your secrets.

Paschalis Tountouris:59:46

No, no, of course, but obviously it's not easy for us to provide the proper service to many players, so we are very selective on who we're bringing aboard to our company. Greek industry is quite small, so with our network.

George Stroumboulis:1:00:13

it's easy to identify 10, 15, 20 players every year that potentially could develop into something special, starting where, like where those 10, 15,? Are they 15 years old and above, 12 and above Be?

Paschalis Tountouris:1:00:18

14, 15 years old, 16 years old. Sometimes there are some late developers 17 years old, 18 years old. You mainly watch them at the level that we are standing at the moment as a company. You mainly watch them at the level that we are standing at the moment as a company. We follow the national team, we follow some local divisions, younger players that participate in lower divisions. We have people that make the analysis, the scouting and, yes, we recruit every year three, four, not more than that, players to join us and to be part of the pro sport.

George Stroumboulis:1:00:48

That's amazing. So I got to ask you about we're talking about men's sports, men's contracts what about women in professional sports? Your agency? Just a little side note, like I have a nine-year-old daughter right now she wants to be a lifeguard and a professional soccer player. Right Last year we took her to see Alex Morgan. If you know Alex Morgan, she's like the biggest female soccer player in the USA Team USA. We take her to go watch and she was just in heaven, right. So obviously those are her dreams right now. You don't want to crush them, but what are you seeing for women's soccer, specifically globally?

Paschalis Tountouris:1:01:23

It's growing. Fifa is supporting it so much they try to promote it as much as possible. I'm very happy that your daughter is joining our sport because, really, if women start to get involved more and more and more, you will make it more. Let's say, sexy industry and I'm not talking about any sexist comment, I'm talking about you can make it more, let's say popular, and every person, like every family, could be like yours, like you can have a girl that you can get to the training.

Paschalis Tountouris:1:01:57

In Greece. We are still quite far from that, but right now there is a big effort from our federation, also because of the central advice from the FIFA, to give support to promote the female athletes. And we represent right now a Greek girl, thomae. What's her name? Thomae Vardali. She's the captain of PAOK and she's a national team player. She's a legend in Greece. Let's say the Greek Karagounis, let's put it this way the female Karagounis. Let's put it this way the female Karagounis. And, yes, I truly believe that over the years we will see the growth and we are trying. Also, I believe that the sponsors that you can get from a female athlete. They will be more interested in investing rather than the male athlete. So I think there is room of improvement and, yes, it's quite exciting what is happening with women's football over the world.

George Stroumboulis:1:02:55

That's incredible. And you know, in Greece Olympiakos, panathinaikos, do they have junior academies, like they have for the boys? Like does that exist or not yet?

Paschalis Tountouris:1:03:05

Not yet at the level, obviously, of the boys, but they're starting. They're starting to create, they're starting to develop into, to create, you know, like academies of young girls. But to be honest, we are still far from where we can get, but it's moving in the right direction.

George Stroumboulis:1:03:21

Yeah, it's good.

Paschalis Tountouris:1:03:22

And, as I said, it's good for the sport. It's good for the popularity of the sport to get the women more and more involved. Yeah, it's good for the popularity of the sport to get the women more and more involved.

George Stroumboulis:1:03:28

Yeah, and women's soccer in the United States, I believe, is more popular than men's soccer.

Paschalis Tountouris:1:03:33

It's true, also in Germany Not in Germany more than the men's, but they still have great popularity and huge popularity. Yeah, you can see during the World Cups, you can see the teams that are involved in the stadiums that are full.

George Stroumboulis:1:03:44

Yeah, it's entertainment Very technical pool. It's entertainment, Very technical, it's good soccer. Anti racism you started a campaign Was this because of dealing in South Africa? And you decided to start a movement like that? That's something you don't hear of in Greece, especially in the past to start an initiative to bring related parties in, because there's been a lot of racism in soccer right Over the years, when teams traveling to certain countries and throwing bananas on the field or saying slurs like there has been a lot of racism. So what motivated you to out of Greece, small Greece, to start an initiative like that? First of all, you know like.

