Here’s how Brexit could affect British football

As the Brexit result occupies most of the headlines, many sports fans are wondering how the UK’s decision to leave the European Union will affect the Premier League and their favourite football club.

One of the most common grievances with millennial Premier League football has been the influx of foreign talent swamping the English game and pushing young, locally-based talent down the pecking order.

The global and domestic television rights to the Premier League now top more than £8billion. ‘This will continue to be the case regardless of the referendum result.

The vote and decision for Great Britain to leave the European Union (EU) will have a huge effect on the Premier League in terms of buying worldwide players from European countries within the EU.

“Clearly that’s potentially significant, but bear in mind that we’re talking about a world where the annual revenue of the Premier League is more than double that of any other European league”. A player from a top-10 nation in the Federation Internationale de Football Association rankings is required to have played in 30 percent of games in the two years prior to a work permit application, a percentage that increases the further down the player’s home nation sits in the rankings.

Namely, what could Brexit mean for football in the UK? While the Premier League uses pounds on the global transfer market Euros and dollars are commonly used for player deals and transfers. But now getting work permit will be a major roadblock for players from Europe.

In that scenario, EPL clubs could be forced to pay more, argues Dr Babatunde Buraimo, a senior lecturer in sports economics at the University of Liverpool. These rules do not apply for players between the ages of 16-18 who are transferred within the EU or European Economic Area (EEA).

Most clubs, including current Premier League champions Leicester City, will also have their work cut out reassuring their non-English players to remain with them.

Although Bundesliga fans may welcome the thought of German teams holding on to their best players, it would completely disrupt the manner in which some of Germany’s biggest clubs operate. Given the low cost of acquisition and the amount of money it would cost to acquire a high-calibre player on the transfer market, a club needs only a very small percentage of young players to develop into a successful professional footballer in order to see a positive return on its investment.

Though the Premier League, thanks to its lucrative television deals, retains vast spending power, some clubs may think twice if costs of elite players become prohibitive.

Last week, Richard Scudamore, the executive chairman of the Premier League – the British football league – was on BBC Radio 5 Live, expanding why the League (unofficially) supported the “Stay” stance. Arsenal players of the past, present and future in former captain Cesc Fabregas, current first-team star Hector Bellerin and Under-21 captain Julio Pleguezuelo all joined the Gunners as 16-year-olds from Barcelona.

Now players from the European Union can live and work within Britain without a work visa but this will undoubtedly change as Britain embarks on the long and arduous process of dissociating itself from Brussels.