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  2. About us

WHO WE ARE?

The international football agency Stars & Friends  was formed in 2005 by the merger of Star Factory and Stars & Friends GmbH. In 2006, it united its agencies in Austria, Germany and Slovakia.  We gradually expanded our field of activity and currently STARS & FRIENDS operates in Slovakia, Austria, Germany, Croatia, Serbia, Holland and Turkey. 

The philosophy of our agency is built on three pillars:

Scouting - we have a professional team of scouts with extensive experience in international football. We constantly educate our scouts, use the latest technologies and constantly follow the trends of modern scouting. Thanks to this, we are looking for talented players with the skills and mentality that give them the prerequisites to succeed in international football. During their career, we constantly follow the development of players, monitor their performance and consult with them on all modern trends in football, which gives our players the opportunity to constantly improve. Also, many European clubs are familiar with our scouting methodology and therefore often consult with us about the performance and potential of players of various age categories.
 
Service – we provide our players with a comprehensive package of professional services appropriate to their age and needs, in particular:
 
•    material security
•    legal services
•    financial, tax and insurance advice
•    mental coaching
•    medical care
•    coaching service
•    marketing and communication service
•    image support
•    administration of advertising and sponsorship contracts
•    we also cover the players' philanthropic activities through the STARS & FRIENDS Foundation


We take care of the players from a very young age until the end of their football career and experience all the joys and worries with them. Mutual trust, the player's satisfaction and his well-being on and off the field are of primary importance to us. We are with them not only when they are doing well, but also when they are not doing well. Working with youth is very fulfilling for us, we consider it very important that young talents have professionals with them in every article, which is irreplaceable in their career. Watching the progress of individual players is an amazing feeling.

Sales - during the entire period of representing the player, we try to set up the player's career so that he can play for as long as possible at the highest possible level. Our players played and play in TOP leagues and TOP clubs. During our many years of activity, we have carried out several hundred transfers, which allowed us to gather a large amount of experience in international sales and also to build an extremely large network of contacts. We believe that our experience and business skills, combined with the player's potential, provide the basis for the player's successful career.
We have excellent professional relations with many clubs in Europe. Clubs know the style of work of our agency, our good orientation in the world football market, and that is why clubs also use us as mediators in player transfers.

The international football agency STARS & FRIENDS has long been the largest and best-known football agency in Slovakia. It has its reputation at the international level as well, it is ranked among the top most influential football agencies in Europe.
The founder and owner of the agency is Karol Csontó - a former football player, today a top manager and philanthropist. STARS & FRIENDS currently employs 30 professionals, who you can get to know more about here.

 

 

KAROL CSONTÓ AND HIS STORY


I founded STARS & FRIENDS with one goal. To work with the best, help them in their football career and bring them to the top level.

I ended my active playing career at the age of 22, and already as a football player with a degree from the University of Economics, I helped my teammates solve matters related to training and economic relations. Later, I also advised my teammates in the area of investments and helped with transfers.

Gradually I began to fulfill my goal and in 2001 I made my first big transfer - I got Szilárd Németh to FC Middlesborough. My dream was to create ideal conditions for promising athletes for their sports growth. And that's what I and my team managed to do. I founded STARS & FRIENDS in 2005 and built a respected agency that is one of the most influential agencies in the world of football.

We are already active in 9 countries and represent players all over the world. As an agency, we have been involved in some of the biggest football transfers in Europe. Among Slovak players, we helped Martin Škrtel to Liverpool and Fenerbahce Istanbul, Milan Škriniar to Inter Milan, Lászlo Bénes to Borussia Mönchengladbach, Tomáš Hubočan to Marseille, Juraj Kucka to AC Milan, and Matúš Bero and Ján Ďurica to the Turkish Trabzonspor. Our agency also implemented the lucrative transfer of Petr Čech to the London Arsenal and the transfer of the young Croatian player Ante Palaversa to the English Manchester City.

To this day, all my knowledge about football confirms to me that if a player wants to be successful, he needs to train, play and fully concentrate only on his sports career. That is why our agency provides players with a comprehensive service of professional services. I want the player to be able to focus only on performance, we will take care of everything else.

Just as a football player is part of a team, we at the agency are also one team, and I realize that the biggest capital of STARS & FRIENDS is precisely my colleagues. Thanks to their professionalism, we are constantly improving. Our job is to do everything to make the player we represent as happy and successful as possible.

 

Fair play. Discipline. Team work. Respect. Spirit. Trust. Hard work. Power. Fight. Strength.

My story

I have founded Stars & Friends with one goal. To work with the best, help them in their football career and to get them to the top level.

I ended my active playing career as a 22-year old and as a footballer with a degree from University of economics I managed the training routines and economic relations of my teammates. Later I also advised them on investments and assisted in in their transfers.

Gradually I have started to fulfil my goal and in 2001 I closed my first big transfer – I got Szilárd Németh to FC Middlesborough. My dream was to create ideal conditions for growth of promising athletes. And that´s what I and my team did. I founded Stars & Friends in 2005 and have built an agency that is now one of the most influential in the world of football.

We already operate in 11 countries and represent players from around the world. As an agency, we have closed some of the biggest football transfers in Europe. Among Slovak players we helped Škrtel to Liverpool and Fenerbahce Istanbul, Škriniar to Inter Milan, Bénes to Borussia Mönchengladbach, Hubočan to Marseille, Kucka to AC Milan and Bero and Ďurica to Turkish Trabzonspor. Our agency also closed the lucrative transfer of Petr Čech to London Arsenal and the transfer of young Croatian player Ante Palaversu to English Manchester City.

To date, all my experience regarding football confirms to me, that if a player wants to be successful, he needs to train, play and fully focus only on his sporting career. That´s why our agency provides players with comprehensive and professional services. I want the player to be able to focus on the performance, we´ll take care of everything else.

Just as a footballer is part of a team, we are one team at the agency as well, and I realize that the biggest capital of Stars & Friends is our employees. Thanks to their professionalism, we are constantly improving. Our job is to do everything we can to make the player we represent the most satisfied and successful.

Services

In addition to international transfers and scouting, we provide our players with a comprehensive package of professional services:

  • Legal Services
  • Financial, tax and insurance advice
  • Mental coaching
  • Medical care
  • Coaching service
  • Marketing and communication service
  • Image support
  • Management of advertising and sponsorship contracts
  • we cover their philanthropic activities through the Stars & Friends Foundation

We take care of the players from their young age until the end of their football career and we experience all the joys and worries with them. Mutual trust, player satisfaction and his well-being on and off the field are paramount for us.