Coluna do Fla
·22 September 2026
Flamengo chief cites Premier League over CBF foreign-player rule
Flamengo chief cites Premier League over CBF foreign-player rule | OneFootball
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Flamengo rejected the proposal approved by Série A and B clubs
Teams from Série A and B of the Brazilian Championship approved this Monday (21) a reduction in the limit of foreign players per squad. Flamengo, in fact, was one of the only clubs to vote against the proposal. Fla’s vice president of the legal department, Marcos Motta, reinforced the club’s stance.
Obviously, when it comes to Flamengo, the president or the press office always speaks, but as a lawyer specializing in the area, we do have an opinion. I don’t think this enhances the product; I think there are other ways to protect the local market. This is not a new discussion, it’s one that has been going on for a long time, including at the European level. The Premier League has its own rules, what they call the Home-grown Player rule, meaning you have a limit of 25 senior athletes, of whom 17 can be over 25 years old. The remainder has to be made up of developed players, but nationality doesn’t matter, what matters is the training period. In other words, there are a number of rules we can use as examples, good examples. I don’t think we need to reinvent the wheel. We can draw from those examples, especially in cases where there has even been legal debate, because of the European Court and player movement within the European Community. So I think this debate has to stay alive. I think this proposal, this discussion from yesterday, should not end there, I think it should continue. And from the conversations I’ve been having since yesterday with colleagues, club officials and lawyers who also work in this field, I believe this agenda will remain alive in the coming days or months. Even because the CBF always takes a consultative approach. The CBF has been doing very well in line with what FIFA calls a consultative process. Nothing imposed, nothing top-down, always a discussion. Of course, some topics are a little more pressing, especially because today’s market is much more complex, much more sophisticated. Discussions nowadays are no longer linear, just as player transfers, which we are also discussing here, are no longer linear,” he said in an interview with ‘ESPN’.
What will the change to the foreign-player limit look like?
Starting in the 2027 season, each team will be able to register up to eight foreign players in its squad. After that, the number will keep dropping year by year until 2030. So, by the final deadline set by the new rule, four years from now, each club will be allowed to have only five players from outside Brazil.
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According to information from radio station ‘Itatiaia’, Flamengo, Bahia, and Londrina were the clubs that voted against the change. All the other teams in the top divisions of Brazilian football were in favor of the new rule.
See the change in the foreign-player limit:
2027: 8 foreigners 2028: 7 foreigners 2029: 6 foreigners 2030: 5 foreigners
Which foreign players are in Flamengo’s squad?
Flamengo currently has ten foreign players in its first-team squad. They are: Arrascaeta, Varela, De La Cruz, Erick Pulgar, Rossi, Saúl Ñíguez, Plata, Carrascal, Anthony Valencia, and Joaquín Freitas.
In other words, Flamengo is already above the new limit set for 2027, when the quota drops to eight foreign players per team. However, Rubro-Negro still has time to adapt to the new rule over the next few seasons.
What is the article author’s opinion?
“I don’t see any financial or sporting advantage in reducing the limit of foreign players per team. If the CBF’s idea is to further strengthen Brazilian football, it would be ideal to invest more in the professionalization of refereeing, financial rules, and the scheduling of the calendar,” said Davi Esteves, journalist for Coluna do Fla.
What is Flamengo’s next match?
Flamengo will have 18 days to rest before its next 2026 fixture because of the FIFA international break. Thus, Leonardo Jardim’s team will only return to the field on October 8, against Santos, at Vila Belmiro, in the 29th round of the Brasileirão.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.
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