A sports agent is a legal representative (hence agent) for professional sports figures such as athletes and coaches. They procure and negotiate employment and endorsement contracts for the athlete or coach whom they represent. In addition to contract negotiations, sports agents may also help their clients with financial planning, legal issues, and marketing. They may work closely with financial advisors, lawyers, and marketing professionals on behalf of their clients.

Description

Because of the unique characteristics of the sports industry, sports agents are responsible for communications with team owners, managers, and other individuals. In addition to finding income sources, agents often handle

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

matters for their clients. In some large sports agencies, such as IMG, Creative Artists Agency, Roc Nation Sports and

Octagon In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...

, agents deal with all aspects of a client's finances, from investment to filing taxes. Sports agents may be relied upon by their clients for guidance in all business aspects, and sometimes even more broadly. For example, hockey agents start recruiting clients as young as 15, allowing the agent to guide the athlete's career before the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

, which happens usually at 18 years of age. Due to the length and complexity of contracts, many sports agents are lawyers or have a background in contract law. Agents are expected to be knowledgeable about finance, business management, and financial and risk analysis, as well as sports. It is important for a sports agent to follow trends in sports. Other skills an agent must possess are excellent communication and negotiation skills. Agents must be highly motivated, willing to work long hours, and capable of multitasking. It is very common for agents to be in negotiations on behalf of several clients at one time. Some agents are part of large companies, and some are on their own. The number of clients an individual agent can handle and how many clients his or her employing agency can handle in total are interdependent variables. Before the 1990s, most

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

players did not use agents. In some cases, they used their parents as agents. Because of most parents' naivety about the football business, these footballers were often given less-than-stellar contracts by football clubs, which yielded lower salaries than they thought they deserved. In Sweden, there were only three licensed agents in 1995. As of 2002, there were 33. According to

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

, there were 5,187 licensed association football agents worldwide, with 600 agents in Italy alone. Since 2001, agents have not been licensed by FIFA. Instead, agents are now licensed directly by each association. Sports agents generally receive between 4 and 15% of the athlete's playing contract, and 10 to 20% of the athlete's endorsement contract, although these figures vary. NFL agents are not permitted to receive more than 3%, and NBA agents not more than 4%, of their client's playing contracts.

Media depictions

Films such as '' Jerry Maguire'', '' Two for the Money'', and '' Any Given Sunday'' depicted sports agents. In England, ITV's '' Footballers' Wives'' included a female agent Hazel Bailey. The television show '' Ballers'', which started in 2015, also shows a strong depiction of sports agents.

Notable sports agents

American football

Tom Condon Thomas Joseph Condon (born October 26, 1952) is an American football Sports agent, agent and former right guard. He was named the most powerful agent in American football by ''Sporting News'' in 2006 and heads the Football Division of Creative A ...

: co-head of Creative Artists Agency (CAA) Football. Clients include Peyton Manning (retired) and Tony Romo (retired). * James "Bus" Cook: Clients include Brett Favre (retired),

Jay Cutler Jay Christopher Cutler (born April 29, 1983) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. A member of the Chicago Bears for most of his career, he is ...

(retired), and Calvin Johnson (retired). * Tory Dandy: co-head of Creative Artists Agency (CAA) Football. Clients include A. J. Brown and DK Metcalf. * Ben Dogra: co-head of CAA Football. Clients include Adrian Peterson, Patrick Willis, and Joseph Addai. * Jason Fletcher: former player turned agent. Clients include Antonio Cromartie, Jamar Fletcher, Clinton Portis, Fabian Washington, and Darrell Bevell. * Bob LaMonte: founder and president o
Professional Sports Representation
Current clients include Andy Reid, Jon Gruden, Sean McVay and Doug Pederson * Joe Linta: In 2013, negotiated the richest contract in NFL history for Joe Flacco, despite the fact that he's never been picked for the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (since 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's All-star, star players. The format has changed ...

. * Eugene E. Parker: negotiated the highest

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

es in NFL history for Emmitt Smith and

Deion Sanders Deion Luwynn Sanders Sr. (born August 9, 1967) is an American American football, football coach with the Colorado Buffaloes football, Colorado Buffaloes. Sanders is also a former professional football and baseball player, having played in the N ...

