The FIGC have officially announced their decision to treat British and Swiss footballers as EU citizens for purposes of squad registration.
Italian clubs are only able to sign two non-EU players per season, an issue that Milan ran into this summer after making a move for Ruben Loftus-Cheek, leaving them with just one non-EU player slot available.
Neither Great Britain nor Switzerland are part of the European Union, although the latter is part of the Schengen area.
As announced today, footballers in Italy with British and Swiss citizenship are now considered equivalent to EU citizens in all respects, a change that applies from the 2023-24 season onwards.
The decision now means that Milan have two free non-EU player slots available in the squad. One of these will be filled by Villarreal winger Samuel Chukwueze, but the other is free, giving the club more flexibility in the transfer market.
Daichi Kamada was linked with a move to the Rossoneri this summer but was reportedly looked over due to his non-EU status.
How about Norway, a Schengen and EEC member but not EU-member. I imagine they are counted as EU players already?
Then what about Ireland? Are they different than UK players?
It’s a weird system – The rule should pertain to Non-Italian players, and the rule should be the same for every league that qualifies to the UEFA competitions. The EU stuff doesn’t make sense in football.
OH WOW! That’s a game changer!