So the votes are in. Britain’s status as a member of the European Union is now on borrowed time after the victory for the Brexit campaign. But what could that mean for professional sport in the United Kingdom?
Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union establishes the procedures for a member state to withdraw from the EU. Once that is invoked, Britain will have a two-year window in which to negotiate a new treaty to replace the terms of EU membership.
According to Paul Shapiro, an associate at law firm Charles Russell Speechlys, that means the real effects could take some time to filter through, although he predicts a significant impact on various issues from the increased cost of transfers (West Ham’s €40m offer to buy Marseille’s Michy Batshuayi was worth £31m on Thursday but now already equates to more than £34m) to problems with work permits for players from EU countries.
“While the focus of the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union is likely to be on the impact on the City and migration, the impact on the sports world could be significant,” said Shapiro.
“However, we will not know how significant this will be until we have a clearer idea of the terms the UK negotiates for its continued relationship with the EU. If the agreement with the EU includes broad free movement obligations, such as those currently in place with EEA members, the current position regarding the movement of players between the continent and the UK will most likely continue.
“If, instead, an agreement is reached which includes restrictions on the movement of persons and services, the impact on the sports world would be more significant. Firstly, English players may not be able to move to the continent freely and EU nationals could be subject to entry restrictions when seeking to play in England, if post- Brexit they are treated in the same way as current non-EU nationals.”
Within a few hours of the result being confirmed, the Premier League played down concerns that the competition could be adversely affected by the developments.
“The Premier League is a hugely successful sporting competition that has strong domestic and global appeal. This will continue to be the case regardless of the referendum result,” read a statement.
“Given the uncertain nature of what the political and regulatory landscape might be following the ‘Leave’ vote, there is little point second-guessing the implications until there is greater clarity.
“Clearly, we will continue to work with government and other bodies whatever the outcome of any process.”
Yet it may not take for those implications to become clear. At the last count, there were more than 400 players plying their trade in the top two divisions in England and Scotland, with the vast majority unlikely to pass the stringent work permit requirements introduced by the Football Association in March 2015. Previously, in order to qualify to play in the UK, players needed to have played in at least 75% of their country’s senior international matches over the previous two years.
The new requirements state that non-EEA (European Economic Area) players will have to meet a minimum percentage of international matches played for their country over the previous 24-month period, as determined by that country’s Fifa world ranking – a model that is now likely to be extended to include players from EU countries as well. Freedom of movement, a principle central to the European project, has previously allowed players to earn a living in the UK without the need for a complicated work permit process.
“There’s been a lot of talk about work permits and what is going to happen to Anthony Martial and some of these promising academy players,” said Jake Cohen, a sports lawyer at Mills & Reeve.
“But the reality is it seems very unlikely that current contracts will be affected immediately because it could still be two years before the UK leaves the EU.”
Under the current rules, for example, Martial, Morgan Schneiderlin, Yohan Cabaye and N’Golo Kanté would no longer be eligible for a work permit having not featured in more than 45% of France’s matches since June 2014.
However, of more immediate concern for Premier League clubs is the fact that Brexit could also spell the end of the influx of teenage players from the European Union, who were previously considered as “homegrown” players who, irrespective of nationality or age, have been “registered with any club affiliated to the Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons or 36 months prior to his 21st birthday”. Current Premier League rules state that clubs must include eight such players out of a squad of 25, with Chelsea’s Cesc Fàbregas among those whose status would change.
“British football clubs may find themselves only able to sign foreign players over the age of 18 as, outside the EU/EEA, they would no longer be able to benefit from the exception under the current Fifa regulations given for transfers involving 16 and 17 year old footballers within the EU/EEA,” said Shapiro.
“If EU law ceases to apply in the UK, the organisers of sports competitions may be able to more effectively restrict the number of foreign players that feature in matchday squads as they could potentially include EU nationals and Kolpak players within any foreign player quota. Some governing bodies may see this as advantageous in that it would allow them to discriminate in favour of the development of English-qualified players to the potential advantage of the national team whereas it could be damaging to leagues/clubs who would be less competitive in their ability to attract the best players from across the continent.”
Cohen added: “When Paul Pogba came over to Manchester United from Le Havre that was only made possible because of the EU/EEA exception. There’s always been tension between the FA and the Premier League about the number of England-qualified players in the national team over that issue so it will be interesting to see how this effects that. Fifa are not going to negotiate a UK-specific rule as a result of the decision to leave the European Union.
“There are more than 70 kids currently playing for Premier League Under-18 teams. Some of these guys will end up being top players, and the loss of the Article 19 exemption would put Premier League clubs at a significant disadvantage over their European counterparts. Investing heavily in youth is football’s ultimate low-risk, high-reward talent acquisition strategy, and having to wait an extra two years to sign these players would be a blow to a talent pipeline that has been absolutely fundamental to Premier League clubs.
“Then there are some players whose contracts are negotiated in euros – they certainly look a little better today.”
But it is not just the football industry that could feel the pinch. The Kolpak agreement of 2003 opened a can of worms for the England and Wales Cricket Board. From a situation where there was a sensible restriction on overseas players, county cricket became flooded with largely cheap cricketers from South Africa in particular, but also Zimbabwe and a number of Caribbean islands, all part of the African,Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of states. That group signed the Conotou Agreement with EU in 2000. By 2008 there were 60 Kolpak players registered to play county cricket.
Since then ECB has tried hard to find measures to reduce the influx. They were helped by a Conotou clarification, that said the agreement should apply to the movement of trade and services rather than labour. There was an attempt effectively to fine the counties by charging them for fielding non-England-qualified players. Finally, the Home Office brought in a ruling stating that any Kolpak player had to have a valid work visa for a four year period to qualify as an EU citizen.
As with other sports, Brexit will mean that Kolpak ruling no longer applies to cricket and the flow of players will have to stop. There is certain to be a moratorium however. The impact is unlikely to be immediate.
Meanwhile, rugby authorities in the UK have confirmed they will wait until the terms of Britain’s exit from the European Union are agreed before looking at the regulations governing overseas players.
Currently, the ‘foreign player’ rule does not apply to those from other EU countries or nations like South Africa, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, who have an association agreement with the EU that allows their citizens the same freedom of work and movement as those who are from the member states. The current rule in the Premiership is that a club may have no more than two foreign players in a match day 23: if the EU exit negotiations mean that the current freedom of movement lapses, European and Kolpak players will be included in that tally and will only be granted a work permit if they have played in a Test match in the previous 15 months.
One option would be to increase the quota of foreign players to five or six, but clubs would not be able to sign up emerging players from outside the British Isles while there would also be implications for players wanting to join French or Italian clubs.
