Alan Redmond is Executive Vice President & Global Head of Football at Roc Nation Sports International, Jay-Z's sports agency. He joined it in September 2020 with his agency, R10 Sports Management, and a portfolio of 19 players. Vinícius Júnior, Endrick, Gabriel Martinelli and Chris Richards are among the footballers now represented by the agency.
Born in Dublin and raised in the United Kingdom from his teenage years, Alan Redmond has neither a professional playing background nor the media profile of Jorge Mendes or Pini Zahavi. He built his career step by step, first by helping foreign players settle in England, then as an independent agent, before joining Roc Nation Sports in 2020 with his own agency.
His career path, from the former FIFA licence system to the FFAR (FIFA Football Agent Regulations), is directly relevant to candidates preparing for the FIFA agent exam.
Alan Redmond is described as an agent registered with the Football Association, the English governing body. His responsibilities cover the agency's entire football operation:
As a young man, Alan Redmond played briefly for an amateur club in Ireland, Rathcoole Boys FC. His playing career ended there. He then set up a services company for clubs and players: obtaining work permits for non-European players, finding accommodation, handling administrative procedures and translating documents. It was this hands-on work that gradually led him into intermediary work, and then to the FIFA agent exam.
Before becoming an agent, Alan Redmond taught English to footballers. He worked as a language tutor in Liverpool.
Alan Redmond is the co-author of English for Football (Oxford University Press, Express Series), an English textbook for footballers, written with Sean Warren and with a foreword by Sir Alex Ferguson.
After around ten years as an independent agent, Alan Redmond joined Roc Nation Sports in September 2020. The American agency hired him as head of football and, at the same time, took over his company, R10 Sports Management.
The move was more than a simple appointment. Alan Redmond arrived with a portfolio of 19 players, including Xavier Amaechi, then a winger at Hamburger SV, Darko Gyabi, then an under-18 player at Manchester City F.C., Tyreece John-Jules, on loan from Arsenal F.C., and Nathan Ferguson, a Crystal Palace F.C. defender.
Roc Nation Sports' football portfolio has expanded significantly since Alan Redmond's arrival. However, a distinction should be made between the players represented by the agency and those he handles personally: in an organisation of this size, each representation mandate involves several agents.
| Player | Club | Joined Roc Nation | 2026 situation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vinícius Júnior | Real Madrid CF | July 2023 (TFM acquisition) | |
| Endrick | Real Madrid CF | July 2023 (TFM acquisition) | Redmond backs his stay at Real Madrid |
| Gabriel Martinelli | Al-Hilal | July 2023 (TFM acquisition) | |
| Lucas Paquetá | Flamengo | July 2023 | |
| Federico Dimarco | Inter Milan | Before July 2023 | |
| Chris Richards | Crystal Palace F.C. | 2021 | Interest from Serie A clubs |
| Yan Diomande | Real Madrid CF | 2026 | Transfer from RB Leipzig |
Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku joined Roc Nation before Alan Redmond's arrival, Lukaku as early as 2018 and De Bruyne the following year. They make up the agency's European history, which predates the structuring of its football division.
De Bruyne's contract renewal with Manchester City F.C. in 2021 was prepared on the basis of a data study commissioned by the player's entourage, an approach that was rare in negotiations at the time.
In July 2023, Roc Nation Sports International acquired TFM, a São Paulo agency representing more than 100 footballers, and turned it into Roc Nation Sports Brazil. The international division continued to be led by its president, Michael Yormark, while Frederico Pena, founder of TFM, took charge of the Brazilian subsidiary. The deal took the agency's client list from around 40 to around 120 athletes.
It made Roc Nation the agency of Vinícius Júnior, Endrick and Gabriel Martinelli, and gave it direct access to the world's leading exporter of football talent.
In his interviews, Alan Redmond regularly returns to the same principles. The first is realism, which he considers decisive for a young player. For him, the sporting project comes before money, and playing time before prestige: offering a young player to a big club where he will not find a place holds back his development and serves no one.
This approach also shapes his relationship with clubs. Before any transfer involving a young player, Alan Redmond discusses in detail with sporting directors the role planned for the player, because broken promises are common in the game. He only offers profiles suited to the level of the target club and keeps track of their succession plans position by position.