Paschalis Tountouris:1:04:22

The mistake that we're doing in Greece, I suppose also in the States and throughout Europe, is that we make it the racism, we make it a political issue, and that's a big mistake, and I think the reason of this is because the immigration problems that we faced as communities in the Western world, let's say, made us to be a little bit scared or afraid of somebody who is a foreigner For me.

Paschalis Tountouris:1:04:55

I totally have separate issues between the political beliefs and the racism and if you have this approach, I think you can really deal with this.

Paschalis Tountouris:1:05:05

With the right, let's say, approach, you can go to the right direction, in my opinion. So, yes, we work hard because of my involvement in South Africa and I've seen the poverty, I've seen people struggling to eat and I've seen players coming over to Europe for trials, walking with their sandals in December in the Netherlands, for example, they didn't even have shoes to wear and, yes, it was a very emotional moment for me and at the same time, I could see the aggressive approach of some people towards them because of their color, because of their different, let's say, aspects of life, the different way that the cultures that they grew up, and, yes, I decided to make an event. It was long ago, by the way, and we need to follow up with this as well. Good to mention George. Yeah, it's definite, and FIFA has made some really good efforts to get racism out of football. I think everybody is like, okay, it's different, obviously, but you don't have to joke and we're not talking about also the color. Also, we have racism also with regards to religion and everything.

Paschalis Tountouris:1:06:22

And for us, the Greeks, faced big problems of you guys, your parents or your great parents in the States we are facing. The difference always is problematic for some local communities and that we have to separate it from the political issue because it doesn't make you, let's say, liberal or like conservative if you are racist and you are a good guy, or democratic or like if you are not racist.

George Stroumboulis:1:06:49

Absolutely.

George Stroumboulis:1:06:49

We have to exclude it from this discussion In 1995, my cousin visits me from Kalamata, greece, in Niagara Falls, canada, first time he's ever left Greece. Comes to there and we're walking down Niagara Falls, showing him the tourist spot, and he sees a black person walking across the street First time. He takes out his camera and he takes a picture. I go what are you doing? Because I've never seen a black person in my life. This is 1994, 95 from Kalamata. If that were to happen today, it would be taken in the wrongest way and it was a good motive.

Paschalis Tountouris:1:07:22

It was pure, it was normal because it was the first time that he ever saw something like that, absolutely.

George Stroumboulis:1:07:27

It's no different. I go to china now with my business partner. He's a redhead. People will stop him in the street and have the kids touch him because red's good luck and they think he brings good luck. You know what I mean? It's just we become too sensitive. It's just it's increasing.

Paschalis Tountouris:1:07:41

But I felt also a few years before the event. Um, I used to represent the player who, by the way, I'm not sure if he's still playing in MLS, but for sure he went to the MLS for many years Jonathan Mensah. He played also in the Ghana national team and we were walking. I transferred him at that time in Granada, in Spain, and we were walking in the street and, as you said, you know, we were walking, me and him, after we had some lunch, and we were walking in the street Early afternoon daylight and there was a car and they threw bananas in front of me. So I really cannot understand, you know, and that's why these guys are really suffering with these things and they get angry and they have our full support and, not to forget, I haven't met a single player, at least from our guys, that has ever faced or dealt with teammates on a different way because of their color or stuff like this.

Paschalis Tountouris:1:08:37

Especially the Greek guys and the Greek players, they love everyone that's coming to the country, we never had problems of racism with the Greek community. I think our people are very friendly, they love the foreigners that come here and I think it's part of our culture, because we're a country of tourism and of service. So, yes, I think it was also in our mentality. We never had problems as a country to welcome the different culture, different color, different.

George Stroumboulis:1:09:04

No, absolutely. And then when people say, oh, greece may be racist or not, well, you have a small country, 10 million people. Over the years, it's been occupied by so many different powers. What I think Yanis Adedokubo and his family did for this is incredible for the country. But it's also sad, in my opinion, that it took someone to be a superstar basketball player for everyone to be like, oh, he's ours now. Superstar basketball player. For everyone to be like, oh, he's ours now. Well, george. But I say this whole really quick. I say this and people challenge me. They say that's racist, what you're saying. I'm like, no, no, it's the opposite, we're all equal.

