Frédéric Guerra
Lyon Talent Architect

France

€20mm

Key Facts

Also known as: Fred Guerra, Frédéric "Fred" Guerra, "le dinosaure"
Date of birth: 6 February 1955
FIFA Agent Licence: Licensed football agent via FFF since 2000 – legacy FIFA players’ agent status (exact modern FIFA ID not publicly disclosed)
Other registrations: Licensed "agent sportif" with FFF – active in official FFF agent and contract lists
Primary agency / company: FREDERIC GUERRA PLAYER AGENT (SAS)
Job Title: Football Intermediary – Player Agent
Client capacity: Boutique, ~20 clients – Players: 20 – Total market value: €20mm
Languages: French (native), Italian (family language), works mainly in Francophone and Italian football markets
Base locations: Chassieu / Lyon, France – activity across France, Italy, Netherlands and Germany
Specialisms: Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 talents, OL alumni, French-based dual nationals, attacking and midfield profiles, career management for strikers in Serie A and Bundesliga
Email: fgcreation@wanadoo.fr
Phone / WhatsApp: Not publicly listed
Website / Socials:
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/guerra.frederic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frederic.guerra.92/
• LinkedIn: https://fr.linkedin.com/in/guerra-frederic-fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric-guerra-1b365b56

About Frédéric Guerra

Born near Naples in 1955 and raised in France from the age of two, Frédéric Guerra comes from a working-class background and left school early to help his family. He first built a career as an artisan staffer in the building trade around Lyon, while staying involved in amateur football as president of the Brosses de Villeurbanne club. Seeing how many local talents lacked a proper network, he moved into scouting with RC Strasbourg to learn how to analyse players and negotiate.

Around 2000, he passed the FFF agent exam and switched full-time into player representation. His rise was rapid: early on he became closely associated with Olympique Lyonnais during the club’s golden era of seven straight league titles. In Lyon he evolved into the go-to agent for an entire generation – working with Sidney Govou, Mahamadou Diarra, Clément Grenier, Maxime Gonalons, Samuel Umtiti, François Clerc, Hatem Ben Arfa and a young Karim Benzema.

The 2006 transfer of Diarra from Lyon to Real Madrid is widely considered the signature deal of his career and a symbol of OL’s emergence on the European stage. In parallel, Guerra handled first professional contracts and extensions for several homegrown stars, something that saw him referenced in academic and industry reports on leading European agents.

Guerra is known for a very human-centred approach. In interviews and in his autobiography "De l’échafaudage à la Ligue des champions", co-written with journalist Edward Jay and prefaced by Jean-Michel Aulas, he highlights not only his successes but also his mistakes, the delicate management of characters like Ben Arfa and Benzema, and the responsibility of having up to 140 players on his books. His philosophy is to bring players back to who they are as people, not just as assets.

After dominating the OL ecosystem in the 2000s, he gradually internationalised his client base, especially towards Serie A and the Premier League. He became a central figure in the career of Senegal forward Boulaye Dia and has appeared regularly in Italian and English media to discuss his player’s future. More recently his agency "Frederic Guerra Player Agent" has focused on a compact stable of around 20 clients, mixing established professionals such as Lucas Da Cunha (Como), Warmed Omari (Hamburger SV) and Boulaye Dia (Lazio) with a broad base of prospects in Ligue 2, National and the French U19 championship.

In 2025, Guerra opened a new chapter by acquiring the iconic Gerland restaurant L’Argenson, long a symbolic meeting place for OL and the scene of many of his historic contract signings. He positions the venue as both a business project and an extension of his football network. Despite this diversification, he remains active on the FFF registers with ongoing mandates, continuing to personally steer the careers of his players.

