Who Does Kia Joorabchian Represent?

Kia Joorabchian is Iranian-born but British-educated and largely represents association football.

Joorabchian counts the likes of Philippe Coutinho, Sergio Reguilon and Willian among his long list of clients, while he also represents a host of managers.

In the register of directorships at Companies House in London, Joorabchian gives two nationalities, Canadian and British, born on 14 July 1971.

Although routinely described in the press as a football agent, Joorabchian is not a licensed agent. The involvement of unlicensed agents in transfers in the English Premier League is prohibited by the Football Association.

Joorabchian does not himself claim to be an agent, saying “I think the agency business is very different”. He describes his business as advising players on their rights and clubs on transfers and contracts.

Joorabchian is also involved in the ‘third-party’ ownership of players, describing himself as an investment manager. In October 2008, he said, “I manage the investment group and obviously when the investment group is profitable, as fund manager, you also get a cut”.

In 2009 it was reported that the unnamed investors represented by Joorabchian were understood to own the economic rights to 60 or 70 players across Europe and South America.

In 2004, Joorabchian founded Media Sports Investments to make a partnership with Brazilian football club Corinthians.

He had briefly considered becoming involved at Arsenal, but found it too expensive and had instead been pointed towards Brazilian football by Pelé’s agent and the recommendation of Pini Zahavi, the so-called ‘super agent’, whom Joorabchian described in 2006 as a friend of long standing.