Paschalis Tountouris:1:09:39

But before yannis was in the nba he was just selling cds, he didn't have a passport. But then I come, you know, let's discuss now the political aspect of this and forget about sports for a moment. Let's assume that you know, everybody who came over to Greece got the Greek passport. Wouldn't that be a motive for other people from those countries to jump in to the Greek, let's say country Greece, to get the passport or to get the benefits? Wouldn't that be an extra motivation to come over? So, like I said before, it's a delicate road. Absolutely, I totally agree with you. You don't have to become a superstar in order to get the passport. That they were unfortunate to be born in countries much poorer than our level of living in Europe, then we would give them a signal come over. Absolutely, it's a paradise for you. And then how many people could Greece, let's say, welcome.

George Stroumboulis:1:10:44

And how sad is it, when Greece was barely surviving. And this is the America entry into Europe. We have problems. Passport aside, my biggest thing is they were just, for example, nigerians, not Yanis in general. Oh, they're Nigerians and they're selling CDs or whatever, but he gets that Now it's like, oh no, there are people. For me, it's like, oh, I agree, but he helped.

Paschalis Tountouris:1:11:08

We are proud of yannis, regardless, uh, nigerian, greece. We are proud of what he achieved and the loyal uh way that he approaches the family. He's he's a role model, yes, for all the young guys, for all the older guys you know to. He never created problems. We are very proud of him, regardless. He's, uh where he comes from and, in my opinion, he was born here. The education here. He got education in Greek school. He got basketball in Greek teams. He had the health system that they had approached. They had the ability to entry the health system.

Paschalis Tountouris:1:11:46

Obviously, there were some idiots out there that probably made some bad comments or they were aggressive again, but they are idiots. We don't even waste our time talking about them. But, yes, I still believe that the greek community is mature enough and in the you also have massive problems with racism, massive, massive problems. In Greece, I think we are in a better place than other countries. You know, you see the difficulties they have in Northern Europe. You see the difficulties they have in France, you see difficulties they have in the States. I think it's everywhere. So, yes, we are really proud of him and I think he's a role model of every professional athlete.

George Stroumboulis:1:12:31

Absolutely. He's incredible. My final comment on Giannis is where I really saw a clip and I'm like I love this guy Early on in his career. He's playing at Madison Square Garden. He leaves the game. When he leaves, he goes outside. There's a bunch of Greeks waiting, giannis, giannis, sign they had a flag, sign the flag game. When he leaves, he goes outside, there's a bunch of greeks waiting, yanis, yanis, sign they had a flag, sign the flag. And he goes. I don't sign the flag. You got to show respect. I'm like it was just really nice to be like this guy is more greek than any one of us, you know what I mean like just passionate unbelievable maturity to think at that moment, not to create this kind of trouble.

Paschalis Tountouris:1:13:05

you need to be intelligent, you need to be mature and you know. That's the mentality we were talking about before Absolutely.

George Stroumboulis:1:13:12

A couple more topics. I know you've been amazing with the time. I feel like we could talk forever. I want to talk internationals, Americans coming here investing in teams. Like, what are you seeing? Like you see, a lot of Americans have invested across Europe in sports teams. Are you seeing any here with Greek teams?

Paschalis Tountouris:1:13:30

Okay, First of all, we are really you are really, let's say, the beginning the States. You know our dream for everybody in the way of marketing and the value of the sports teams and in the industry. We love it and we try to follow and get ideas for our future because the innovations and the technology is far further than us. So over the past decade there were successful businessmen and sports companies that they made big money and big profits by investing in the professional leagues in the States, in all of the three, four professional sports, so many of them, because now the prices, I think, are huge and it's very difficult to buy a franchise now in the States. Many of those guys came and invested in big teams in the Premier League let's start over which is, let's say, the NBA of football, soccer. And then they followed Italy and they started to invest in Europe. And this is good because suddenly, you know, the new investors came, fresh money coming from the other side of Atlantic, and it created a great opportunity for the teams to get some international exposure, get some funds and start bringing this like investing opportunities to throughout Europe.