. Real-life inspiration for flamboyant character "Rod Tidwell" in the film '' Jerry Maguire''. * Alessio Sundas: agent and founder of Sports Man agency * Drew Rosenhaus: Clients include Plaxico Burress and Terrell Owens. * Peter Schaffer: President of Authentic Athletix, LLC. Clients include including Joe Thomas, Phil Taylor, Barry Sanders, Trevor Pryce, Joshua Cribbs, C. J. Anderson, Mario Edwards Jr., and Hakeem Nicks. and PGA golfers including two-time PGA tour winner Jonathan Kaye and Shane Bertsch. * Joel Segal: President of Lagardère Unlimited Football. Clients include Eric Fisher, Reggie Bush, Santonio Holmes and Chris Johnson. * Jimmy Sexton, Co-Head of Football and Head of Coaching as a sports agent for Creative Artist Agency. Clients include Sam Darnold, Julio Jones, Laremy Tunsil and Derrick Henry. * Alexa Stabler-Adams: Owner of Stabler Sports, daughter of the late NFL quarterback Ken Stabler. Currently represents JK Scott. * Leigh Steinberg: Clients include Troy Aikman and Ben Roethlisberger. Real-life inspiration for fictional sports agent Jerry Maguire in the film of the same name (has a cameo appearance in the movie). * Don Yee: Clients include

Tom Brady Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. (born August 3, 1977) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 23 seasons. He spent his first 20 seasons with the New Engla ...

and Jimmy Garoppolo.

Australian football

Ricky Nixon Ricky Lee Nixon (born 3 April 1963) is a former Australian rules footballer in the VFL/AFL and a former sports agent. At the height of his career, he was one of the most high-profile sports agents in Australia, and a powerful figure in the AFL ...

: former player, who was the AFL's first full-time player manager

Baseball

* Barry Axelrod: Clients included Jeff Bagwell,

Craig Biggio Craig Alan Biggio (; born December 14, 1965) is an American former baseball second baseman, outfielder, and catcher who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Houston Astros, from 1988 to 2007. A seven-time National League (baseball), ...

, Rick Sutcliffe, and executive Kevin Towers. * Scott Boras: Clients include

Alex Rodriguez Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez (born July 27, 1975), nicknamed "A-Rod", is an American former professional baseball shortstop, third baseman and designated hitter and current businessman. Rodriguez played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (ML ...

and Prince Fielder. Boras is known to have negotiated the highest contracts in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

history and the history of sports. * Casey Close: Clients include

Derek Jeter Derek Sanderson Jeter ( ; born June 26, 1974), nicknamed "the Captain", is an American former professional baseball shortstop, businessman, and baseball executive. As a player, Jeter spent his entire 20-year Major League Baseball (MLB) caree ...

and Ryan Howard. * Greg Genske: Successor in sports agency formerly run by Jeff Moorad (baseball) and Leigh Steinberg (football). * Randy Hendricks: Partnered with his brother, Allan; they sold their firm to SFX (now

Live Nation Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American multinational Entertainment industry, entertainment company that was founded in 2010 following the Mergers and acquisitions, merger of Live Nation (events promoter), Live Nation and Ticketmaster. It ...

), and bought it back again. * Sam & Seth Levinson: Clients include

David Wright David Allen Wright (born December 20, 1982) is an American former professional baseball third baseman who spent his entire 14-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the New York Mets. Chosen by the Mets in the 2001 Major League Baseball dr ...

and Jon Lester. * Bo McKinnis: Clients include David Price. * Jim Munsey: Clients include Sam Fuld,

Jarrod Saltalamacchia Jarrod Scott Saltalamacchia (; born May 2, 1985) is an American former professional baseball catcher. Between 2007 and 2018, he played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Atlanta Braves, Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers, Boston Red So ...

, and Sean Burnett. * Lonnie Murray: Clients include Bruce Maxwell; first Black woman agent certified by the MLB Players Association. * Burton Rocks: Clients include Kip Wells,

Jim Riggleman James David Riggleman (born November 9, 1952) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) manager (baseball), manager and bench coach who coached with several teams between 1989 and 2019. During his playing career, Riggleman was an infield ...

, Mike Easler,

Robinson Cancel Robinson Cancel Castro (born May 4, 1976) is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1999 to 2011 for the Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets, and Houston Astros. Early life Cancel was ...

