Miguel Paiva Earns His FIFA Football Agent Licence
Two years, two sittings and one exam system that would not save his answers. Portuguese South African intermediary Miguel Paiva now holds the FIFA Football Agent Licence.
An Exam That Would Not Save His Answers
Paiva built his career in Cape Town, representing players across South Africa’s professional leagues for more than twenty years before sitting the FIFA Football Agent Exam for the first time in 2025.
That sitting was FIFA’s first fully online examination, and it went badly for thousands of candidates worldwide. Technical problems ran through the whole process and the global pass rate came out at just 11 per cent.
Paiva completed the exam, then was told several of his answers had never been recorded. There was no re-run and no appeal that put him back in the room. He had to wait a full year before he was allowed to sit it again.
A Year of Studying, Then a Pass
Rather than walk away from it, he went back to the material. Another year of preparation, another pass through the FIFA regulations, and a second sitting in 2026. This time he passed.
Two years of work nearly came undone because of a screen that wouldn’t save my answers. But I kept going. I’ve got the licence now and I’m ready for the next chapter.
Miguel Paiva
From Cape Town to London, by Way of Madeira
Paiva has Portuguese roots in Madeira and is now based in London, with his work pointed at the European and international markets.
The combination is the interesting part. Two decades inside African football, a network that now runs through European clubs and federations, and a licence that lets him act on both at once.
The Licence Is the Start, Not the Finish
For Paiva the licence is more than a qualification. It is formal recognition of a career already spent moving talent between continents, and the point at which the next phase of it starts properly.
A screen that would not save his answers cost him a year. It did not cost him the licence.