Paschalis Tountouris:1:14:57

And I think Greece right now could be a very interesting destination, not only for Greek Americans, but also for American investors, because we are a very good tax-friendly country. We are a beautiful country that you can really invest in several other aspects and you can have a great time also, if you are an American or a foreigner, that you can spend also some good time. At the same time, combine it with a good investment in football. Plus, our football is growing. Our football right now could be considered in the top 20 in Europe, top 15 in Europe and we are still growing. We are a virgin market and you know it could be interesting for everybody in the States, for every serious investor to come and have a look of the potential that we have to building new infrastructure to build, you know, like around football, many, many possibilities and opportunities to grow the industry around it and that could give a great investment opportunity for every American.

George Stroumboulis:1:15:59

I think it's amazing. Yeah, and it's paradise here. If you can make money and enjoy the lifestyle, it's paradise. Three really quick, rapid fire type questions, right, so what's the most memorable match you've attended as an agent?

Paschalis Tountouris:1:16:15

Okay, I have to stack with Timikas again. We I with my closest associate, andreas we're in Belgium and we were watching a player of us a game of Kortrijk. In that period Kostas was playing on loan to Willem. Willem is in Tilburg in the Netherlands. It was a driving distance of two hours, two and a half hours. We could have two options Either watch the full game at Kortrijk and drive and watch the second half in Willem in Tilburg, or watch the full game at Kotreik and drive and watch the second half in Wilhelm in Tilburg, or watch the first half in Kotreik and manage to be on time and watch the full game at Tilburg. So, thankfully, we decided to do that and we arrived just before the start of the game and it was amazing.

Paschalis Tountouris:1:17:09

It was one of the greatest games that I really had the privilege to watch. The final result was 3-3. Costa scored in the halftime a bicycle goal. It was amazing with the rain, with the red cards, passion, energy. It was not Netherlands. It was like you watch the final of the World Cup, and for me, the first game that came to my mind is this that's incredible.

George Stroumboulis:1:17:35

Let me ask you when you're not negotiating contracts, traveling the world finding the next greatest talent, what do you do to get your mind away from this chaotic profession?

Paschalis Tountouris:1:17:45

I spend time with my sons. Two sons, two sons, yes, I spend time with my sons. I enjoy talking to them. Two sons, yes, I spend time with my sons and also I do some training myself. I try, I try at least. But I enjoy spending time with my sons. It really takes the stress out of my brain, do they love?

George Stroumboulis:1:18:02

football.

Paschalis Tountouris:1:18:03

One loves football, the other one loves basketball. So let's see. But if you know, know, they're still young, so we, they still have dreams I heard you already signed them to a contract. No, no, I think that I will. I will give them to another agent, if they, if they manage to play.

Paschalis Tountouris:1:18:17

I'll give them a home no, I'm not gonna be the best agent for me because we were. We were like we're saying that the parents need to stay out and you know to be we're. We're accusing them for being close, but you know, if your parents need to stay out and you know to be aware we're accusing them for being close, but you know, if you are a parent, it's difficult to not to get involved to the growth and the life of your child.

George Stroumboulis:1:18:35

Absolutely, In closing, anything you want to share with the listeners. We're going to put all the links up. We're going to share everything about you, your company, what you're doing. It's been amazing.

Paschalis Tountouris:1:18:44

As I said, for me, right now, with the new technology and the opportunities that are coming, you know, I really highly recommend to the Greek Americans and the Greeks of the diaspora to visit the country more often, to come invest in Greece, invest in football, invest in the industry here, because you know we have the privilege to live in the most beautiful country in the world and you have the privilege to to have your roots from there. Yeah, and it's a country that right now it's still developing and there are so many opportunities out of there. And plus, obviously, there are if there are some great greek american talents that are growing and mls is doing like fantastic developments over the year, they could even be part of Greece. I haven't, if I'm not mistaken, I haven't seen a Greek American for many years joining the Greek League. So, yes, it's time let's invite them to be part of it.

George Stroumboulis:1:19:43

I love it, man. Thank you so much. This has been incredible and I appreciate your time, thank you, thanks a lot. Thank you so much. This has been incredible and I appreciate your time, thank you. Thanks a lot. Thank you, brother. Thanks for listening to this episode of Invigorate your Business with George Strombolis. Please hit the subscribe and like buttons and follow me on all the main podcast streaming channels. Also, please share your comments when you can. I appreciate your help in expanding this network to a worldwide audience. Until next time, stay invigorated.

