Under the 2022 GBE Rules, female players are required to score a total of 24 points across five different categories.
As with the GBE criteria for the men’s game, the women’s game does not provide for a separate set of criteria for youth female players.
Note that only Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship clubs (i.e. clubs from the first two women’s professional divisions) are eligible to apply for GBE’s and subsequently sponsor female players.
A player who does not gather a total of 24 points across all criteria, will only have recourse to an exceptions panel if:
- The Player achieves between 20-23 points across all criteria (see below) AND the club is able to demonstrate that she was prevented from achieving 24 points due to ‘exceptional circumstances’; or
- She was unavailable for selection during the International Reference Period (i.e. either 24 months or 12 months before the GBE application depending on whether the player was a senior or youth player). A player will be considered unavailable for selection if she is injured, serving a suspension, is pregnant/on maternity leave or any other circumstance which would legitimately prevent her from physically entering the field of play but which shall not include any other period of suspension imposed by the player’s national association, UEFA, FIFA or the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Under the 2022 GBE Rules, senior female players (i.e., aged 22 or over years) will be required to score a total of 24 points across the following five categories:
a. International appearances: As a general rule, players are required to make a certain percentage of appearances for their national teams over the 24 month period preceding the GBE application. The higher the FIFA ranking of the player’s national team, the lower the % of required appearances the player is required to make.
At the outset, it is to be noted that this is the only category under which players are eligible for an ‘Auto Pass’ or an automatic GBE, without the need to score points under the other criteria.
This rule is based on the premise that the better the national team’s FIFA rankings, the better the quality of players generally available for selection in that country.
So, for example, a player from a country like the USA, ranked within the FIFA top 10 only needs to make a minimum of 50% of appearances for her national team (in competitive matches) during the International Reference Period to get an ‘Auto Pass’. On the other hand, a player form, say, Finland (ranked 30), would need at least 80% appearances for her country, if she was to automatically qualify for the GBE.
However, if players do not meet the automatic threshold, they will still be eligible to score points, based on the percentage of appearances they have made during the International Reference Period. The Auto Pass route is not available to players from countries outside the FIFA top 40. These players can only score points (a maximum of one point) if they have made a minimum of 90% appearances for their national team.
A tabular representation of this criteria, as set out by The FA has been reproduced below:
b. Player’s Domestic Minutes: The FA have introduced a system of ranking domestic leagues into two categories, or ‘Bands’. Band 1 comprises the higher quality leagues and Band 2, the lower.
For instance:
- Band 1 leagues are the English Women’s Super League, Australian W-League, French Feminine Division 1, Italian Femminile Serie A, German Frauen Bundesliga, National Women’s Soccer League, Spanish Women’s Primera Division, Swedish Damallsvenskan, Norwegian Toppserien, and the Danish Elitedivisionen ; and
- Band 2 leagues are all other leagues not expressly classified as Band 1.
Players who play more minutes in a higher ‘Band’ league, will be awarded more points (as below).
c. Player’s Continental Minutes: As with domestic leagues, The FA has classified continental club competitions (such as the UEFA Women’s Champions League) into two ‘Bands’.
- Band 1 includes the UEFA Women’s Champions League and the Copa Libertadores Femenina. This is significant, given that the Copa Libertadores has been given the same value as the UEFA Champions League. Perhaps this is indicative of the value placed by The FA on South American players, in that they are viewed at par with those playing in the UEFA Champions League.
- Any other continental competition not classified as Band 1 above, is classified as Band 2 (so this includes all other continental competitions organised by the six FIFA confederations).
d. Final League Position of the Player’s Last Club: Players will be awarded points based on the final league position of the player’s last club, provided that the player has played at least 1% of the domestic minutes she was available for selection.
A player will be awarded more points if the finishing position of the player’s previous team falls within a higher domestic band.
e. Quality of the Transferor Club: Finally, a player will also be awarded points based on which ‘Band’ (1 or 2) club she is transferring from. Higher points are awarded for Band 1 clubs (10) as opposed to Band 2 (5).
