The term “loan army” will be a thing of the past under the new loan regulations that are being introduced by FIFA. The new regulations will go into effect on July 1 in an effort to develop young players and prevent hoarding, usually by larger clubs around the world.
A few things will be done to reach this goal as the terms of loans will now need to be clearly defined via written agreement that includes the duration and financial conditions. This will likely stop scenarios like the dispute between Leeds United and RB Leipzig over Jean-Kevin Augustin.
In this case, Leeds United were under an obligation to purchase Augustin upon gaining promotion to the Premier League but due to the season ending late because of COVID, Leeds didn’t pay to make the transfer permanent as the signing was supposed to be completed by June 30 of the season. The saga is now in the hands of FIFA and lawyers due to RB Leipzig demanding compensation, but it could’ve been avoided with a properly written agreement based on the objectives achieved and not the date.
Other changes to the process are that there will be a minimum loan duration of the period between two registration windows and a maximum duration of one year. The limit of loans to the same club during the season will drop to a maximum of three professionals loaned in at one time. This would prohibit a current situation where Wolves have four players on loan to Grasshopper in the Swiss Super League.
The biggest change will be a limit on total loans per season which will decrease each year between 2022 and 2024. From July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023, a club may have a maximum of eight professionals loaned out and eight loaned in at any given time during a season. From July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, that number will drop to seven players and after July 1, 2024 it will drop to six.
Players who are under 21 or trained by the club will be exempt from these limitations. So it will be beneficial to use your academy to produce talent as singing six players from Brazil and loaning them back to their clubs will block all of your spots. Some teams have already begun shedding players to prepare for the crack down but it should cause an influx of talent onto smaller teams worldwide.