Highlights

• Over 20 years of experience at the top level, with a central role in Olympique Lyonnais’ golden generation and dozens of internationals supported.
• Reputation as a tough but respected negotiator, trusted to handle complex deals such as Diarra’s move to Real Madrid, Boulaye Dia’s transfers and Romain Saïss’ switch to Wolves.
• Strong anchoring in Lyon and French talent factories, combined with an active network in Serie A, the Bundesliga and the Eredivisie.
• Image as a very "human" agent, focused on holistic career management and personal balance rather than chasing every possible commission.
• Regular media presence (RMC, regional French press, Italian radio), which he uses to defend his players’ interests and shape narratives around their careers.

Career Snapshot

Origin story:
Former construction craftsman and amateur-club president in the Lyon area, then scout at RC Strasbourg before passing the FFF agent exam in 2000 – a non-traditional route compared to agents coming from law or finance.

Milestones:
• 2000 – Obtains French agent licence and starts working with Lyon-based players.
• Early 2000s – Becomes the main representative for a cluster of OL talents, starting with Sidney Govou.
• 2006 – Orchestrates Mahamadou Diarra’s move from Lyon to Real Madrid.
• 2000s–2010s – Manages the early careers and contract cycles of Karim Benzema, Hatem Ben Arfa and many OL internationals (Gonalons, Umtiti, Grenier, Clerc).
• 2016 – Acts on Romain Saïss’ transfer to Wolverhampton Wanderers, showing his reach into the Premier League.
• 2021–2023 – Leads key negotiations around Boulaye Dia’s moves between Reims, Villarreal and Salernitana, with interest from top Serie A and Premier League clubs.
• 2023–2025 – Guides the progression of Lucas Da Cunha (Como), Warmed Omari (Hamburg) and Maxence Rivera (Heerenveen).
• 2025 – Publishes his book "De l’échafaudage à la Ligue des champions" and buys restaurant L’Argenson in Gerland, consolidating his local and football network.

Network strengths:
Deep roots at OL and in the wider Auvergne–Rhône-Alpes region, strong access to French academies and Ligue 2 / National clubs, and working relationships with a core group of European clubs such as Como 1907, Hamburger SV, Salernitana, Villarreal and several sides in Serie A.

Support Team / Partners

• FREDERIC GUERRA PLAYER AGENT – main legal and commercial vehicle for his mandates.
• Internal collaborators – small team handling administration, logistics and day-to-day player support, including family members involved in the agency structure.
• External lawyers and tax advisers – specialist sports lawyers and fiscal experts engaged for cross-border deals in England, Italy, Spain and Germany.
• Media partners – long-standing relationships with RMC and regional press in Lyon, plus Italian radio and TV for Serie A-related dossiers.
• Local ecosystem in Lyon – L’Argenson restaurant and his OL connections acting as a physical hub for ex-players, current clients, club executives and sponsors.

Client Roster

Top players and talents (current)

• Lucas Da Cunha (Como 1907) – Central midfield – France / Portugal – 9 June 2001
• Boulaye Dia (Lazio) – Centre forward – Senegal – 16 November 1996
• Warmed Omari (Hamburger SV, on loan from Stade Rennais) – Centre-back – Comoros / France – 23 April 2000
• Maxence Rivera (SC Heerenveen) – Left winger / forward – France – 30 November 2002

Coaches/Staff represented

No head coaches or staff members are publicly listed as active clients; his portfolio is overwhelmingly player-focused.

Notable former clients

• Karim Benzema – represented in his youth and early professional years at Lyon before the Real Madrid move.
• Hatem Ben Arfa – early-career representation at OL during his rise as one of France’s most talented prospects.
• Sidney Govou – first major OL client; their relationship was the trigger for Guerra’s full-time switch into agency work.
• Mahamadou Diarra – key client during his OL to Real Madrid transfer.
• Maxime Gonalons – long-time OL captain whose extensions and transfer talks Guerra managed.
• Samuel Umtiti – represented during his early professional years before his move to Barcelona.
• Clément Grenier, François Clerc, Florent Balmont, Alassane Pléa – among several notable French players whose early careers he helped structure.

