The English Football Association Makes Significant Changes to Its GBE Rules

The International Sportsperson Visa allows elite sportspeople and coaches to work in the UK, provided they hold endorsement from their sport’s governing body. Each governing body sets its own criteria to be met to obtain endorsement.

For professional footballers, governing body endorsement (GBE) is issued by the English Football Association (FA). On 14 June, the FA made significant changes to the GBE process, which will enable Premier League and English Football League (EFL) Championship clubs to sign up to four overseas players - whilst EFL Leagues One and Two can sign up to two - who do not meet the current points requirements for endorsement.

Since the UK left the EU, all non-UK players have been required to obtain GBE from The FA to play in England. As discussed in the Brexitball report co-authored by Fragomen and Analytics FC here, this reduced the available player market for English clubs by approximately 90%.

The new rules - combined with changes to the bandings which rank all leagues across the globe - will broaden the available pool of overseas players available to Premier League and EFL clubs.

Changes to the GBE rules

GBE is granted via a points-based system. The FA grants automatic endorsement if a player’s international appearances are sufficient to meet the ‘Auto Pass’ percentage. If a player does not meet the required percentage to obtain an ‘Auto Pass’, they then require a total of 15 points calculated through a combination of factors – including domestic and continental minutes played, league quality and final league position for their club, and continental progression – to be endorsed.

Where a player obtains 10-14 points, the club can submit a request to an Exceptions Panel for consideration, who may recommend a player is endorsed if they are satisfied that exceptional circumstances prevented the player from achieving 15 points. Previously, the Exceptions Panel was the final opportunity to obtain GBE for a player within that transfer window, unless there were to be a significant change of circumstances.

Under the changes announced by the FA, which apply immediately, if a player is not eligible for endorsement based on the above criteria, the club may now apply for the player to be granted endorsement as an Elite Significant Contribution (ESC) Player.

To obtain endorsement as an ESC player, the club must show that the player is an elite player who will make a significant contribution to the sport. Guidance on this will be updated by The FA periodically – but the FA expect at least one of the following to apply to the player:

• Played in at least one competitive youth or senior international for a nation ranked in the FIFA Top 50; 
• Played in at least five competitive youth or senior internationals for a nation ranked outside of the FIFA Top 50;
• Played in at least one Continental Youth or Senior Competition match; or
• Played in at least five Domestic Youth or Senior Competition matches.

Importantly, the new rules do not provide a separate pathway for youth players (players born before 1 January 2002). Whilst clubs can still request an exceptions panel to consider their application if the club can evidence the youth player shows significant potential and is of sufficient quality to enhance the development of the game in England, this player would be deemed an ESC player and occupy one of the club’s ESC slots.

The FA has also updated the banding rankings of all international leagues, making it easier to sign players from the USA Major League Soccer in particular.

In the women’s game, the banding of qualifying leagues has been expanded from 2 to 3, and a youth player exceptions panel has also been introduced. The aim of these changes is again to widen the pool of potential overseas players, whilst positioning the UK as the best place to develop young talent.

Criteria for ESC players

Premier League and EFL Championship teams have a maximum of four ESC places, which includes two places determined by their weighted England Qualified Players (EQP) minutes (the number of minutes played by EQP’s in their team each season). This introduces a significant incentive for clubs to give more playing time to their English players.

After 12 months, if a player now meets the ‘Auto Pass’ percentage for endorsement, or they are able to obtain 15 points, they will qualify for endorsement and their ESC place will become available again to the club. Alternatively, if the player has played in 25% or more of the club’s EQP qualifying matches in a 12-month period, or if they play the required percentage of available minutes, they can also apply for endorsement, re-opening the ESC place.

The changes do not impact the criteria of other governing bodies in the UK, such as the Scottish Football Association, the Football Association of Wales or the Irish Football Association.

Who will benefit?

The changes will have a significant impact on the recruitment strategies of English clubs, potentially mitigating the impact of Brexit by widening the pool of available players again. Premier League clubs may feel that greater access to emerging talent – for example in the US – enables them to continue to compete against other European clubs without always paying a premium for GBE qualified players.

A common example of how this could work in practice is where a Premier League club signs a promising young player who does not meet the GBE requirements yet. Typically, that player would be loaned back to the club from which they were signed, in an attempt to accumulate more points to qualify for GBE endorsement in the coming years.

However, under the new rules this player could potentially obtain endorsement by qualifying as one of the club’s four ESC players, enabling them to start playing in the UK much earlier than expected.

For EFL Championship clubs and below, there is now a greater opportunity to sign overseas talent given the introduction of ESC players.

Youth players  

Brexit restricted English clubs’ ability to sign players of EU nationality under the age of 18. With the introduction of ESC players, English clubs are no longer required to wait until the player reaches 18, so we may see an increase of youth players being considered.

Need to know more?

For questions related to these changes, please reach out to Manager Alex Hood at [email protected].  

This blog was published on 29 June 2023, and due to the circumstances, there are frequent changes. To keep up to date with all the latest updates on global immigration, please visit our dedicated COVID-19 site, subscribe to our alerts and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.