, Dave Eiland, Paul DeJong, Joe Oliver * Matt Sosnick: Clients include Dontrelle Willis. Sosnick is subject of the book ''License to Deal'' by Jerry Crasnick. * Arn Tellem: Clients have included Albert Belle, Mike Mussina, and Chase Utley. Also a basketball agent (''see'' below). * Joe Urbon: Clients include Jason Bay and Grady Sizemore.

Basketball

* Rich Paul co-owner of Klutch Sports Group with

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. ( ; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is the NBA's all-time leading scorer and ...

. Clients include

, Anthony Davis, John Wall and Ben Simmons * Jeff Austin is head of

's basketball division, and was ranked 11th in the "12 Best Sport Agents in the World" in 2010 by ''

Business Insider ''Business Insider'' (stylized in all caps: BUSINESS INSIDER; known from 2021 to 2023 as INSIDER) is a New York City–based multinational financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Inside ...

''. His clients include David Robinson, Moses Malone, Kirk Hinrich,

Stephen Curry Wardell Stephen Curry II ( ; born March 14, 1988) is an American professional basketball player and point guard for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "Chef Curry", he is widely regarded as the ...

and Jimmer Fredette. * Doug Davis: Clients include

Metta World Peace Metta Sandiford-Artest (born Ronald William Artest Jr., November 13, 1979), previously legally named Metta World Peace, is an American former professional basketball player who played 19 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Un ...

and Roger Mason Jr. * Bill Duffy: Clients include Rajon Rondo, Joakim Noah, Greg Oden,

Yao Ming Yao Ming ( zh, c=姚明; born September 12, 1980) is a Chinese basketball executive and former professional player. He played for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) and the Houston Rockets of the National Baske ...

, Klay Thompson, and Steve Nash. * David Falk: Currently semi-retired. Past clients included

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player, who is currently a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Ass ...

Patrick Ewing Patrick Aloysius Ewing Sr. (born August 5, 1962) is a Jamaican-American basketball coach and former professional player who is a basketball ambassador for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he played most o ...

Allen Iverson Allen Ezail Iverson ( ; born June 7, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "The Answer", he played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as both a shooting guard and point guard. As an NBA rook ...

, and

Dikembe Mutombo Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo (June 25, 1966 – September 30, 2024) was a Congolese-American professional basketball player. He played 18 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "Mount Mutombo ...

. In the 1990s, was generally considered the most influential player agent in the NBA."Agents again at forefront of NBA labor dispute"
'' CNN/SI'', December 28, 1998, accessed June 16, 2007.Migala, Dan
"Career Spotlight: David Falk"
''WorkInSports.com'', June 4, 2001, accessed June 30, 2007. * Dan Fegan: Noted for creating several nuances in the most recently expired NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement. Clients include John Wall, Dwight Howard and Ricky Rubio. * Aaron Goodwin: Terminated by

, Dwight Howard, Al Horford, and Jamal Crawford. Goodwin now represents over 20 NBA players. * Roger Montgomery: Works for Jay-Z and his company Roc-Nation. Managed Desmond Mason, Maurice Evans and Jeremy Lin. * Rob Pelinka: Former basketball player at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

and graduate of their law school; worked as an agent before becoming general manager of the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

. Past clients include

Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant ( ; August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he List of NBA players who have spent their entire career with one franchise, spent his entire 20-year career with t ...

and Carlos Boozer. * Ticha Penicheiro: 2019 inductee of the

Women's Basketball Hall of Fame The Women's Basketball Hall of Fame honors those who have contributed to the sport of women's basketball. The Hall of Fame opened in 1999 in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. It is the only facility of its kind dedicated to all levels of women's bask ...

as a player; currently an agent with about 30 clients, among them Kayla McBride and Courtney Vandersloot. * Leon Rose: Former agent of

. * Arn Tellem: Clients include Tracy McGrady, Jermaine O'Neal, Pau Gasol, and Joe Johnson. His clients' total salaries in 2007–08 season added up to more than $210 million. Tellum left the agent business to become President of the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

Cricket

* Neil Fairbrother: Former England cricket player, now Director of Cricket at International Sports Management. Clients include:

Andrew Flintoff Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff (born 6 December 1977), is an English television and radio presenter and former international cricketer. Flintoff played all forms of the game and was one of the sport's leading all-rounders, a fast bowler, middle-ord ...

