FA reveals plans for crackdown on non-EU players joining Premier League clubs
By Ben Rumsby10:00PM BST 16 Sep 2014
Consultative paper issued to the English game’s other major stakeholders on the back of Greg Dyke’s England Commission aims to halve number of non-EU players
FA reveal plans for crackdown on non-EU players joining Premier League clubs
The Football Association on Tuesday night unveiled detailed plans for a crackdown on non-European players joining Premier League clubs – from which anyone costing more than £15 million would be exempt.
The radical proposals, aimed at halving the number of signings from outside the European Union, were revealed in a consultative paper issued to the English game’s other major stakeholders on the back of Greg Dyke’s England Commission.
The report produced by that commission in May floated the idea of Premier League B teams as part of a drive to give more opportunities to home-grown youngsters, something rejected by the Football League. But it also recommended steps to reduce the number of non-European Union players given work permits in the UK, an ambition that Dyke, the FA chairman, is more hopeful will meet with approval and be implemented in time for next season.
The proposals contained in the consultative paper – which requires the agreement of the Premier League, Football League, Professional Footballers’ Association, League Managers Association and the national FAs of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to be implemented by the Home Office – include banning lower-league clubs from signing any non-EU players. It also seeks to prevent such players being loaned out by Premier League teams and reducing the list of countries from which those individuals can apply for visas from the top 70 in the Fifa rankings to the top 50.
It calls for a revamp of an appeals system in which nearly 80 per cent of those initially refused a work permit have successfully obtained one, suggesting appeals should be limited exclusively to cases where the correct process has not been followed. But it also proposes the relaxation of certain criteria in order to make it easier for top-flight clubs to sign truly world-class players from any country.
That includes the introduction of what is described as a “transfer fee exemption”, which the FA said would apply to any player costing more than £15 million – possibly even £10 million.
With ever-increasing transfer fees in the Premier League, that could apply to a great many number of players and is unlikely to lead to a huge change in the number of home-grown youngsters being given an opportunity at the highest level.
The paper also proposes reducing the number of competitive matches that players from countries with a Fifa ranking in the top 30 must have played in the past two years from 75 per cent to 30 per cent.
The FA said: “The FA has proposed changes to the current system by which non-EU players are able to play in English football in a bid to reduce the numbers coming to England from next season by up to 50 per cent. There will now be consultations with the Premier League, The Football League. the PFA, the LMA and the national FA’s of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as required by the Home Office.
“Following the consultations, the FA is planning to take a paper back to the Home Office later this year so that the new system could apply from the beginning of the 2015-16 system.”
