Can football players negotiate with clubs as free agents like in american sports?
Under FIFA rules, you are able to move from a league in one “country” to league in another “country” only during transfer windows. Each country which belongs to FIFA has two annual transfer windows during which a player not currently playing in that country can be signed by a team in that country. While many countries, especially in Europe, have the same transfer periods, other countries may have a different window. Transfer windows apply to the country signing the player, not the country losing the players. In other words, if the transfer window is open in the country where you are currently playing but not in the country where you are trying to get signed, you can’t transfer. On the other hand, if the transfer window is closed in the country where you are currently playing but open in the country where you are trying to get signed, you can transfer. There are two types of transfers. One is the purchase of a player under contract (roughly like a trade except that normally there is no
