Call answered! Italian federation abolishes rule on non-EU players, what does this mean for Serie A clubs?

This is a big and probably welcome change for Italian football. The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) has decided to consider Swiss and British footballers as EU citizens for the purposes of registration in their respective teams. So it could be said that the federation has heeded the recent call of Aurelio de Laurentiis.

Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis recently complained about a rule that limits Serie A clubs to signing only two non-EU players. He said this prevents Serie A clubs from going their own way.

“Why are we hunting fewer players from South America? Because of the Bossi-Fini law, which applies to non-EU citizens. England used to be part of the union and now it’s not. The Lega, including Malago and Gravina, should point this out,” he said at a recent press conference on the appointment of a new sporting director.

And so they did. In fact, the Italian football federation announced its decision to consider Swiss and British footballers as EU citizens.

This will also allow Serie A clubs more flexibility in the transfer market. The fact is that this rule has been very restrictive for Italian clubs.

If a player did not have a valid passport in one of the EU countries and the club had already brought in, for example, two players from England in a given season, the club could not afford any more non-European foreigners under the previous regulations.

According to Football Italia, this change will come into force at the start of the new season. It can therefore be concluded that the call of the president of Naples has been heard.

In the recent past, AC Milan, for example, had a problem because of this rule. After the transfer of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, the Italian big club had room for only one player with non-EU citizenship.

As a result, the Rossoneri have reportedly given up on the idea of transferring Daichi Kamada as they preferred to transfer Samuel Chukwueze from Villarreal.

Source: Football Italia, Serie A