Connect Programme
18 March 2025
Dear User,
We hope you and your team have had a great start to 2025! Your work continues to provide amazing support for player registrations within your Member Association, and we wish you much success in all your objectives for this year.
Our Focus for 2025: Data Quality in FIFA Connect
One of our key goals for 2025 is enhancing data quality across the FIFA Connect Program. In this effort, we’d like to revisit the topic of Data Holders, which plays a crucial role in ensuring smooth football-related processes across all Member Associations.
What Are Data Holders and Why Are They Important?
Each Member Association (MA) that holds information about a FIFA_ID in its National Registration System (NRS) is considered a Data Holder for that FIFA_ID.
The FIFA Connect ID Service maintains an up-to-date list of Data Holders to support key FIFA processes, including:
✔ Notifications on player record changes (e.g., an international transfer via TMS)
✔ Distribution of training compensation and rewards for clubs and generating the Electronic Player Passport (EPP) for FIFA Clearing House
For most FIFA_IDs, Data Holders are detected automatically when Member Associations register or modify a player record (as these operations synchronize with the Connect ID Service). However, in cases where an MA stores a FIFA_ID without direct interaction with the Connect ID Service (such as historical player records), additional action is required.
⚠️ Important: If your MA holds a historical registration, do not add it to Connect ID (as this could overwrite the currently active registartion). Instead, notify Connect ID via the Data Holders functionality to ensure accuracy without affecting current player records.
What Needs to Be Done?
We ask that the relevant managers and developers of your NRS:
- Review our short article explaining Data Holders: Data Holders Explained
- Implement the requirements for Data Holders functionality.
- Reach out to us after your production release to confirm proper setup.
Does Your MA Already Support Data Holders?
- Not sure if your MA has Data Holders set up?
- Experiencing difficulties in implementing this feature?
No worries! We’re here to help—simply reach out to our team at support.id@fifa.org for assistance and guidance.
Your support is essential in maintaining the accuracy of player data across FIFA’s ecosystem. Over the next few weeks, we will continue reaching out to MAs that have not yet implemented Data Holders in their NRS.
Best regards,
FIFA Connect ID Team
Reminder: All releases are documented on our Release Notes page