, Marcus Trescothick,

Steve Harmison Stephen James Harmison, (born 23 October 1978) is an English former first-class cricketer, who played all formats of the game. Primarily a fast bowler, he represented England in 63 Tests, 58 ODIs, and 2 T20s. He also played county cricket ...

European basketball

* Miško Ražnatović: Serbian agent. Through his agency ( BeoBasket), he mostly represents European basketball players and coaches as well as American players playing in Europe. He represents many highest paid European basketball stars in Euroleague. His notable clients include Nikola Peković, Mirza Teletović, coach Dušan Ivković, Vassilis Spanoulis, Nenad Krstić,

Dario Šarić Dario Šarić (; born 8 April 1994) is a Croatian professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected with the 12th overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft. He also represents the senior ...

, DeMarcus Nelson, Joffrey Lauvergne, Duško Savanović, Pero Antić,

Aleksandar Ćapin Aleksandar Ćapin (born October 6, 1982) is a Serbian former professional basketball player. Early life Growing up in Sarajevo, Ćapin took up association football in the FK Sarajevo youth system. In spring 1992, with the outbreak of the Bosnian ...

, Marko Kešelj, Nihad Đedović, Novica Veličković,

Milenko Tepić Milenko Tepić (; born February 27, 1987) is a Serbian professional basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with t ...

, Aleksandar Rašić, Raško Katić, İlkan Karaman, Emir Preldžić, Marko Simonović, Andrija Žižić, etc. Ražnatović was additionally involved in the

Deron Williams Deron Michael Williams ( ; born June 26, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball, Illinois Fighting Illini before being drafted third overall in ...

' transfer to Beşiktaş during the 2011 NBA lockout and owns a basketball club KK Mega Vizura that competes in the

Basketball League of Serbia The Basketball League of Serbia (), commonly abbreviated as KLS, is a Serbian basketball league system, top-tier men's professional basketball Sports league, league in Serbia. Founded in 2006. It is currently not run by the Basketball Federation o ...

. * Craig McKenzie: American basketball agent. Worked for Eugene E. Parker on

. At 27, was one of youngest agents ever to have lottery pick in Bonzi Wells. Clients included three-sport athlete Charlie Ward, and American International Basketball stars Marcus Brown, JR Bremer, Demond Mallet and Mire Chatman, some of the highest paid players in Europe at one time. * Zoran Savić: Serbian agent. Through his agency (Invictus Sports Group),

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

-based Savić represents coach Xavi Pascual, Milan Mačvan, coach

Žan Tabak Žan Tabak (born 15 June 1970) is a Croatian professional basketball coach and former player who is now serving as the head coach for Trefl Sopot of the PLK. His basketball career, spanning twenty years, was marked by several notable achievemen ...

, Dalibor Bagarić, Ivan Opačak, etc.

Association football

* Rafaela Pimenta: Brazilian female agent. Has represented

Erling Haaland Erling Braut Haaland (, ; born 21 July 2000) is a Norwegian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for club Manchester City F.C., Manchester City and the Norway national football te ...

and Paul Pogba. * Jorge Mendes: Portuguese agent. Founder of GestiFute. Clients include

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

Radamel Falcao Radamel Falcao García Zárate (born 10 February 1986) is a Colombian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a striker (association football), striker for Categoría Primera A club Millonarios F.C., Millonarios. Nicknamed "El ...

, David de Gea, Diego Costa, Renato Sanches, Ricardo Quaresma, Deco, Nani, Ángel Di María, Lamine Yamal and managers

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix (; born 26 January 1963) is a Portuguese professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, who is currently the head coach of Süper Lig club Fenerba ...

, Aitor Karanka and

Luiz Felipe Scolari Luiz Felipe Scolari (; born 9 November 1948), also known as Felipão ("Big Phil"), is a Brazilian football manager and former player who currently serves as the technical director of Grêmio. Considered to be one of the greatest and most su ...

. * Pini Zahavi:

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i agent. Handled deals involving the transfers of

Carlos Tevez Carlos Alberto Tevez (; né Martínez; born 5 February 1984) is an Argentine professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player. A dynamic forward (association football), forward in his prime, Tevez ...

