27 - Paddington United and Euston Athletic look overseas in first post-Brexit transfer window
We are fast approaching transfer deadline day again and Paddington United sit top of the league table with local rivals Euston Athletic trailing by just three points. With very little to choose between the two teams, the season looks like it will go down to the wire. While performance on the pitch will dictate the outcome of the league championship, decisions made off it will be equally instrumental.
The biggest decisions the two clubs are faced with are who to sign during the January transfer window and more particularly, whether they would be able to secure the signatures of their priority targets.
Both Paddington and Euston are under no illusions that business in the transfer market this time will be very different. This is because this transfer window (January 2021) is the first transfer window post-Brexit (which took effect on 1 January 2021) which will have a direct impact on the players that UK clubs are now able to sign.
Newspapers, tabloids and social media websites are full of transfer gossip linking Paddington and Euston with two potential signings.
This piece will examine how the English FA’s newly enforced GBE Criteria would apply to clubs looking to sign non-UK nationals during transfer windows, post-Brexit.
Hovello to Paddington?
Paddington are in advanced talks with Boca Youngsters – a first division Argentinian club regarding the transfer of Marcos Hovello, a 24 year old playmaker, who has also recently broken into the Argentinian national team.
A tricky attacking midfielder with a killer left foot, there’s no doubt that Hovello has an eye for goal. Hovello as a product of the Boca Youngsters academy, making his way up to the first team, where he has been playing for the last five seasons. Indeed, he has been instrumental in Boca’s recent success, having won three domestic titles in the last five years, but unfortunately missing out narrowly to Dinner Plate last season. He also played a key role in getting the Youngsters to the Copa Libertadores final (South America’s premier continental club competition), although they unfortunately lost out to the Brazilian team, Athenians.
Despite having struggled to break into the Argentinian national team during his early twenties, Hovello has received several call ups to the Argentinian squad in the last two years, appearing in 8% of the national team’s games during this period. This has included playing for Argentina in the Copa America qualifying matches and final tournament.
With his ability, Hovello is highly rated by the Boca faithful. Whilst it seems clear that the supporters are reluctant to see their beloved ‘Marcito’ leave, the club and supporters appreciate that a potential big money transfer to England is too good to turn down.
Huccinato to Euston?
Having identified the need to fortify their defence for the title run-in, Euston are intent upon securing the signature of a highly rated 19 year old Italian defender.
Nonetheless, Filippo has captained both club and country at age group level for a number of years. He also had a few stand-out performances in the UEFA Youth League last season, before the S.S. Palazzo youth team was knocked out in the quarter-finals.
Euston are prepared to pay big money to get their man; particularly since Filippo has attracted interest from a range of other top European Clubs such as Real Serrano from Spain, FC Frankfurter from Germany and Champs-Élysées FC from France. Euston are therefore concerned that if they miss out on one of Europe’s most promising youngsters in the January transfer window, they might not have another chance to sign him.
Governing Body Endorsements and how they work
Before Paddington and Euston are able to complete the transfers of Hovello or Filippo respectively, they must obtain a Governing Body Endorsement (“GBE”) for these players. This is because both Hovello and Filippo are non-UK nationals and therefore do not have an automatic right to live and work in the United Kingdom.
So what is a GBE?
In football terms, a GBE is an endorsement provided by a sports governing body to a club, as the employer of a player, that confirms that player (who is seeking to move to a club in the UK) is established at the highest level and/or will make a significant contribution to the development of football at the highest level in the UK.
In England, The Football Association (“the FA”) is the governing body of English football. It is therefore required to publish ‘endorsement requirements’ which are a set of criteria a player will be assessed against when being considered for a GBE. If the player meets these criteria, they will be ‘endorsed’ by the FA and a GBE will be issued to their employer (i.e. the club looking to sign the player) who will then issue the player with a Certificate of Sponsorship.
Once issued with a Certificate of Sponsorship, the player may then apply for his visa (which is usually, but not always, a formality at this stage once a GBE is obtained) . There are two visa categories a player may apply for – the longer term Tier 2 for English language speakers (Sportsperson) visa and the shorter, Tier 5 (Creative or Sporting) visa for those who cannot pass an English language test (maximum term of this visa is 12 months).
Post-Brexit, and with effect from 1 January 2021, the freedom of movement rights for EU nationals that existed previously no longer extend to the territory of the UK. This means that now both non-EU players and EU players (such as Hovello and Huccinato), will require a GBE from The FA in order to play football in England1. Whilst far more restrictive for English clubs looking to sign overseas talent (who previously would not have required a GBE for an EU national player), the new system effectively levels the playing field for the recruitment of EU and non-EU players. The new system is very much focused on an objective evaluation of a player’s playing statistics and ability as well as the stature and level/ranking of their previous club.
The FA’s GBE criteria provide for an ‘auto pass’ system, which is designed to grant the very best players a GBE, without needing to assess their abilities against the newly introduced objective criteria, described above. An ‘auto pass’ is granted based on the number of international appearances a player makes for his national team, over the 24 month period preceding the GBE application. The higher the FIFA ranking of the player’s national team, the lower the % of required appearances the player is required to make for him to be granted an ‘auto pass’. The idea is that the better the national team’s FIFA ranking, the better the quality of players generally available for selection in that country.
