Foreign player minutes increased across all English leagues in 2025/26: Is this a problem or an inevitable change?

Analysis of the changes seen across English football when it comes to foreign vs domestic minutes

I was working on the number of ESC slots that clubs have for this summer window when I wondered, how much have the minutes given to foreign players changed from last season to this season?

The whole complication around the number of ESC slots available and the rules that went into whether a player qualifies or not, was as a result of the drop in minutes given to EQP (English Qualified Players) in the Premier League.

This led to much discussion between the Home Office and The FA, alongside key stakeholders, as to what to do with the ESC threshold. I wrote about all this in my recent piece on the changes.

However, it did make me wonder about how this came to be, i.e. how does it break down over Premier League clubs, and also, what about the EFL leagues as well? Is the overall trend of more minutes to non-domestic players drifting its way down the leagues as many trends tend to do?