CONTENTS OF THIS VIDEO

00:00:00 Greece's Top Fifa Soccer Sports Agent Paschalis Tountouris

00:02:45 Agent for Top Soccer Players at Liverpool & Others

00:04:01 1987 Euro Basketball Champs - Nick Galis

00:05:20 Mike Makaab was a Mentor in the Sports Agency Space

00:09:10 Best Soccer Coach Ever: Otto Rehhagel of Germany

00:09:33 Launching Prosport Agency After Euro 2004 Success

00:11:55 Agent for Greece's Karagounis

00:15:03 Greek Soccer Player Contracts after 2004

00:18:00 The Legends of 2004 Euro Champs

00:19:20 Greek Soccer Players Smoking the Day Of World Cup Game

00:23:22 Balancing Multiple Players as an Agent

00:24:16 Evolving Athlete Representation and Success

00:26:57 Liverpool's Kostas Tsimikas From Greece

00:28:55 Best Greek Soccer Player Ever? Tsimikas?

00:30:27 Attitude in Youth Sports is Everything

00:36:55 Navigating Youth Soccer Dreams and Realities

00:38:21 Kids Chasing Unrealistic Soccer Dreams

00:40:30 Parents Thinking Their Kids Will Be Professional Athletes

00:41:20 Working for Professional Sports Team

00:45:00 Current Rising Stars on the Greek National Soccer Team

00:47:00 Getting a Soccer Player Signed with a European Club

00:55:30 Everyone Thinks They're a FIFA Agent

00:59:26 Scouting Talent and Fighting Racism

01:00:48 Women & Professional Soccer

01:04:00 Racism in Soccer - Combatting it

01:09:00 Giannis Antetokounmpo and Racism in Greece

01:13:12 American Investment Opportunities in Greek Football

WHAT IS A SPORTS AGENT AND WHAT DO THEY DO

A sports agent is a professional who represents athletes and manages various aspects of their careers. Their primary role is to negotiate contracts, endorsements, and other financial agreements on behalf of their clients. Sports agents work with professional athletes in various sports, including football, basketball, baseball, soccer, tennis, and more, ensuring their clients maximize their earning potential and secure beneficial terms in all agreements.

Key Responsibilities of a Sports Agent:

  1. Contract Negotiation:

    • Sports agents negotiate the terms of athletes’ contracts with teams or organizations. They seek the best financial and contractual terms for their clients, including salary, bonuses, incentives, and conditions for renewal or release.

  2. Endorsements and Sponsorships:

    • Agents secure endorsement deals, sponsorships, and commercial appearances for athletes. These deals often enhance an athlete's earnings significantly, and agents help align their clients with brands that match their image and personal values.

  3. Financial and Career Planning:

    • Agents help athletes with financial management and long-term planning, often advising on investments, savings, and spending. Many athletes’ careers are short, so agents often work to maximize income during peak years and plan for life after retirement.

  4. Marketing and Branding:

    • Sports agents help build and maintain an athlete’s personal brand. They work on public relations strategies, social media presence, and overall public image to increase an athlete's marketability.

  5. Legal Assistance:

    • Many sports agents have legal expertise or partner with lawyers to handle legal matters, such as reviewing contract terms and dealing with any disputes that arise. They ensure that all deals are legally sound and beneficial.

  6. Personal Management:

    • Agents often assist with day-to-day life management, including travel arrangements, media training, and housing support. They act as intermediaries between athletes and various entities, allowing athletes to focus on their performance.

  7. Crisis Management:

    • In case of any personal or professional issues that might affect an athlete's career (e.g., injuries, legal troubles, or negative publicity), agents help manage and mitigate the impact to protect the athlete's reputation and career prospects.

Qualities of a Successful Sports Agent:

  • Negotiation Skills: Being a strong negotiator is crucial to securing the best terms for clients.

  • Industry Knowledge: Agents must understand the sports industry, including team operations, market trends, and legal requirements.

  • Relationship Building: Agents need to establish strong relationships with sports teams, brands, and other stakeholders.

