Homegrown Player Rule (UEFA)

UEFA defines locally-trained or 'homegrown' players as those who, regardless of their nationality, have been trained by their club or by another club in the same national association for at least three years between the ages of 15 and 21. It is thus possible for a player to be homegrown at up to two clubs and in two league systems. ==Criticism==

In 2020 the Belgium club Royal Antwerp challenged the legibility of the homegrown player rule in the Belgian courts when they could not register Israeli player Lior Refaelov, arguing that Belgium had a natural disadvantage due the country's relatively smaller size, citing EU's competition laws. The case was later brought to the European Court of Justice. Here the advocate-general Maciej Szpunar disagreed with Royal Antwerp's argument, saying that due to the nature of the game, UEFA could have rules that seemed uncompetitive. He also wrote that "Systems in which homegrown players include not only those trained by the club at issue but also those of other clubs in the same national league, are not compatible with free-movement rules.” ==References==