As far as players are concerned, he wants to know each footballer and their family well before signing them, and then to let them keep control of their career. In his view, a 16-year-old and a UEFA Champions League player should receive the same attention.
Finally, he points to a reality that is often misunderstood: negotiating his own agent's fee accounts for only a very small part of an agent's work. The bulk of the job is managing the unexpected, with 50 to 100 calls a day by his own count, half of which are unplanned.
In autumn 2026, two cases handled by Roc Nation Sports are attracting particular attention in the transfer market: Endrick's future at Real Madrid and Chris Richards' future at Crystal Palace. Alan Redmond discussed both in an interview with the Italian news agency Adnkronos in October 2026.
Back at Real Madrid after his loan spell at Olympique Lyonnais, Endrick has been linked with AC Milan and AS Roma. Alan Redmond says the player has always wanted to stay in Madrid. He adds that clubs from several countries had shown interest over the summer and that he does not expect him to leave. In his view, it is the club's sporting project, not the financial side, that guides Endrick's choices.
Chris Richards is entering the final year of his contract with Crystal Palace, which runs until June 2027. Alan Redmond confirms that Serie A clubs have made enquiries about the American defender. He does not rule out developments as early as the January transfer window.
Beyond these two cases, several deals in the 2026 transfer window involved Roc Nation Sports clients.
| Player | Deal | Period | Reported fee | Status, October 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Malick Fofana | Olympique Lyonnais to Sunderland A.F.C. | Summer 2026 (deadline day) | €30 million fixed + €5 million in bonuses + a 12.5% sell-on clause on any future transfer profit | Sunderland player |
| Brooke Norton-Cuffy | Genoa to Hull City A.F.C. | Summer 2026 | approximately €14 million (£12 million) | Hull City player |
| Yan Diomande | RB Leipzig to Real Madrid CF | Summer 2026 | up to €140 million, including bonuses | Real Madrid player, dispute brought before FIFA by Maxidel Management |
The Malick Fofana case is revealing. Several clubs were interested, including Crystal Palace, and the outcome was decided in the final hours of the transfer window. Alan Redmond explained that the appeal of the Premier League had been decisive in the player's choice.
Alan Redmond's career spans the three main regimes that have governed the profession. He passed the FIFA agent exam at a time when licences were issued under the authority of FIFA and the national associations. He then worked under the intermediaries system, with no mandatory exam. Today, he works within the framework of the FFAR, which reintroduced the exam.
| Period | Regulatory framework | Access to the profession | Consequence for agents |
|---|---|---|---|
| Until 2015 | FIFA Players' Agents Regulations | Licence issued after an exam | A barrier to entry based on knowledge |
| 2015–2023 | Regulations on Working with Intermediaries | Simple registration with national associations | A very open and loosely regulated profession |
| Since 2023 | FFAR (FIFA Football Agent Regulations) | Mandatory FIFA licence after passing the exam | The return of the exam: 20 questions in 60 minutes with a 75% pass mark |
Under the FFAR, a licence is granted to an individual, not to an agency. In an organisation such as Roc Nation Sports, it is therefore the licensed agents, not the brand, who officially represent players. For purely domestic transfers, the rules of the relevant national association also apply, such as the FA’s Football Agent Regulations in England. To be checked against the official study materials for the edition in force.
Several lessons stand out for candidates:
Yan Diomande's transfer from RB Leipzig to Real Madrid in summer 2026 illustrates the importance of the representation contract. At the start of 2026, Maxidel Management, the company of former Côte d'Ivoire international Max Gradel, had the player sign a new representation contract. Five weeks later, Roc Nation Sports announced that Diomande had joined its agency. While Real Madrid were negotiating with Roc Nation, Maxidel brought the matter before FIFA, alleging a breach of contract. The case relates directly to the FFAR rules on the duration and exclusivity of representation contracts. It also relates to the Agents Chamber of the FIFA Football Tribunal, which has jurisdiction over disputes arising from these contracts.
Alan Redmond's career shows that there is no single route to the top of the agent profession: from English teacher to head of football at an international agency, he progressed step by step.
His approach rests on simple principles: knowing his players, respecting clubs' time and favouring realism in career choices. It is also a reminder that the licence remains personal, even within the largest agencies. With the next exam session expected in spring 2027, a solid understanding of the FFAR and the RSTP has never been more important for aspiring agents.