Notable Deals Led by Frédéric Guerra

• 2006 – Mahamadou Diarra: Lyon → Real Madrid – approx. €26m transfer, long-term contract; widely seen as Guerra’s landmark deal and a statement of OL’s European status.
• 2000s – Karim Benzema and OL core – design and renegotiation of first professional contracts and extensions for Benzema, Govou, Gonalons, Umtiti, Grenier and others, keeping OL’s spine together during the title years.
• 2016 – Romain Saïss: Angers SCO → Wolverhampton Wanderers – move to the Premier League with Guerra registered as intermediary.
• 2021 – Boulaye Dia: Reims → Villarreal – major step up for Dia, with subsequent management of his loan and option-to-buy moves to Salernitana and ongoing interest from top clubs.
• 2023 – Boulaye Dia: Villarreal → Salernitana (permanent) – consolidation of his status as a leading Serie A striker.
• 2023–2025 – Lucas Da Cunha: Nice → Como 1907, later extension to 2029 – strategic long-term project in Serie A, with Guerra very visible in Italian media.
• 2025 – Warmed Omari: Stade Rennais → Hamburger SV (loan with option) – Bundesliga deal announced by Guerra on his own social channels.
• 2025 – Maxence Rivera: Saint-Étienne → SC Heerenveen – three-year Eredivisie contract for a promising French winger.

Track Record (last 3 seasons)

(Approximate, based on public databases and press reports.)

• Total transfers completed: at least 8–10 significant moves (transfers, loans, major extensions) since summer 2023.
• Deals ≥ €10m: none clearly documented in the last three seasons; his historic Diarra transfer remains the reference above €20m.
• Clients in top-5 leagues: at least three players currently or recently active in Serie A, Bundesliga or Ligue 1 (Boulaye Dia, Lucas Da Cunha, Warmed Omari, plus former OL internationals).
• National team clients: one current senior international (Boulaye Dia) and numerous former internationals (Benzema, Diarra, Govou, Umtiti, Gonalons, etc.).
• Renewal/extension deals: long-term extension for Lucas Da Cunha and several contract renewals for French-based players in Ligue 2 / National and U19 setups.
• Aggregate client market value: roughly €17–19m across 17–20 players, depending on the source and update date.

Compliance & Accreditation

• Holds a French agent licence obtained via the FFF in 2000.
• Listed as an active "agent sportif" in FFF registers, with current mandates recorded in the federation’s contract database.
• Operates through FREDERIC GUERRA PLAYER AGENT, an SAS incorporated in France with up-to-date corporate filings.
• Recognised in academic and industry analyses as part of the established pool of licensed agents in the big-five European leagues.
• Subject to French legal requirements on professional indemnity insurance and transparency in contracts with players and clubs.

Testimonials

• Regional and national media frequently refer to him as "the historic agent of Lyon players", underlining how closely his name is tied to OL’s golden years.
• Profiles in the Lyon press describe him as an agent "concerned with the human side", emphasising his insistence on humility and grounding for his players.
• Business magazines in Lyon portray him as a "talent sculptor" who has piloted the careers of a whole generation of OL players.
• Guerra himself sums up his job with a line that has become his signature: his work is to "take a light and turn it into a laser".

Press, Awards & Recognition

• Featured in the CIES Football Observatory’s work on agents in the big-five European leagues.
• Highlighted by national newspapers as "the historic agent of Lyon players" in dossiers on the agent profession.
• Regularly quoted by Italian and English outlets when discussing Boulaye Dia’s value and future moves.
• Publication of his 384-page autobiography "De l’échafaudage à la Ligue des champions" in 2025, with a preface by Jean-Michel Aulas.
• Long interview in Le Progrès in 2025, focused on his human-first approach and his view of the evolution of the agent’s job.
• Profiled by Lyon Décideurs and other regional business media for his dual role as veteran agent and owner of restaurant L’Argenson in Gerland.