TransferRoom outlines the key factors as clubs decide who leaves, who stays and who might have to be sold to fit the rule book.

• Player limits - in and out

Teams can have a maximum of eight professionals loaned out and eight loaned in at any given time during the 2022-23 season.

This will drop to seven in and seven out in 2023-24, and six for 2024-25 and onwards.

• Who’s exempt?

Players aged 21 and younger and club-trained players (those who have spent three seasons with their current club between ages of 15 and 21) can be loaned outside of the limit, but both conditions must be met. For example, a 22-year-old club trained player and a 20-year-old foreign player who has only been with the club two years would each take up one of those eight spots.

• Maximum term limit

Each individual loan will only be able to last one year, meaning Juventus’ recent two-year loan deals for Federico Chiesa and Manuel Locatelli (pictured together) in recent seasons will no longer be permitted. There will be no limit on how many times a player is loaned to one club, so long as each deal does not exceed one year.

• Three is the magic number

A club cannot loan more than three players to the same club in a single season. 

• No more loans within a loan

Sub-loans are now banned in a bid to improve transparency and contractual stability in the loan market.

• Exact details needed

While a written agreement defining the terms of a loan has always been a requirement, it must now include details on the exact duration of the deal and clear financial conditions.

• Three-year countdown

Member associations will be given three years to implement a domestic loan structure in line with FIFA’s international measures.

• Why is FIFA doing this?

A 2021 Council of Europe Report on FIFA Transfer System Reform, the basis for the regulation changes, said: “The new regulations on the loan system are planned to prevent their misuses, protect careers of young players and ensure the integrity of competitions. Excessive loaning of players has influenced the competitive abilities of the clubs, distorted the uncertainty of the results of sport competitions and slowed down the development of the players’ careers.”

• Every loan counts

With limits on the number of loan players coming in and going out, it's never been more important to ensure the success of a temporary move. If your player is not getting minutes out on loan, he may be using up a spot that could have been better reserved for a team-mate.

TransferRoom’s Virtual Loan Assistant provides a loan rating system that helps parent clubs pitch players at the right level and identify the best clubs to provide sufficient game time.

You can also see who the best clubs were for bringing in loan players and loaning them out in 2021-22, as well as the biggest success stories for loanees last season, below.