Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players August 2021

About the August 2021 editionChanges from February 2021

This edition was approved on 31 August 2021 by the Bureau of the FIFA Council and entered into force immediately. With the establishment of the Football Tribunal, the institutional references throughout the regulations were rewritten in full.

Key changes from the previous edition

1. Institutional replacement: the Football Tribunal enters the text of the regulationsEarlier references to the Players' Status Committee and the Dispute Resolution Chamber gave way to the Football Tribunal and its chambers. For example, approval of the international transfer of a minor was placed with the Players' Status Chamber of the Football Tribunal, and it was specified that the procedure is governed by the Procedural Rules Governing the Football Tribunal.
2. Deletion of article 24bis — enforcement of monetary decisionsThis article, which had been in the regulations since the June 2018 edition, was removed from the text; in the same edition, the list of sanctions that may be imposed by the Football Tribunal (warning, reprimand, fine, ban on registering players) is specified in the text.
3. A system for approving transfers of minors based on the age of tenFor a minor aged ten and above, approval by the Players' Status Chamber became mandatory before any ITC request or first registration; for a player under ten, responsibility for establishing that an exception applies was placed on the registering association and before registration.
4. Introduction of the "limited minor exemption" (LME)A new mechanism was introduced under which an association may request a limited exemption from the Players' Status Chamber of the Football Tribunal; this exemption, solely for amateur minor players and under specified conditions, relieves the association of certain formalities.
5. End of the temporary COVID amendments to registration periodsThe text concerning the overlap of the 2020/21 season transfer window and the permission to register with three clubs was deleted, and the rule that "the first registration period begins on the first day of the season" returned without the temporary exception.