So, for example, a player from a country like Brazil, ranked within the FIFA top 10 only needs to make a minimum of 30% of appearances for his senior national team (in competitive matches) during the 24 month period preceding the application (or 12 months in the case of an U21 player), to get an ‘Auto Pass’. On the other hand, a player form, say, Australia (ranked 42), would need at least 70% appearances for his country, if he was to automatically qualify for the GBE.
Would Marcos Hovello and Filippo Huccinato be eligible for GBEs?
As previously mentioned, The FA’s 2021 GBE Rules sets out six objective criteria against which these players will be assessed. The 2021 GBE Rules also make a distinction between senior players and youth players (i.e. U21) and provide a separate set of criteria for each. So whilst Hovello will be assessed against the senior criteria, Filippo will be assessed against the youth player criteria.
So how do each of them fare?
For Hovello to qualify for a GBE he will need to score a total of 15 points across six different categories. Broadly, these relate to:
1. How many international appearances he has made for the Argentinian national team in the last two years?
2. How many minutes did he play in the domestic season?
3. How many minutes did he play in the continental season?
4. Where did Boca Youngsters finish last season?
5. How far did Boca Youngsters progress in continental competition (i.e. the Copa Libertadores)?
6. How highly does The FA ‘rate’ the Argentinian Primera División?
Hovello scores a whopping total of 44 points, far surpassing the 15 necessary to obtain a GBE and that’s more than half the battle won! With The FA endorsing his transfer, Paddington issue Hovello a ‘certificate of sponsorship’, which he uses to apply for his Tier 2 visa.
Having previously signed stars such as Reevaldo, Paddington are familiar with the contractual formalities that need to be completed to complete Hovello’s move across the Atlantic. These include: signing a transfer agreement, player employment contract and completing paperwork through FIFA’s Transfer Matching System.
But what about young Filippo? Can Euston sign him?
As a 19 year old, Filippo qualifies as a youth player for the purposes of the 2021 FA GBE Rules. U-21 players who score 15+ points under the youth criteria must also score a minimum of 10 points under the senior criteria. Where this is the case, the U-21 player’s application will be submitted to the Relevant Interested Parties, which is essentially a three member panel formed by representatives of the league the player would be transferring to, the Professional Footballers’ Association and The FA who has the discretion to grant the GBE on the merits of the application.
Therefore, the bar is significantly higher for Filippo, who will be assessed not only against the youth criteria (15 points required), but also the senior criteria (requiring 10-14 points).
In addition to the senior criteria (set out above), the youth criteria will consider factors such as:
The percentage of youth internationals for the Italian national team;
Whether he made his senior team debut for S.S. Palazzo in the last 12 months;
Final league position of S.S. Palazzo’s senior team;
Progression of S.S. Palazzo in continental competitions; and
League quality of S.S. Palazzo’s league, namely the Italian Serie A.
While 19 points are sufficient for the purposes of satisfying the requisite youth criteria, Filippo is still required to score between 10 and 14 points under the senior criteria, if his application can be submitted to a panel (the Relevant Interested Parties), to be considered on its merits.
So how does Filippo score under the senior criteria?
Unfortunately, since Filippo failed to achieve any points under the senior criteria, his chances of being awarded a GBE, despite having scored the relevant points under the youth criteria, are all but over. However, as highlighted in the table above, given the high ranking of Serie A, all Filippo needed was one appearance in the matchday squad to obtain enough points under the senior criteria to have his application considered by the Relevant Interested Parties.
Nonetheless, one failed application would not affect Euston’s future pursuit of Filippo, once he has gained some more senior team experience…if a big European club hasn’t already wrapped him up, that is!
Obtaining a GBE – Key takeaways for clubs
Understand the criteria before putting time and money into it: The FA’s new GBE criteria is more nuanced than it was under the previous regime. This requires a deeper understanding of the various criteria and routes to qualifying for a GBE. GBEs also cost clubs money, although an administration fee of £500 might be less significant to some clubs when compared with others.
However, knowing whether and how a particular player fits the criteria could save clubs time, allowing them to pursue other targets, particularly during transfer windows, where opportunities are always changing and deals are time-sensitive.
2. Look to Latin America: The new criteria places players/clubs who play in the Copa Libertadores on par with those that play in the UEFA Champions League. Given that players from European clubs tend to cost more, clubs might be able to find better ‘deals’ in Latin America, as players will score the same number of points for their progress in the CONMEBOL’s Copa Libertadores.
Moreover, with 4 of FIFA’s top 10 ranked national teams being from South America, it is likely that several established professionals will secure a GBE via the ‘Auto Pass’ route, without the need to conduct a points assessment.
3. Cap on youth players: From the 2021 summer transfer window onwards, the number of overseas U21 players a club can sign will be limited to six per season. This, together with the stringent criteria applicable to U21 players means that clubs should plan their recruitment of U21 players well in advance.
For further information on the FA’s new GBE criteria, please refer to this interactive set of FAQs prepared by the Mills & Reeve sports law team.