  • Financial Savvy: Understanding contracts, salaries, and market value helps agents maximize athlete earnings.

  • Legal Knowledge: Many agents have a background in law, which is useful in contract negotiations and disputes.

Examples of Top Sports Agents

Some well-known sports agents include Scott Boras, who represents top MLB players; Rich Paul, who manages high-profile NBA players like LeBron James; and Drew Rosenhaus, known for his work in the NFL. These agents have been instrumental in securing landmark deals and endorsement contracts, making them key figures in the sports industry.

In short, a sports agent plays an integral role in an athlete's professional journey, helping them maximize earnings, secure opportunities, and navigate the complex world of sports and entertainment.

HOW CAN YOU BECOME A FIFA SOCCER (FOOTBALL) SPORTS AGENT

Becoming a FIFA-licensed soccer (football) sports agent can be a rewarding career, allowing you to represent soccer players and negotiate contracts with clubs worldwide. The process involves gaining experience, fulfilling FIFA’s licensing requirements, and building a network in the soccer industry. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to become a FIFA soccer sports agent.

1. Understand the Role and Responsibilities of a Soccer Agent

  • Soccer agents negotiate player contracts, endorsement deals, and manage various aspects of players’ careers. They help players maximize their earnings, secure beneficial terms, and plan for both their active playing years and post-career.

  • Agents need strong negotiation, communication, financial management, and legal skills, as well as a thorough understanding of the soccer industry and transfer market.

2. Build a Foundation in Sports Management or Law

  • While there are no strict educational requirements, a degree in sports management, business, law, or a related field can provide a solid foundation. Courses in contract law, marketing, negotiation, and finance are particularly helpful.

  • A law degree can be advantageous, as contract negotiation and legal knowledge are essential for dealing with player contracts, endorsements, and dispute resolution.

3. Gain Relevant Experience in the Sports Industry

  • Begin building experience within the sports industry to understand the soccer ecosystem and develop a network. Consider internships, working with sports management firms, or roles with soccer clubs in administration or marketing.

  • Experience with talent agencies, sports law firms, or even in roles like coaching or scouting can also be beneficial.

4. Register with FIFA or National Football Association

  • In 2023, FIFA reintroduced its FIFA Football Agent Regulations requiring agents who represent players in international transfers to be registered and licensed by FIFA.

  • To become a FIFA-licensed agent, you must pass the FIFA Football Agent Exam and meet eligibility requirements, including background checks.

  • If you’re primarily representing players in domestic leagues, you may only need to register with your national football association (e.g., the FA in England or the DFB in Germany). Each country has specific requirements, so check with the relevant association for your region.

5. Prepare and Pass the FIFA Football Agent Exam

  • The FIFA Football Agent Exam covers topics related to transfer regulations, contract law, financial issues, disciplinary actions, and more.

  • FIFA offers study materials to help candidates prepare for the exam, focusing on the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP) and general rules that govern soccer worldwide.

  • Passing the exam is necessary to gain your license, and FIFA generally administers it twice per year.

6. Obtain Liability Insurance

  • FIFA requires licensed agents to have professional liability insurance. This coverage protects agents against potential legal actions related to contract disputes or player agreements.

  • Having insurance demonstrates professionalism and protects both the agent and the players they represent.

7. Establish Your Network in the Soccer Community

  • Building a network within the soccer world is crucial for securing clients and connecting with teams. Attend soccer events, matches, industry conferences, and networking functions.

  • Create relationships with players, coaches, scouts, club executives, and other agents. Networking will open doors to new clients and facilitate smoother negotiations with clubs.

8. Build a Strong Reputation and Sign Clients

  • To attract clients, you’ll need a solid reputation as a knowledgeable, reliable, and successful agent. Start by signing younger or emerging players and helping them grow their careers.

  • Show value by securing the best terms in contracts, endorsement deals, and maximizing opportunities for your clients. Word of mouth is crucial in this field, as satisfied clients will refer others to you.

9. Expand Your Client Portfolio and Negotiate Contracts

  • Once you’ve gained initial clients and experience, you can work toward representing more high-profile players. Your network and reputation will help you secure larger contracts and international deals.

  • Stay updated on FIFA transfer regulations, league policies, and trends in player salaries to continue growing your success and effectiveness in negotiations.

