NEW FA INTERNATIONAL RANKINGS - MEN'S GAME - WINTER 2026

The FA have updated their 12 month and 24 month rankings for the men's game

As a regular reader of the GBE Expert Hub you will already know about the importance of international football in getting a player a work permit.

Even in the days before GBE and ESC, international football was a key component, and the main way of proving.that an overseas national was a player capable of playing in the UK.

In the current structure international appearances are the way of getting an autopass.

The autopass criteria are described in the image above. As you can see though in the same image, even getting some appearances for a national team in the top 20 gets a player substantial points, and even for a nation in the 21-50 ranking slots playing in 20% or more of a nation’s competitive matches over a 12/24 month period of time counts for a decent number of points.

The key number here is 50. Being in the top 50 ranked nations in these updated lists means a number of things:

• Autopasses are possible for any player who plays in 70% of their competitive fixtures

• High points are possible

• ESC for both senior and junior internationals is much more easy to get, only one appearance required rather than five