Training compensation and the solidarity mechanism, explained

Every professional footballer was once a 12-year-old at a local club. FIFA’s rules say that club — and every club after it until he is 23 — has a claim on what happens to him next.

FIFA’s training compensation rules do not apply to women’s football; FIFA has a separate system for it, not covered here.

Everything on this page is taken from FIFA’s Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (July 2025 edition), Annexes 4 and 5, and FIFA’s circular no. 1936 on club categories and training costs. We downloaded and read them. The worked examples are our own arithmetic using those rules.

Two systems, often confused

	Training compensation	Solidarity mechanism
What triggers it	First professional contract, and international transfers until 23	Any transfer of a professional during a contract, with a fee
How much	Fixed cost per year of training, by club category	5% of the transfer fee
Who gets it	The clubs that trained the player from age 12 to 21	Every club that trained him from age 12 to 23
Age limit	Until the end of the calendar year of his 23rd birthday	None — owed on every transfer during a contract, at any age
Free transfers	Yes, owed even at the end of a contract	No — 5% of nothing is nothing

The single most useful sentence on this page: training compensation is about the first professional contract and the early years; solidarity is about transfer fees for the rest of the player’s career.

Training compensation

When it is owed

According to Annex 4, training compensation is due when:

1. a player is registered for the first time as a professional; or
2. a professional is transferred between clubs of two different associations — whether during or at the end of his contract — before the end of the calendar year of his 23rd birthday.

It is not due if the former club terminated the player’s contract without just cause, if the player moves to a category 4 club, or if a professional becomes an amateur again on the move.

These are FIFA’s rules for international cases. A transfer between two clubs in the same country is governed by that country’s own rules, which this page does not cover.

How the amount is calculated

The principle is simple: the buying club pays what it would have cost to train the player itself.

1. Every association places each of its clubs in one of up to four categories, by how much it invests in youth training.
2. FIFA sets a training cost per year for each category, per confederation.
3. The amount owed is the new club’s cost per year, multiplied by the number of years of training — in principle from the calendar year of the player’s 12th birthday to that of his 21st.

One protection for very young players: the years of the 12th to 15th birthdays (four calendar years) are always counted at the category 4 rate, however big the buying club is.

The amounts in Europe

From FIFA’s circular no. 1936 of July 2025:

UEFA category	Training cost per year
Category I	€90,000
Category II	€60,000
Category III	€30,000
Category IV	€10,000

Not every country may use every category. The circular sets which ones each association can use:

Association	Categories its clubs can be placed in
Sweden, Norway, Denmark	II, III, IV
Finland, Iceland	III, IV
Germany, England, Spain, Italy, France, the Netherlands	I, II, III, IV

So no Nordic club is in category I. A player moving from a Nordic club to a top club in a big league is moving from a lower to a higher category — which matters because of the EU rule below.

The EU/EEA rules

For a move between two associations inside the EU/EEA — which covers Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland — three special rules apply:

1. Lower to higher category: the amount is based on the average of the two clubs’ training costs.
2. Higher to lower category: it is based on the lower club’s costs.
3. No contract offer, no compensation. If the former club did not offer the player a contract, it gets nothing — unless it can justify its claim. The offer must be in writing, by registered post (or by e-mail with confirmed receipt), at least 60 days before his current contract expires, and worth at least as much as his current contract. This does not affect the rights of the player’s earlier clubs.

Inside the EU/EEA, training can also be found to have ended before 21, if it is established that the player completed his training earlier. That shortens the number of years counted.

In depth: worked example — a Swedish 18-year-old signs his first professional contract in Germany

The facts (invented for the example). A player was registered with the same Swedish club from the calendar year of his 12th birthday until the calendar year of his 18th birthday — seven calendar years. Suppose the Swedish club is category III and the German club category I. He signs his first professional contract in Germany in the year he turns 18.

Years 12–15 (four calendar years). Always counted at category 4: 4 × €10,000 = €40,000.

Years 16–18 (three calendar years). This is a move inside the EU/EEA from a lower to a higher category, so the cost per year is the average of category I and category III: (€90,000 + €30,000) ÷ 2 = €60,000. Three years: €180,000.