, Yakubu and Rio Ferdinand. * Bila Kanza: English-based French Sports Agent and founder of LKI – Lonrisk International Management. * Jon Smith: English agent who one represented

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...

. * Paul Stretford: English agent. Clients include, Wayne Rooney. Set up Triple S Sports Entertainment Group in 2009 after leaving Proactive Sports, which he originally established. * Constantin Dumitraşcu: French-based Romanian agent. His agency (Mondial Sports Management) include Edinson Cavani, Alexandre Pato, Hatem Ben Arfa, Fernandinho,

Nemanja Matić Nemanja Matić ( sr-Cyrl, Немања Матић, ; born 1 August 1988) is a Serbian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Ligue 1 club Olympique Lyonnais, Lyon. Matić began his senior career at ...

, Douglas Costa and Philippe Coutinho. * Milan Ćalasan: Serbian agent. His agency (Mondialvas) represented Christian Karembeu, manager

Arsène Wenger Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger (born 22 October 1949) is a French former association football, football Manager (association football), manager and football player, player who is currently serving as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Development. ...

and Nikola Žigić. * Claes Elefalk: Swedish agent. Clients include

Freddie Ljungberg Karl Fredrik "Freddie" Ljungberg ( ; born 16 April 1977) is a Swedish former professional association football, footballer who played as a Midfielder#Winger, winger. He is also a former Manager (association football), manager, and was most recent ...

, Pontus Farnerud, and Nils-Eric Johansson, plus several NHL ice hockey players. * Roger Ljung: Former Swedish international player, owns his own agency (Roger Ljung Promotion AB). Represented

until 2006. Clients include

Marcus Allbäck Marcus Christian Allbäck (; born 5 July 1973) is a Swedish former professional association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), striker. He was known for his sharp finishing ability and represented clubs in Sweden ...

, Daniel Andersson, Patrik Andersson, Erik Edman, Andreas Isaksson, Kim Källström, Marcus Lantz and Teddy Lučić. *

Martin Dahlin Dan Martin Nataniel Dahlin (; born 16 April 1968) is a Swedish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. In his prime, he was considered one of the world's best strikers. Starti ...

: Former Swedish international player; works for Roger Ljung Promotion AB * Dirk Hebel: Former German footballer, owns his own agency (Fussballmarkt). Has represented Mario Götze, Sunday Oliseh, Goran Sablić and Patrick Weiser. * Abdilgafar "Fali" Ramadani: Macedonia-born, Germany-based Albanian agent. His agency (LIAN Sports) that he co-owns with Nikola Damjanac represents players either from or with family ties to former Yugoslavia such as Stevan Jovetić,

Lazar Marković Lazar Marković ( sr-Cyrl, Лазар Марковић, ; born 2 March 1994) is a Serbian professional association football, footballer who plays as a winger (association football), winger for UAE Pro League club Baniyas Club, Baniyas. He start ...

, Adem Ljajić, Zvjezdan Misimović, Haris Seferovic and Marko Marin. * Barry Silkman: English agent. Clients include

David Villa David Villa Sánchez (; born 3 December 1981) is a Spanish former professional association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker. Regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation, Villa is th ...

, Demba Ba and Ravel Morrison. * Zoran Stojadinović: Serbian agent. * Paschalis Tountouris: International agent of Greek origin and founder of Prosport. Clients include

Giorgos Karagounis Georgios Karagkounis (; born 6 March 1977), known as Giorgos Karagounis (), is a Greeks, Greek former professional association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. In his club career, Karagounis played for Panathinaikos F.C., Pana ...

, Dimitris Kolovos, Fiorin Durmishaj, Knowledge Musona, Kostas Tsimikas youngs stars Marios Vrousai, Anastasios Chatzigiovanis and manager Yannis Anastasiou. * Walter Palombo: Swiss-based Italian sports advisor, and the founder of Palombo Consulting. His notable clients are Andy Carroll,

Jack Wilshere Jack Andrew Garry Wilshere (born 1 January 1992) is an English Association football, football coach and former professional Association football, player who played as a midfielder. He was most recently the interim head coach of EFL Championshi ...

