Information for Non-EU players

Should a player want to play in England who does not hold an EU passport, rules implemented by the English FA are very strict. If a player is likely to be signing for a Premier League or Football League club then he will require a Governing Body Endorsement (GBE) from the FA.

Once a club are interested in registering the player, they will need to submit an application for a GBE.

The criteria for an automatic GBE are as follows:

- The applicant club must be in membership of the Premier League or Football League. During the period of endorsement the player must only play for clubs in membership of those Leagues

- The player must have played in at least 75% of his home country's senior competitive international matches where he was available for selection during the two years preceding the date of the application

- The player's national association must be at or above 70th place in the official FIFA World Rankings when averaged over the two years preceding the application.

If a player does not meet the criteria outlined above then he will not qualify for an automatic GBE.

If this is the case, then a Work Permit Appeal Hearing will need to be convened which would be comprised of representatives from the Football Association , PFA, Premier League or Football League (depending on which the league the registering club play in) and 3 independent experts.

The club would be invited to present their case and the panel would make their decision based on whether they feel the player is

(i)  of the highest calibre and;

(ii)  able to contribute to the game at the top level in England.