Total owed to the Swedish club: €220,000, payable by the German club.

This assumes the Swedish club met the EU contract-offer rule above where it applies — if it was required to offer a contract and did not, it may get nothing. Two other things could change the figure: the Dispute Resolution Chamber can adjust an amount that is clearly disproportionate, and if the player had already left the Swedish club for a while, the years would be shared pro rata between his clubs.

Who pays, and when

On the first professional registration, the new club pays every club that trained the player from the year of his 12th birthday, pro rata to the time spent at each, according to the player passport — the record of every club he has been registered with. On later transfers, only the former club is paid, for the time it actually trained him.

Outside the FIFA Clearing House, payment is due within 30 days of registration. Cases covered by the FIFA Clearing House are paid through it, under its own rules.

If a training club has since gone bankrupt or ceased to exist, its association can claim the money, which must then be used for youth football.

The solidarity mechanism

When it is owed

Whenever a professional moves during the course of a contract — so a fee is paid — 5% of the compensation is set aside and shared between the clubs that trained him. It is deducted from the fee, so in practice it comes out of the selling club’s share. Training compensation paid to the former club is not counted in the 5%.

It applies to permanent transfers and loans, between clubs of different associations. It also applies to a transfer between two clubs in the same country, if the training club is in a different country. A Danish club that trained a player is owed solidarity when he is sold from one Spanish club to another.

There is no upper age limit. A club that trained a 30-year-old when he was 14 is still owed its share when he is sold.

How the 5% is split

The 5% is divided by the calendar years the player was registered with each club between his 12th and 23rd birthdays:

Calendar year of the player’s birthday	Share of the 5%
12th, 13th, 14th, 15th	5% each
16th to 23rd	10% each

Twelve years in all, adding up to 100%. Part of a year is counted pro rata.

In depth: worked example — a Norwegian youth club and a €2 million transfer

The facts (invented for the example). A player was registered with a Norwegian club from the calendar year of his 13th birthday to that of his 17th. At 26 he is sold from a Belgian club to an Italian club for €2,000,000.

The solidarity pot: 5% of €2,000,000 = €100,000.

The Norwegian club’s share: years 13, 14 and 15 at 5% each (15%), plus years 16 and 17 at 10% each (20%) — 35% of the pot, or €35,000.

The remaining 65% goes to the clubs he was registered with in the other years between 12 and 23.

Who pays, and when

The new club calculates the amounts from the player passport and pays them within 30 days of registration — or, for instalments and add-ons, within 30 days of each payment. The player must help if necessary. Cases under the FIFA Clearing House are paid through it.

Why this matters for a small club

The money is real, but it depends on paperwork.

• The player passport decides who is paid. If a registration is missing from the record — a season at a club that was never entered — that club is invisible to the system.
• Contingent payments count. Solidarity is due on add-ons and instalments as they are paid, not only on the fixed fee.
• Loans count for solidarity.
• Free transfers do not generate solidarity, but they can still generate training compensation before 23.

If you run a youth section and a former player has signed a professional contract abroad, or has been sold, check whether your club appears in his history.

What changes on 1 January 2027

The new edition of the transfer regulations, in force from 1 January 2027, carries Annex 4 and Annex 5 over unchanged. The new element is Article 21bis: on permanent international transfers of players with a fixed annual salary under €150,000, the releasing club pays 5% of the fixed transfer fee to the player himself.

What we could not confirm

• The training costs for 2026. FIFA says they are updated at the end of every calendar year. The figures above are those in the circular of July 2025, and we have not found a newer circular.
• The category of individual Nordic clubs. Each association decides this and records it in FIFA’s systems; we have not found public lists.
• Domestic training compensation in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. That is governed by each association’s own rules, which we have not yet read.
• How the FIFA Clearing House works in practice for a small club. We have not covered its rules on this page.

The practical summary

If you are a player, none of this costs you anything — but it can make a club more or less willing to sign you before 23, because training compensation is added on top of any fee. If you are a club, your claim is only as good as the player’s registration history. And if a former player of yours is sold anywhere in the world, at any age, during a contract: 5% of the fee is shared between the clubs that trained him, and some of it may be yours.