, Jermaine Pennant and Jermain Defoe & Julian Dicks in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

. Genaro Gattuso in Serie A & Christian Karembeu. * Kevin Davies: Former English international player, owns his own agency: KCD Management.
Rhydian Thomas
Wales-based sports agent. Founder and owner of GSF Agency, which he set up in 2015, having previously founded Complete Sports Management (CSM), which ran from 2001, managing international rugby union players. GSF agency covers South Wales and the West Country, identifying the best academy talent in the region. Notable clients include Sam Pearson. GSF Agency Web

Golf

* Mark Steinberg: Clients include

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins, PGA Tour wins, ranks second in List of men's major championships winning golfers, men's m ...

; former head of golf division at IMG. * Andrew Chandler: Former European Tour golfer. Clients include golfers

Lee Westwood Lee John Westwood (born 24 April 1973) is an English professional golfer. He is one of the few golfers who has won tournaments on five continents – Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and Oceania – including victories on the European Tour an ...

, Ernie Els, Darren Clarke, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, and Christina Kim. Rory McIlroy was a client of Chandler until October 2011, when he left for Dublin-based Horizon Sports Management.

Ice hockey

* Mike Barnett: former agent of

Wayne Gretzky Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...

Brett Hull Brett Andrew Hull (born August 9, 1964) is a Canadians, Canadian–Americans, American former ice hockey player and general manager, and currently an executive vice president of the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League (NHL). He played f ...

, Paul Coffey, Jaromír Jágr, Joe Thornton, Lanny McDonald, Sergei Fedorov, Alexander Mogilny, Owen Nolan,

Mats Sundin Mats Johan Sundin (; born 13 February 1971) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey player who played the majority of his career in the National Hockey League (NHL), retiring in 2009. Originally drafted List of NHL first overall draft choice ...

and Dany Heatley. * Ritch Winter: over 70 clients. * Gilles Lupien: former NHL

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the l ...

; current Canadian ice hockey agent. Clients include Roberto Luongo. * Don Meehan: president of Newport Sports Management. Over 100 clients in the NHL, including Jarome Iginla, Steven Stamkos,

P. K. Subban Pernell-Karl Sylvester Subban ( ; born May 13, 1989) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. Between 2009 and 2022, he played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Montreal Canadiens, Nashville Predators, and ...

and Chris Pronger. * Tatiana Ovechkina, two-time

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

gold medalist, is her son

Alexander Ovechkin Alexander Mikhailovich Ovechkin (, ; born 17September 1985) is a Russian professional ice hockey Winger (ice hockey), left winger and Captain (ice hockey), captain of the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL). Nicknamed "the ...

's agent. She brokered a 13-year, $124 million contract."Top 10 Sports Agents
-Ask Men.com * Allan Walsh in 2004 merged his hockey representation with

Hockey. His clients include Marc-André Fleury, Patrik Eliáš, Martin Havlát and Milan Michálek. * Pat Brisson – agent of Sidney Crosby, among others

Motorsport

* Alan Miller:

Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (born September 17, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 84 Toyota Camry XSE for Legacy Motor Club. Johnson has won seven Cup ch ...

* Keke Rosberg: JJ Lehto and Mika Häkkinen, also managed son Nico Rosberg between 2006 and 2008 * Nicolas Todt: Felipe Massa * Willi Weber: Primarily

Michael Schumacher Michael Schumacher (; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to and from to . Schumacher won a record-setting seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, tied by Lewis Hamilton in ...

Olympics

* Peter Carlisle: Clients include

Michael Phelps Michael Fred Phelps II (born June 30, 1985) is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold me ...

, Natalie Coughlin, Apolo Ohno, Seth Wescott and Chris Klug.

Notable former sports agents

* Nachi Gordon, basketball * Colleen Howe (deceased): ice hockey, late president of Power Play International and Power Play Publications managing hockey careers and business interests of her husband Gordie Howe and their sons Marty and Mark Howe. * Joe Kehoskie (now baseball consultant/executive): Small agency; frequent media appearances regarding Cuban defectors and baseball in Latin America. * Camilo Marin (deceased): Cuban-born horse racing agent. Clients included Laffit Pincay Jr., Braulio Baeza, Jorge Velásquez and Manuel Ycaza. *

Mark McCormack Mark Hume McCormack (November 6, 1930 – May 16, 2003) was an American lawyer, sports agent and writer. He was the founder and chairman of International Management Group, now IMG (company), IMG, an international management organization ser ...

