FIFA announced earlier today that they’re on the cusp of implementing new regulations surrounding the loans of players in international football.
The new regulations will be submitted to the FIFA Council for approval at its next meeting with a view to their entering into force on 1 July 2022.
FIFA claims the new framework for player loans is aimed to continue their ongoing goal of reshaping the transfer system. The foundations of this new framework have three core objectives, including:
- Developing young players
- Promoting competitive balance
- Preventing the hoarding of players
To ensure that these objectives are achieved, the new regulatory framework will include:
- The requirement of a written agreement defining the terms of the loan, in particular its duration and financial conditions
- A minimum loan duration, being the interval between two registration periods, and a maximum loan duration, being one year
- A prohibition on sub-loaning a professional player who is already on loan to a third club
- A limitation on the number of loans per season between the same clubs: at any given time during a season, a club may only have a maximum of three professionals loaned out to a single club and a maximum of three professionals loaned in from a single club
- A limitation on a club’s total number of loans per season
To ensure clubs are given ample time to adjust to these new regulations,FIFA revealed there will be a transitional period from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023.
During this time, a club may have a maximum of eight professionals loaned out and eight loaned in at any given time during a season. After this period, the new loan regulations will evolve as follows:
- From 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024, the same configuration applies but with a maximum of seven professionals.
- Finally, from 1 July 2024, the same configuration will apply but limited to a maximum of six professionals.
- Players aged 21 and younger and club-trained players will be exempt from these limitations.
At domestic level, FIFA’s member associations will be granted a period of three years to implement rules for a loan system that is in line with the principles established at international level.