Global connections to drive transfer profits

Building a network worldwide, saving time and money on negotiations, knowledge of clubs’ needs AND a platform to reach over 700 clubs in the global transfer market.

Just some of the reasons why six Chilean clubs have signed a landmark agreement with TransferRoom.

Six of the clubs from the Chilean league, run by the Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (ANFP), are now on world football’s transfer marketplace.

It means they gain direct access to decision makers from clubs in more than 100 leagues and 60 countries across the globe, as well as player availability and market data.

The six clubs include five in Chile’s top league, the Primera División. They are Club Deportivo Universidad Católica, O'Higgins FC, Everton de Viña del Mar, Audax Italiano and Unión La Calera. Universidad Concepcion, in the second-tier, Primera B, have also joined TransferRoom.

Many of those clubs took their business to the next level and expanded their network further through the first-ever TransferRoom Summit in South America, held in São Paulo, Brazil.

“The main benefits of the platform for us is to make connections with a lot of clubs that we weren’t able to have beforehand,” Ignacio Conte, Lawyer and Sporting Manager of Everton de Viña del Mar, says in the video below.

“The platform gives us a better opportunity to manage the transfer market, alongside our own methods, and gives us new tools that we didn’t have before.”

Being on TransferRoom has already resulted in deals for Universidad Católica, who utlised the marketplace’s global connections to sign Brayan Rovira on loan from Colombian side Atlético Nacional.

“The benefit that we see is the opportunity to establish relationships with connections or direct relationships with clubs, which has not been easy in the past,” Jose Maria (Tati) Buljubasich, the club’s Sporting Director says in the video.

“It allows us to discuss and get closer to other clubs. The transaction itself, for Rovira, and the possibility to speak directly with the club through the platform allowed us to recruit the player.”

That direct access to decision makers saves money as well as time in identifying the players and clubs who match their transfer needs, and the negotiation process for a transfer, as Gonzalo Cilley, the President of Audax Italiano explains.

“The main challenge that everyone has is the friction, the cost of informing a team of the player,” Cilley says. “That transactional cost is reduced by TransferRoom, by providing the right information. It's so easy to use that you actually use it.”

Much like many of their counterparts in Chile, selling players is a key part of O’Higgins’ transfer strategy, and TransferRoom allows them to showcase their talents and pitch players to more than 700 clubs in over 100 leagues across the globe.

Pablo Calandria, O’Higgins’ Sporting Director, says: “The business model of our club requires us to sell players, at least one per year. Therefore we need the help of platforms such as TransferRoom, which helps us sustain the model we have. I believe the benefit is huge and we hope that it will help us achieve our objectives.”

The six clubs part of the TransferRoom agreement can take inspiration from fellow Chilean club CD Magallanes.

They made history with the $3million transfer of Marcelo Allende to South African side Mamelodi Sundowns, another deal which stemmed from a TransferRoom Summit.

“It was a great opportunity to showcase a quality player who maybe not many clubs in the world were aware of,” Magallanes President Cristian Ogalde said.

“When I sat down with Mamelodi Sundowns, they told me what they were looking for and I presented the profile of Marcelo Allende. Two days later, they already had all the information about the player and they had verified everything I told them about him.”