(deceased): American golf agent, and principal originator of modern sports agency industry. First client was

Arnold Palmer Arnold Daniel Palmer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016) was an American professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most charismatic players in the sport's history. Since embarking on a professional career in ...

. Founded IMG (originally "International Management Group"). * Jeff Moorad: Former baseball agent and former partner of Leigh Steinberg, now baseball executive and part-owner of

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

. * Rob Pelinka: Former basketball player at the

. Clients include

, Carlos Boozer, and Buddy Hield. Pelinka stepped down from being an agent to be run the

in March 2017. * Charles C. Pyle (deceased): American football; clients included

Red Grange Harold Edward "Red" Grange (June 13, 1903 – January 28, 1991), nicknamed "the Galloping Ghost" and "the Wheaton Iceman", was an American professional American football, football Halfback (American football), halfback who played for the Chicag ...

and Wildcat Wilson; founder of first American Football League (1926). * Mino Raiola (deceased): Dutch-based Italian association football agent. His notable clients included Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimović,

Mario Balotelli Mario Balotelli Barwuah (; ''Birth name, né'' Barwuah; born 12 August 1990) is an Italian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for club Genoa CFC, Genoa. Balotelli started his ...

, and

Pavel Nedvěd Pavel Nedvěd (; born 30 August 1972) is a Czech former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Czech players of all time and he won numerous trophies with Italian cl ...

. * Gary Wichard (deceased): American football, three dozen clients, the inspiration for the movie '' Jerry Maguire''.

Sports agency groups

There have been some efforts to transform the sports agency business from an individual, entrepreneurial business, to more of a corporate structure. These experiments met with varying degrees of longevity and success. * Allegiant Athletic Agency – representing NBA and NFL players * Creative Artists Agency: "CAA" – acquired various pieces of the sports agency business of SFX (''see'' below), starting with football. * IMG – International Management Group – corporate agency established by entrepreneur

, originally with a specialization in golf and tennis. After the death of McCormack the company was acquired by

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

group Forstmann Little. * Infront - international sports rights vendor, representing Serie A, FIFA, and others. * International Sports Management – British sports agency run by former European Tour golfer Andrew "Chubby" Chandler. * Priority Sports and Entertainment - Agency representing the most NBA players, run by Mark Bartelstein. * Prodigy Agency - The biggest esports agency in the world, founded in 2019 by Jérôme Coupez. * Roc Nation Sports – sports agency founded in 2013 by Shawn Carter, better known as

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American Rapping, rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named Billboard and Vibe's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time, the ...

. Currently in partnership with CAA; first client signed was Robinson Canó. * Rosenhaus Sports - sports agency run by Drew Rosenhaus. * Sportfive, formerly Lagardère Sports and Entertainment – international sports agency, sports consulting and event management, active in the football, tennis and golf markets. * Sports Management Worldwide – international sports agency and private for-profit sports management training institution, founded and run by Lynn Lashbrook. * Wasserman Media Group (WME) - acquired Arn Tellem's basketball agency from SFX, and usually represents the most players in NBA lottery draft each year. * Imago Sports Management - Imago Sports Management is a Bangladeshi talent and sports based agency.

Formerly active agencies

Some sports agency firms were once prominent, but are now gone or reorganized: * Assante Corporation – Canadian public company that acquired the Steinberg, Moorad & Dunn agency, then acquired other than agencies including Dan Fegan & Associates and Maximum Sports Management in an unsuccessful effort to build multi-sport corporate agency. * SFX Entertainment (now

, a publicly traded company) – in 1998 SFX agreed to pay up to $150 million in cash, stock, and bonuses for F.A.M.E., the sports agency run by David Falk, the agent for basketball players

and

. SFX also acquired two other major sports agencies, Arn Tellem's agency (Tellem & Associates) and the baseball-oriented firm run by Randy Hendricks and Allan Hendricks. SFX would later reverse course, and sell off the pieces of its large sports agency business. * Steinberg, Moorad & Dunn ("SMD") – a multi-sport agency sold in October 1999 for reported $120 million to Canadian financial firm. Defections of principals, and litigation, followed. Originally led by entrepreneurial agents Leigh Steinberg and Jeff Moorad. "Crash Landing"
ESPN, by Peter Keating, article about Leigh Steinberg