GBE in the Women's Game
Day 4 of the 12 Days of GBE Expert Hub Content
So far the content and exploration in the 12 Days of GBE has concentrated on the men’s game. However, Brexit was all-encompassing and also came through at a time in which the women’s game in the UK was growing at a historically fast rate.
The rules put in place by the UK Government Home Office and The FA bear similarities to the ones in the men’s game, but there are also many differences, so a deep dive into the women’s game, and the GBE rules that apply, is absolutely warranted.
The GBE rules in the women’s game
In terms of the key criteria to get a GBE to work as a footballer in the UK, it is really only the WSL and The Women’s Championship in which these rules apply. I spent some time looking for GBE criteria for Scotland, and was unable to find any such legislation.
Bearing that in mind then, the structure of the rules is broadly similar to the criteria in the men’s game. There is an autopass available for international players, if players don’t meet that criteria then there is a points system to navigate.
The first key difference to bear in mind is that to qualify for a GBE through the points, a player needs to hit the 24 point mark. Whilst initially this sounds like an unfair hike in points, it is actually at this level because the way that the points are structured is different.
Autopasses
Addressing the autopass first, these are given to any player who has aggregrated a certain percentage of minutes for their country over the last two years. The minimum minutes required and the FIFA ranking of the countries (according to the most recent update of the aggregated rankings that the FA publish) can be seen in the image below.
So, in theory, if there is a player who is a regular Nigerian international, or Vietnamese, Costa Rican etc. and they have played 80% or more of the minutes that they were available for over the last two calendar years, then they are eligible for a work permit to play in the WSL or Championship.
Calculating some of these percentages could prove to be problematic of course, but we will come to that later in the piece.
There is also the issue of the level of international football in the women’s game at this stage. The depth is improving quickly, the Swiss did well against England last week for instance, but it is unlikely that many of the players outside of the top nations would have much of an impact in the domestic game.
How do players achieve 24 points?
In much the same way that the men do, but with different league bandings and different weightings for points.
The league bandings have been constantly changing with every iteration of rules that come out every season. The image below demonstrates the 2024/25 bandings, and the most recent change saw the top tier in Italy move from Band 2 into Band 1. This is significant because the leagues that are in Band 1 earn their players a lot more points across all of the different criteria.
The image shows that if the player that a WSL or Championship club is bringing in plays in any of the top tiers of the countries shown, then they get 9 points to start with before anything else has to be considered, so the target for the remaining criteria would then only be 15 points.
Domestic points
To try and keep this section simple I am going to break it down into domestic and continental sub-sections.
In terms of ease of calculation, the next best criteria to consider is where did the player’s current team finish last season. The points are not necessarily decided on position though, it is more about what that position qualifies you for, so a recruitment agent would need to know the rules of the different leagues in terms of which positions qualify you for which continental tournaments.
It is also interesting to note that the points are consistent across the different bands, so a player that plays for a title winner in any league is entitled to 10 points. It is interesting to note that ‘promotion’ is given a points value despite the fact that all of the leagues in Band 1 and Band 2 are top tiers.
Sticking to domestic issues, the percentage of minutes that a player has played in the domestic league also earns points. There is a slight difference here between Band 1 and Band 2, but the big drop off is for Band 3, if you aren’t playing in one of those 14 banded leagues then it is difficult to get a GBE for this reason.
Point to note:
A player only has to play the percentage of their available minutes. This means that players aren’t necessarily punished unjustly for time spent out injured. This has to be borne in mind when calculating a player’s minutes, and makes it fairly difficult to code accurately, especially if the data isn’t necessarily available on a public platform.
Continental Criteria
Some players will already have the necessary points through the domestic system. A player for a team in a Band 1 league, who played 70% of their minutes as they qualified for the qualifiers of a continental competition already would have 25 points.
However, for players who perhaps haven’t played the number of minutes required in the league, could be eligible for points if their club played in continental competition.
The only continental competitions that are mentioned by name in the literature are the UEFA Women’s Champions League and the Copa Libertadores Femenina, these two competitions are given Band 1 status, and along with that comes many more points.
If a player’s club has played in the group stages or beyond of either of those competitions, then more points will come their way. There are some points available for other continental competitions, but this brings us to another sticking point of the regulations.
If signing a player who plays outside of Europe or South America, none of the continental competitions are banded. Indeed, Australia doesn’t seem to take part in any continental women’s competition at all, so players from that league are disadvantaged in this system.
The image below shows the numbers of points available for minutes played in a continental competition.
Those are all of the documented criteria for the women’s game, very similar in structure to the men’s game, but with adaptations made to fit the current situation globally with the women’s game.