10. Continue Your Education and Stay Updated

  • FIFA regulations, player transfer policies, and industry standards can change frequently. Keep up with new regulations and attend FIFA and industry workshops to maintain your knowledge and skills.

  • Participate in continuous education to stay competitive, as well as to protect your clients’ interests by understanding the latest changes in the industry.

Summary of Requirements to Become a FIFA Soccer Agent:

  1. Educational Foundation: Optional but beneficial (sports management, business, law).

  2. Industry Experience: Gain experience in the soccer or sports industry.

  3. Registration: Register with FIFA and/or the national football association.

  4. Pass the FIFA Football Agent Exam: Required for FIFA licensing.

  5. Liability Insurance: Obtain insurance as per FIFA’s requirement.

  6. Networking: Build relationships in the soccer industry.

  7. Client Acquisition and Representation: Start by representing emerging players and expand.

By following these steps, aspiring agents can build a successful career in the global soccer industry, representing talented players and negotiating their way through the exciting world of professional football.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BIGGEST SOCCER CONTRACTS IN THE WORLD, WHO ARE THE PLAYERS, THE CLUBS and THEIR AGENTS INVOLVED

In the world of soccer, several players have secured monumental contracts, reflecting their exceptional talent and market value. Below is an overview of some of the most significant contracts, including the players, their respective clubs, and the agents who facilitated these deals.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo

  • Club: Al Nassr (Saudi Arabia)

  • Contract Details: In 2023, Ronaldo signed a contract reportedly worth £173 million per year, making him one of the highest-paid athletes globally.

    Square Mile

  • Agent: Jorge Mendes, founder of Gestifute, a prominent sports agency.

2. Lionel Messi

  • Club: Inter Miami CF (Major League Soccer, USA)

  • Contract Details: After leaving Paris Saint-Germain, Messi joined Inter Miami in 2023. While exact figures are undisclosed, his earnings are substantial, including salary and profit-sharing agreements.

  • Agent: Managed by his father, Jorge Messi.

3. Neymar Jr.

  • Club: Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)

  • Contract Details: In 2023, Neymar transferred from Paris Saint-Germain to Al Hilal, securing a lucrative contract.

    The Sun

  • Agent: Pini Zahavi, a renowned Israeli football agent.

4. Kylian Mbappé

  • Club: Real Madrid (Spain)

  • Contract Details: In 2024, Mbappé joined Real Madrid, reportedly earning $16.2 million annually after taxes, with an additional $163 million signing bonus over five years.

    MarketWatch

  • Agent: Represents himself, with assistance from his family.

5. Erling Haaland

  • Club: Manchester City (England)

  • Contract Details: Haaland's contract with Manchester City includes a significant salary, making him one of the highest earners in the Premier League.

    Sportscasting

  • Agent: Initially represented by Mino Raiola until his passing in 2022; currently managed by Rafaela Pimenta.

6. Mohamed Salah

  • Club: Liverpool FC (England)

  • Contract Details: Salah's contract extension with Liverpool in 2022 made him the club's highest-paid player, reflecting his pivotal role in the team.

  • Agent: Ramy Abbas Issa, a Colombian lawyer and sports agent.

7. Kevin De Bruyne

  • Club: Manchester City (England)

  • Contract Details: De Bruyne negotiated his contract extension in 2021 without an agent, securing a deal that reflects his status as one of the world's top midfielders.

  • Agent: Self-represented during his latest contract negotiations.

8. Karim Benzema

  • Club: Al-Ittihad (Saudi Arabia)

  • Contract Details: In 2023, Benzema joined Al-Ittihad, signing a lucrative contract following his departure from Real Madrid.

  • Agent: Karim Djaziri, a French football agent.

9. Robert Lewandowski

  • Club: FC Barcelona (Spain)

  • Contract Details: Lewandowski's move to Barcelona in 2022 included a significant salary, underscoring his reputation as one of the top strikers in the world.

  • Agent: Pini Zahavi.

10. Harry Kane

  • Club: Bayern Munich (Germany)

  • Contract Details: In 2023, Kane transferred from Tottenham Hotspur to Bayern Munich, securing a contract that places him among the top earners in the Bundesliga.

