Ignore the troll guys.
FIFA rules re minor transfers: https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/2130eb84c31cf4e4/original/lb2t6bqgmi2a1x1pr5xs-pdf.pdf My interpretation is that of course an EU passport allows you to go to Europe at any age. However, before 16, you’re generally limited to the country of your passport for purposes of playing soccer UNLESS you’re in another EU country for a non-soccer passport. |
I was born in Spain but lived in the US most of my adult life. My kids are US citizens but they both have Spanish passports. If in the next couple of years I decide to move back to Spain. No job offer, just move because I want too. My kids will need permission to play there? They are 9 and 12. |
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No because you and they have Spanish passports. If you move to a different country than Spain, yes, you’ll need to show a non-soccer related reason why you’re in that non-Spanish country |
For a non-soccer REASON (not passport) |
You don't know what you're talking about, clearly. I've done this so I don't care whether you believe it or not. You haven't done it that is for sure. Show up at any professional academy with just an EU passport under the age of 16 coming from the US and you will be in for a rude awakening. The only way to get around it is to move to the country, because you have the passport, sign up to a local club (non professional) and play there for six -ti nine months (a season). But that essentially satisfies the moving for non football related reasons exception. FIFA doesn't care about local club football. Can you show up in the country and move there because you have a valid passport, for sure. Those are immigration rules. Playing football is governed by FIFA and FIFA rules apply to step on the field. Completely separate from immigration and more stringent by design to protect minors. https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/620d0240c40944ed/original/Regulations-on-the-Status-and-Transfer-of-Players-October-2022-edition.pdf That is FIFAs full rules on the transfer of ALL players including minors. Article VII section 19 pages 34-39 governs minor transfers. Pretty clear and unambiguous. If your transfer doesn't fall within these guidelines it won't happen. .Period. But if you want to try, be my guest. Just wasting your time. |
Essentially correct |
Wrong. It is an international transfer. US to Spain and the FIFA international transfer rules apply. Unless the kid has never player football anywhere. First registration in Spain is possible in this scenario with just the passport. What makes it an international transfer is the soccer federation you're coming from.not your passport. If you are coming from the Spanish federation with a Spanish passport no problem there. |
Like was said in a PP. Before USSF and MLS agreed to FIFA rules on transfer of players, meaning getting paid for them and their training, European clubs were taking youth players from.the us for FREE because they couldn't get youth players completely free in their own countries and from other countries because they all wanted money, especially training compensation. That has now stopped. Once a player is 18 and they are out of contract can they move for free, of course. That is obvious. What the European clubs were trying to do was take the best US talent and lock them up contractually early as youth players so they could get paid from the USSFs ignorance and stupidity about transfer rules. This is exactly.why the USSF agreed to the FIFA rules in 2022 because they lost so much money on the sale of pulisic, McKinnie, reyna etc. US clubs didn't get a.dime for those sales and that was a shame but fair play to the German clubs that locked them up unencumbered. European players who are transferring for free also carry training compensation fees which aren't reflected publicly. And those fees are significant coming from European pro academiss. 20k-60k per year a kid was in the academy depending on the grade of the academy. Remember USSF was not demanding training comp or solidarity payments for anyone untill three years ago. This was a game changer for overseas clubs because the players were Completely free from the us before then. Why they were getting a lot of opportunities at younger ages. Take Weston Mckinnie for instance. If an equivalent number 6 from.say SC Freiburg who spent 4 years in the academy, the same.amount of time.Mckinnie spent in FC Dallas, the actual transfer would be free for both. But training comp of close to six figures would.be owed for the player from.sc Freiburg.who would you take if the skills were close. That is the argument. At youth ages. |
You could play locally in Spain right away in this scenario. But at a pro.club. No. |
The problem here is that people are conflating immigration with playing football. They are related but very different. If you have a valid reason to live in a country, you can play football there locally 100 percent at a local club. Where there is a problem is when pro clubs get involved. That is where FIFA really monitors the player movement at young ages because there is so much money at stake.al. So, you can't just show up with a EU passport and play at a pro academy unless you fall in some of the exceptions, under the age of 18. |