Football agent Aidy Ward banned for 20 months over underage player approach

The leading agent Aidy Ward and his company Colossal Sports Management have been banned for 20 months by the Football Association after he was found to have approached an underage player.

Ward, who has represented several high-profile Premier League players, was charged by the FA in March 2022 after being accused of trying to recruit a youth player on behalf of Colossal Sports Management.

FA rules bar agents from speaking to players before 1 January in the year of their 16th birthday. Several allegations were aired in a BBC Panorama documentary, Football’s Broken Dreams, in September 2021. Ward has consistently denied any wrongdoing and he and Colossal Sports Management have lodged an appeal against the FA ban.

An FA statement read: “Adrian Ward and Colossal Sports Management Ltd have both been suspended from all intermediary activity up to and including 03 December 2024, and also warned about their future conduct ... It was alleged that Adrian Ward had directly or indirectly made an approach to a minor on behalf of Colossal Sports Management Ltd at various points between 01 January 2019 and 31 December 2019.

“Adrian Ward was charged with misconduct in relation to FA Rule E1(b), and Colossal Sports Management Ltd was charged with misconduct in relation to various breaches of FA Rule E1(b) and Regulation B8 and B8(i), but they were all denied. An independent Regulatory Commission found all of the charges to be proven and imposed these sanctions, and its written reasons for these decisions will be published in due course. Adrian Ward and Colossal Sports Management Ltd have both subsequently lodged an appeal.

“The FA takes the protection of minors seriously and will continue to enforce its regulations in respect of any such