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All You Need to Know About Home Grown Players Rule

Elite Home Grown players are a luxury now a days!!

By jogesh beheraPublished 3 years ago 6 min read
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Before asking the question of why this “Home Grown” players rule is extremely important to the clubs, let's define a homegrown player:-

“A Home Grown player is defined as a player who has played in the club’s academy or another club under the same football association for at least 3 years before he reaches 21 years old. A player can be considered as homegrown regardless of nationality.”

(Slightly different for Serie A)

As you can see Home Grown doesn't restrict the nationality of the players, so players like Paul Pogba, Cesc Fàbregas, Héctor Bellerín etc. are considered Home Grown despite being from different nationalities.

There are two types of home grown players:-

  1. Club-trained - Trained by the club between 15-21 years.
  2. Association trained - Trained by another club within the same association between 15-21 years

Here is a brief look into the rules of the different countries and UEFA competitions.

Rules in the different leagues around Europe and UEFA competitions

UEFA competitions

If clubs in UEFA competitions want to register a maximum of 25 players in their 'List A' squad, they must designate a minimum of eight Home Grown players, with four of them being from the club's own youth system.

Each club is entitled to register an unlimited number of players on List B during the season. A player may be registered on List B if he is born on or after 1 January 2000 and a total of three consecutive years with a maximum of one loan period to a club from the same association for a period not longer than one year.

Compared to other leagues, the Champions League has a ‘looser’ definition, as UEFA does not state the time period that a player needs to train in the club’s academy to be considered as Home Grown.

Percentage of homegrown players in Europe's top 5 league(Credits: i0.wp.com)

English Premier League

Each Premier League team can only register 25 players over the age of 21 for that season’s first-team matches. Of those 25 players, no more than 17 can be non-Home Grown Players. If you want the full complement of 25 over-21 players, you have to have at least 8 Home Grown Players.

A Home Grown Player, as defined by the Premier League, is a player who: (a) is 21 or older on January 1 of the year in which that season begins; and (b) spent three years between the ages of 16 and 21 with a team in the English football League system.

The period of registration does not have to be a continuous 3 years, as long as the total period before 21 years old is equals to or over 3 years, you will be considered as homegrown. There is no restriction on club-trained Home Grown players in EPL. As such, an English club can buy 8 Home Grown players, without training any of them.

One interesting fact is if you are trained under Welsh FA you are considered as homegrown.

This is where the dilemma arises, for example Ben Davis of Tottenham counts as Home Grown under EPL rules but not under UEFA rules as he came from Welsh FA(Swansea)!!!

Also, teams can use as many under-21 players as they like in addition to their main squad, regardless of their nationality.

For example let's take Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic, who joined as a 21 year old and then didn't count under the 17 foreign players but now he will be taking a place as one of them. Same goes for Mason Mount who didn't count as a Home Grown player until he turned 22 recently.

Nationality of homegrown players in EPL (Credits: staticg.sportskeeda.com)

Impact on EPL

  • Supply and Demand

Considered as the toughest and wealthiest football league, the rule also massively increased the demand for first-team quality English players who can play at the Champions League level, and since the rule is relatively new, the supply has failed to keep up. Homegrown talent is priced at a premium, and clubs are more likely to buy top English talent rather than buying average players to fill up the places.

With the recent transfer of Jack Grealish to Manchester city for EPL record transfer fee of £100 million, it's quite evident that big clubs are not shy of spending big on top English talents. And it's not the only transfer that has been perceived as overpriced by many, the transfer of;

Ben White to Arsenal for £50 million(whereas Raphael Varane moved to Manchester United for £34million)

Harry Maguire to Manchester United for £80 million

Raheem Sterling to Manchester City for £49 million (while City's all-time top scorer Sergio Aguero cost a mere £32m.)

(Credits: thesun.co.uk)
  • More Focus on Academies

As the supply can't keep up with the demand, clubs now are starting to give more attention to their academies. Many have started to give playing time to youngsters which is helpful for both the club and the player as the smaller clubs can sell the player at a much higher price if the player does good enough to impress the big clubs(Like Aston Villa did with Grealish) and for big clubs they have save a good amount and look to invest it somewhere else(As Liverpool have done it Trent).

Possibility of change

Former chairman of the English FA, Greg Dyke, said in 2015:

“First, we want to raise the existing requirements on homegrown players in Premier League squads, so that by 2020 12 of a 25-man squad will be homegrown, rather than the eight it is today, with at least two players having come through the academy of the club they play for.

“Second, we think we should close the loophole in the existing definition, so that in the future homegrown means homegrown. Players will have to have played three seasons with English clubs under the age of 18, rather than the current 21.”

The FA is still discussing these changes and what effects it will make on the English footballing scenario as a whole.

Conclusion

The Home Grown rule has certainly helped the league in promoting young talents into the center stage giving them a chance to shine. But we can't deny the fact that it has also inflated the price of English players, although most of them are justified. The price often shows the talent and future ceiling. Every record breaking transfer has many long term benefits to the clubs which outweighs the sum of money they spent.

May it be the signing of Raheem Sterling to Manchester City or Harry Maguire to Manchester United, they all have improved their sides significantly and are giving their prime years to the clubs. Also it has compelled clubs to give more emphasis on their academies and nurturing young talents for their respective clubs. The Home Grown rule is very important for the country's youth development but it has also made it difficult for the top clubs to sign foreign talents.

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