Under the 2021 GBE Rules, senior male players (i.e., aged over 21 years) will be required to score a total of 15 points across the following six categories:

1. 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 Brazil, ranked within the FIFA top 10 only needs to make a minimum of 30% of appearances for his national team (in competitive matches) during the 24 month period preceding the application, to get an ‘Auto Pass’. On the other hand, a player form, say, Australia (ranked 42), would need at least 70% appearances for his country, if he 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 24 month period before the GBE application.

The Auto Pass route is not available to players from countries outside the FIFA top 50. These players can only score points if they have made a minimum of 80% appearances for their national team.

A tabular representation of this criteria, as set out by The FA has been reproduced below:

2. Player’s Domestic Minutes: The FA have introduced a system of ranking domestic leagues into categories, or ‘Bands’ from 1-6. Band 1 comprises the higher quality leagues and Band 6, the lower.

For instance:

• Band 1 leagues are the English Premier League, the Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1
• Band 2 leagues are the Portuguese Primeira Liga, Eredivisie, Belgian First Division A, the Turkish Super Lig and the English Championship;
• Band 3 leagues are the Russian Premier League, Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, Primera División of Argentina, Liga MX and the Scottish Premiership;
• Band 4 leagues are the Czech First League, Croatian First Football League, the Swiss Super League, La Liga 2, Bundesliga 2, Ukrainian Premier League, the Greek Superleague, the Colombian Categoría Primera A, the USA’s Major League Soccer, the Austrian Football Bundesliga and Ligue 2;
• Band 5 leagues are the Serbian SuperLiga, the Danish Superliga, the Polish Ekstraklasa, the Slovenian PrvaLiga, the Chilean Primera División, the Uruguayan Primera División and the Chinese Super League; and
• All other leagues not explicitly identified as Band 1-5 above, are classified as Band 6.

Players who play more minutes in a higher ‘Band’ league, will be awarded more points (as below).

3. Player’s Continental Minutes: As with domestic leagues, The FA has classified continental club competitions (such as the UEFA Champions League) into 3 Bands.

• Band 1 includes the UEFA Champions League and the Copa Libertadores. 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.
• Band 2 includes the UEFA Europa League and the Copa Sudamerica.
• Any other continental competition not classified as Band 1 or 2 above, is classified as Band 3 (so this includes continental competitions organised by the AFC, CONCACAF, CAF, OFC).

4. 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, subject to the following two conditions:

• The player must have been included in the matchday squad for at least one match in the domestic league competition; and
• The player must have played at least 1% of the minutes for his previous club in a domestic cup competition (and such competition must have a qualification route to a continental competition, for e.g., The FA Cup, but not the EFL Cup).

A player will be awarded more points if the finishing position of the player’s previous team falls within a higher domestic band (see category 2 above). Interestingly, under this category, The FA values promotion to a higher division more than even qualification for continental competitions in some instances.

If, for example, a team wins the league title (e.g., Premier League), thereby also qualifying for a continental competition (UEFA Champions League), the player will only be granted the higher of the points he is eligible for, so in this case – only points available for winning the Premier League (6) as opposed to 6+5 points (for qualifying for the UEFA Champions League).

5. Continental Progression of Player’s Last Club: Players will be awarded points based on how far his team progresses in Continental Competitions, subject to two conditions:

• The player must have been included in the matchday squad for at least one match in the domestic league or continental competitions; and
• The player must have played at least 1% of the minutes for his previous club in a domestic cup competition (and such competition must have a qualification route to a continental competition, for e.g., The FA Cup, but not the EFL Cup).

The FA have assigned ‘Bands’ to continental competitions (different to the Bands 1-6 assigned to domestic leagues). The UEFA Champions League and Copa Libertadores are classified as Band 1, while the UEFA Europa League and Copa Sudamerica qualify as Band 2. All other continental competitions fall under the Band 3 category.

A player will be awarded more points if his team progressed further within a higher banded continental competition (see category 3 above).

As with the finishing position of the player’s pervious team in domestic league competition, the player will only be granted the higher of the points he is eligible for; so for example, if a player’s team reaches the final of the UEFA Europa League (Band 2), the player will only be granted 7 points, and not 7 + 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 points for every stage of the competition the team would have progressed through, as a result.

6. Quality of the Transferor Club: Finally, a player will also be awarded points based on which ‘Band’ League (1-6) he is transferring from. Higher points are awarded for Band 1 clubs (12) as opposed to Band 2 (10), Band 3 (8), Band 4 (6), Band 5 (4) and Band 6 (2). Points under this category will only be awarded if:

• The player appeared on the matchday squad list for at least one match in the domestic league/continental competition; or
• The value of the player’s domestic cup minutes was at least 1% during the 12 months preceding the GBE application.