The FA has implemented a significant change regarding compensation for women's football transfers, aiming to provide more benefits to young players when they move on free transfers. Previously, players were allowed to move before signing a professional contract at 18 without their club receiving a fee.
Under the new rule, clubs in the Women's Super League (WSL) and Women's Championship will now receive a fee if their academy players are recruited by other clubs. In the WSL, every team will receive £5,000 for each year the player spends in their academy, should they eventually sign with a top-flight WSL club. The compensation differs for players moving from the Women's Championship to a WSL club, with the figure set at £2,500 per year of development.
For players moving from the WSL to the Championship, a compensation of £1,000 will be required, while it is set at £500 for transfers between two Championship clubs. However, the compensation will only be released when a player is signed by another team from the top two tiers of women's football.
Prior to this landmark change, players under 18 years old transferring teams would do so without a transfer fee, as they were unable to sign professional contracts until they turned 18. This resulted in cases like Lauren Hemp's move from Bristol to Manchester City in 2018, where Bristol did not receive any compensation as Hemp was 17 years old at the time.
This rule change aims to address the concern raised by clubs like Aston Villa, who saw their talented players being taken without compensation. The move allows clubs to continue investing in their talent pathways, which play a crucial role in developing the next generation of national team players, as well as those competing in the WSL and Championship over time.
Comments