The consequences of Brexit on the English Premier League and the English Football League

The new conditions for recruiting foreign community players resulting from the agreement between the Football association (FA), the Premier League (PL) and English Football League (EFL) announced by the FA on December 1, 2020 and approved by the UK Home Office are entered into force on 1er January 2021.

From now on, English clubs will no longer be able to freely sign an employment contract with players from the European Union who will then have to obtain a Governing Body Endorsement (GBE) [sort of work permit], just like a foreign player who is not allowed to work in the UK.

A GBE system has also been approved by the UK Home Office for the women's championship. The players will also have to obtain a certain number of points, awarded according to 3 criteria:

• The number of selections for the senior national team
• The "quality" of the selling club, evaluated according to its league of membership, and its ranking from the previous season within this league
• The number of appearances with this club (calculated on the minutes of the national league and European competitions)

Players who have reached the total of 15 points will automatically get their GBE.

In accordance with the document setting out the conditions for obtaining the GBE posted on the FA website, the players who played minus 70% of international matches for countries ranked in the top 50 nations during 2 last years (only one for young players) will automatically obtain their GBE.

This scale will be less restrictive depending on the FIFA ranking of the country concerned :

• 60% of international matches will suffice for one nation ranked between ranks 21 to 30 ;
• 40% for ranks 11 to 20;
• and only 30% of matches played with a selection from the Top 10 of the FIFA rankings.

The clubs will still have a recourse for players who do not obtain the required 15 points but having obtained between 10 and 14 points. So a Exemption Commission will study this appeal and give an opinion on the issuance of the GBE to the FA, which has sole jurisdiction in the matter (without this opinion having any binding value), according to paragraph 55 of the document setting out the conditions for obtaining the GBE drawn up by the FA.

The major change, however, concerns the young players.

First of all, the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union puts an end to the exception granted by FIFA to international transfers within the European Union of players under 18. The United Kingdom is therefore subject to the rule of principle set out in Article 19.1 of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players prohibiting the recruitment of foreign players under the age of 18.  

However, in the event that a player under 21 shows a " significant potential "And is" sufficient quality "(In the sense of the Commission), the Exemptions Commission may recommend to the FA the issuance of its GBE (The Football Association Men's Players - Points Based System 2020-2021 Season, §53). However, this exception seems difficult to implement.

Regarding the recruitment of players aged 18 to 21, they are now limited. Thus, from 1er January 2021, English clubs will only be able to recruit 6 foreign players under 21 per season, With a maximum of 3 recruitments for the winter transfer window starting January 2, 2021 (taking into account the above observations for players under 18).