On the 20th of January 2022, FIFA, the world football governing body announced changes to the football loan system. Clubs will be limited to a maximum of eight international loan signings in and eight loaned out.
The number will drop to seven loans ahead of the 2023/24 season and six from the 2024/25 season, where it will remain for the foreseeable future.
As the end of January approaches, FIFA's Transfer Window Countdown tool shows the time left for clubs to complete transfers in each football association: https://t.co/RrDnJlaWSO pic.twitter.com/SuVEOVl1O4— FIFA Media (@fifamedia) January 24, 2022
As the end of January approaches, FIFA's Transfer Window Countdown tool shows the time left for clubs to complete transfers in each football association: https://t.co/RrDnJlaWSO pic.twitter.com/SuVEOVl1O4
It is the responsibility of national associations to bring their rules in line with the FIFA regulations within 3 years. It is worth nothing the new rules will not apply to players aged 21 and younger and club-trained players will also be exempt.
That means clubs who bring players through the ranks will be able to loan those players out and therefore it promotes the development of local talent rather than the buying and hoarding of players.
In fact, when speaking about the new regulations, FIFA said, the new rules are “firmly anchored on the following core objectives: developing young players, promoting competitive balance and preventing the hoarding of players”.
It is the latter part of the statement that is the most important, especially as far as some English Premier League clubs are concerned. FIFA want to try and stop clubs buying a lot of players, loaning them out and then selling them on for significant transfer fees.
The players in question often do not even play a single game for their parent club but are being used to make a profit and that is what FIFA want to stop from happening in the future.
The richest teams are going to have to make changes to their recruitment strategy in the next transfer window. Chelsea is a good example of a team who are going to feel the impact of the changes in the loan system.
At the time of writing, Chelsea list 21 players as being out on loan and eight of those players have moved to clubs outside England. Manchester City are another club who will have to make changes and they currently have 14 players out on loan.
Chelsea have known about these changes for some time and have moved to bring down the number of players they have out on loan. A look back at the 2018/19 season shows Chelsea had 49 players out on loan throughout the campaign and as highlighted above, this number has been brought down at 21 players in the 2021/22 season.
Mario Pasalic and Michael Hector are examples of players who signed for Chelsea and remained at the club for some time without ever making a first team appearance.
They went out on loan on several occasions and were eventually sold, with Pasalic joining Atalanta permanently for €15 million and Hector joining Fulham for an undisclosed fee having been at Stamford Bridge for 5 years.
The new FIFA regulations will prevent that from happening in the future and will bring an end to the hoarding of players by the richest clubs, which must be a good thing for football.