  • Agent: Charlie Kane, his brother, who manages his affairs.

These contracts not only highlight the financial aspects of modern football but also underscore the critical role agents play in negotiating and securing deals that align with their clients' career goals and market value.

MORE ABOUT THE EPISODE

  • From Basketball Dreams to Soccer Success: Paschalis Tountouris on Shaping Greek Talent and the Future of Football Management

  • Navigating the Soccer World: Insights from a Leading Greek Agent

  • Behind the Scenes of Greek Soccer's Global Impact

  • An Odyssey in Sports: Paschalis Tountouris’ Rise in Football

  • Transforming Greek Talent: Inside the World of Soccer Agents

Join us for an insightful episode as we explore the remarkable career of Paschalis Tountouris, one of Greece's leading sports agents. Discover how Paschalis transitioned from a basketball enthusiast to a powerhouse in the global soccer industry, representing top-tier athletes like Kostas Tsimikas and Giorgos Karagounis. With over 350 contracts signed across more than 30 countries, Paschalis shares his strategic approach to promoting Greek talent on the world stage and reveals how Greece became a pivotal base for transferring South African players to European leagues.

Our conversation also delves into the evolution of Greek soccer, from its inaugural 1994 World Cup appearance to the celebrated 2004 European Championship victory, and beyond. Paschalis offers a candid look at the dynamic world of sports management, highlighting the complexities of navigating transfer regulations and the financial ups and downs faced by players and clubs. We examine the critical role of agents in shaping successful careers amidst a changing industry landscape, underscoring the importance of respect, consistency, and strong relationships with clubs.

As we wrap up, Pascalis reflects on scouting talent, tackling racism, and the growing interest of American investment in Greek football. With insights into the expanding career opportunities within the sports industry, this episode offers a comprehensive view of football management today. Whether you're a fan of the game or curious about the business side of sports, this episode provides a fascinating look into the world of athlete representation and the future of Greek soccer.

BLOG POST

In the fast-paced and competitive world of sports management, few agents stand out quite like Pascalis Tuntouris. As the leader of Pro Sport, a top sports agency in Greece, Tountouris has represented over 350 players across more than 30 countries, making a significant impact on the game. This blog post explores the main themes of our discussion and delves deeper into the fascinating dimensions of the sports industry, including the importance of developing young talent, the dynamics of representing high-stakes clients, and the growing opportunities for investment in Greek soccer.

At its core, the episode centers around the evolution of soccer in Greece and the role that agents like Tuntouris play in shaping the careers of young athletes. He entered the game during a pivotal moment for Greek soccer—shortly before Greece's thrilling victory in the 2004 Euros—and he has witnessed firsthand the growth of the sport in the country. With a unique background that blends basketball and soccer, Tountouris offers a fresh perspective on what it means to represent players in an industry driven by passion, competition, and the constant push for success.

Listeners are drawn to the personal stories of players making their way to the top, often against all odds. Tountouris shares invaluable insights on identifying talent at a young age, nurturing their development, and managing their careers as they transition from local clubs to international teams. He highlights that it’s not just about negotiating contracts or securing lucrative deals; it's about mentorship, guidance, and instilling a strong sense of professionalism in athletes. The mentality and attitude of a player can significantly impact their career trajectory, and Tountouris emphasizes the need for aspiring athletes to remain focused and dedicated to their goals amid the distractions that fame can bring.

The conversation also sheds light on the broader opportunities present in the sports industry today. With American investors increasingly looking at European teams as profitable ventures, Greece presents an attractive market. As the dialogue surrounding sports accessibility and representation evolves, Tountouris invites Greek Americans to explore investment opportunities in the country's soccer landscape, where they can both support their heritage and participate in a burgeoning industry.

Ultimately, this episode underscores the significant role agents play in the world of sports—shaping careers beyond just contracts and negotiating fees. For aspiring talents, a successful sports career isn’t merely a product of skill; it’s a combination of the right guidance, mental resilience, and personal commitment. As the landscape of soccer continues to change, it’s the stories of people like Paschalis Tountouris that inspire the next generation of athletes to chase their dreams while navigating the complexities of the professional sports world.

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