Also, something that hasn’t been mentioned so far, is that if a player doesn’t have enough international minutes for an autopass, they could still attain some points for their 24 point GBE application.
Points make prizes
As has probably become obvious, if a player is playing regularly for a team in Band 1, then they are likely to have enough points for a GBE. If they, or their club has played, in Band 1 continental competition, then they definitely get enough points to get a GBE.
Things get a little dicier for a Band 2 player. A Band 2 title winner would’ve had to play 70% of available domestic minutes to get a pass without relying on contintental or international minutes.
The difference to the men’s game is that it is still possible to get a GBE from Band 3. If a player played over 90% minutes for a Band 3 title winner that would put them on 20 points. They would then need some international minutes or continental minutes, but that is eminently possible.
In this season’s Women’s Champions League, Galatasaray and St. Polten were Band 3 clubs who reached the group stages, whilst, ZNK Mura, Benfica, Osijek, Slavia Prague, Servette, Anderlecht, Vorskla Poltava, and Sporting CP, were all a match away from the same stage. Minutes from qualifying do still count towards a number of points as well.
UEFA announced that the 2025/26 season would see the inception of a second competition, akin to the Europa League in the men’s game. I suspect that there will be something mentioned about that competition in the 2025/26 GBE regulations, could there be three bands of continental competition perhaps?
The exceptions panel
As in the men’s game, if a player doesn’t reach the threshold of points then there is the possibility for the club who want to sign the player to call for an exceptions panel to meet to see if the player can still get a GBE.
However, the ability to convene an exceptions panel will only come into play if the player earns 20-23 points and the club can provide reasons as to why the player didn’t attain the 24 required.
Alternatively, if the player was absent during the entirety of the international period or if the player is a youth player (born 1st January 2003 or later) then the club has to demonstrate that the player shows significant potential and is of elite quality to enhance the development of the game in England.
Point to note:
There is no ESC legislation in the women’s game at this time, so a GBE can only be earned through the above methods.
The impact of the GBE system on recruitment
Now we know how players can attain a GBE, what has actually been happening in the women’s game in terms of recruitment?
Taking the WSL first of all, there has been huge transformation in the last few seasons in terms of both the number and the origin of transfers coming into the league.
In the 2018/19 season there were only 66 transfers made in total, whereas in the 2023/24 season there were 63 foreign transfers alone into the league.
The number of total transfers has doubled, and, interestingly, despite the restrictions of the GBE regulations, the percentage of transfers that require a GBE has risen from around 37% pre-Brexit, to exactly half of all transfers, a rise of 13%.
When half of all transfers into the WSL are GBE requiring, then it is really important that those signings do well if a team is going to be successful. This is where quality scouting and recruitment play such a big role in successful clubs. With the potential coming of greater UEFA opportunities, and the development of the WSL and other European leagues, then it is a real land of opportunity for clubs who get their recruitment right.
The GBE Expert Hub has gathered excellent knowledge of the regulations for the women’s game and has built a team capable of helping to identify the right players to be effective in the WSL and Championship. Get in touch to learn more about our services.
However, there is the other side of the coin as well. The above chart shows where players into the WSL have come from in the last six seasons. Domestic leagues have been kept off the data, and the colour coding is blue for Band 1, green for Band 2, and red for Band 3.
Firstly, is there a case for Norway and Australia being in Band 1 ahead of the likes of Italy? Mexico is an interesting choice for a Band 2 competition as well.
But one of the key concerns for many in the women’s game in the UK is the proliferation of players coming into the WSL from Sweden, France, and other Band 1 leagues. Are the rules doing the job of protecting the homegrown talent effectively? Is there to be a knock-on negative effect to the Lionesses?
Meanwhile, fees are growing, more investment in women’s teams lower down the pyramid is happening, and the potential is surely there for a continuation of a rapid growth in many areas of the women’s game.
The GBE rules apply to the Championship as well as the WSL, however, the historic transfer data is not quite as easy to come by. From the unofficial sources I can find, however, I have calculated the following data from 2018-2024 Championship transfers.
The percentage of transfers that require a GBE has almost doubled post-Brexit. However, that figure is down to one team only, the London City Lionesses.
By our calculations the Lionesses have signed 12 players in the last two years that required a work permit. The investment is clearly there for the Lionesses , but, as of yet, it has not delivered a promotion into WSL, and they are currently 4th in the Championship this season at the time of writing.
Over that same period of the last two years, only Birmingham City (2), Sheffield United, and Lewes look like they have used the GBE system to recruit players whilst in the Championship.
Non-playing staff in the women’s game
There are GBE requirements for non-playing staff in the women’s game as well. These will be covered in depth tomorrow as part of the GBE for non-playing staff article…