English Premier League’s new squad rules
The English Premier League has introduced new squad rules for the 2010/11 season. The Premier League clubs will need to reduce their playing squads for league fixtures which the league authorities believe will increase competitiveness between the clubs and its players. The new rule will only apply to the Premier League matches and not to domestic tournaments like the FA Cup, the League Cup or the continental competitions.
Putting the squad rule in a single statement, the Premier League clubs can only register 25 players for the league fixtures out of which 8 should be ‘home grown’.
These squad rules will have an important impact on the league as clubs can only make changes in the registered squad during the transfer window. Clubs will need to get their squad registered with the Premier League within 24 hours of close of each transfer window. Clubs will get their players registered through an online system which will automatically notify if the new squad rules have been met or not.
Only in exceptional circumstances can a club be allowed to make alterations in the squad outside the transfer windows. For example, if a club had registered three goalkeepers in the 25-man squad and out of them, two are injured, only then can a club make a replacement. However, all such cases are to be approved by the Premier League board.
The second clause of the rule is intended to make the clubs invest more in their academies and develop the real talent through their youth programs. This part has a long-term aim of increasing the number of English players in the Premier League as more capable young footballers would come through to make it to their national squad as well.
However, the term ‘home grown’ is not strictly a representation of players with English nationality. A ‘home grown’ player is defined by the Premier League as “one who, irrespective of his nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to the Football Association or the Welsh Football Association for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons or 36 months prior to his 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21)”.
Whereas the UEFA guidelines describe an under-21 player as “one who is under the age of 21 on 1st January in the year in which the season commences”. This would mean that for the 2010/11 Premier League season, all players who were born on or after 1st January 1989 will fall in the under-21 category.
The rule further explains that if one player of the 25-man squad is loaned out, his place cannot be taken by any other player outside the transfer window. But the loaned player can take back his place on his return to the parent club at any time during the season.
It is also obligatory that the clubs have to name a full squad of 25 players at the end of the transfer window. For example, a club may name only have 23 players after the transfer window but may include 2 more players during the course of the season.
Likewise, a club may also name less than 8 ‘home grown’ players but the missing berths cannot be filled by non-home-grown players.
However, there are some likely problems arising from this new introduction in the rule books. Restricting the total squad to 25 will mean that clubs will need to offload some of the players who are not a regular fixture of their playing squad to avoid paying their salaries.
Secondly, if a club has signed a player in a transfer window, it will definitely have to sell one from their previous squad which will result in a loss to the club as they will have considerably less negotiating strength.
Thirdly, this new rule will also make the Premier League clubs to snap up players from academies who haven’t signed professional contracts with their parent clubs. This will increase the number of disputes in the transfers of young footballers.
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