What’s New?

The Danish Superliga has moved from Band 5 to Band 4, while the Swedish Allsvenskan and Norwegian Eliteserien go from Band 6 to Band 5, making it just that little bit easier for clubs in those leagues to do business with their counterparts in England. 

The ‘Exceptions Panel’ category where a player scores between 10 and 14 points - not enough for a pass but enough to warrant a review of the evidence by the FA and try to get a visa - was due to be scrapped after the January 2021 Winter transfer window, but has now been extended through at least Summer 2021.

Access to Youth players will now be via the Exceptions Panel, however there is no longer the requirement to score a minimum of 10 points on the Senior Criteria before being able to access the Exceptions Panel process. Youth players are still able to be assessed via the Senior Criteria where appropriate.

The criteria will be reviewed later this year in order that further revised measures can be issued in advance of the winter transfer window in January 2022. 

The Bands

The TransferRoom tool

TransferRoom launched its GBE Calculator at the start of the year in the wake of post-Brexit rules, and the tool has now been updated to reflect changes to the criteria for the Summer 2021 transfer window. 

TransferRoom members can go to an individual player’s profile page and use FA GBE Player Points to find out his status under the post-Brexit rules.

The tool quickly calculates how many points the player would earn, based on the latest performance data available, and simply reveals the corresponding status: “Auto-Pass”, “Pass”, “Fail” or “Exemptions Panel”.

Daniel Blades, Lead Data Analyst at TransferRoom, said: "Decision-makers at clubs do not have time to waste on deals that won’t be permitted, and making these calculations for all potential targets is complex and time consuming. These updates ensure the tool provides fast and clear guidance to our members for the Summer 2021 Window, for 80,000 players in our database."

Rules reminder

Players who have played a certain percentage of game minutes for their national teams over the preceding two years – the required proportion depending on the country’s world ranking - receive an “Auto-Pass”. 

If they do not qualify for an “Auto-Pass”, players need to gain 15 or more points that are available under various criteria in order to be given a “Pass”. Fewer than 10 points mean “Fail”. 

But 10-14 points would entitle a player’s case to go before an Exemptions Panel where the potential buying club could present arguments why they should be granted a GBE despite failing to meet the criteria.

Points mean permits

International players who don’t receive an Auto-Pass can still gain points according to the percentage of minutes they have played over the preceding two years. The club-related criteria are:

• Percentage of domestic minutes played (in the preceding year).

• Percentage of continental minutes played (in the preceding year).

• Final league position of last club in last complete season, and strength of that league.

• Progression of last club in continental competition, and strength of the competition.

• Strength of the league of the player’s last club.