Justin Lane/EPA
Yesterday, Britain voted to leave the European Union. The decision will have profound economic consequences for both the EU and Britain. It also poses an interesting question for European citizens currently living in Britain. A founding tenet of the Union is the principle of free movement. As a member of the EU, Britain allowed EU citizens to live and work inside Britain without a work permit. That is likely to change. The consequences of this change will be felt across the country, but they are likely to be most visible in the sports world, particularly in the Premier League.Nobody knows exactly how the work permit rules will change, but as of right now the Premier League has certain rules for foreign players (i.e. those from outside Britain and the EU.) They're fairly complicated, having to do both with the rank of a player's national team and the number of appearances he made with his national team over the preceding two years.In order to automatically qualify for a work permit today, a non-EU player representing a team in the top 10 of the FIFA rankings must have played in 30 percent of his competitive national team fixtures over the last two seasons. Friendlies don't count. For a player representing a national team ranked 11-20, he must play in 45 percent of the matches from the preceding two years. Players from teams ranked 21-30 need to play in 60 percent and those from teams ranked 31-50, 75 percent. Players from a team ranked higher than 50 need to make a special application for a work permit.Here at VICE Sports, we were curious what would happen if the current work permit rules were applied to regular EU players and those players living outside the EU but inside the free-movement area, now that Britain is no longer part of the EU. We went through the current rosters of all 20 Premier League teams and listed their European players below. (Some rosters include players back form loan spells and/or new transfers.) We then looked at each player to see if he met the current criteria to automatically receive a work permit. Keep in mind, these are just automatic qualifications. It is possible to appeal the process and get a work permit even if a player doesn't automatically qualify, but the appeals are taken on a case-by-case basis. This is particularly important as you look at the number of French players who don't qualify. France automatically qualified for the Euros as the host team. Its last competitive fixture, prior to the Euro Cup, was in the quarterfinals of the 2014 World Cup.The total number of first team European players came to 191. Of that total, just 56 would be eligible to receive a work permit should they have to apply based on their national team appearances prior to the Euro Cup or Copa America (some players with European passports represent teams outside Europe, like U.S. international DeAndre Yedlin, who has a Latvian passport as a result of having a Latvian grandparent).The work permit rules were the result of negotiations between the British Home Office and the Premier League. There's no reason they couldn't renegotiate these requirements. So it's not as though the players on this list will be rounded up and put on a boxcar headed down the Channel. The list does, however, show just how messy this Brexit thing is. Millions of people living in Britain—Premier League stars included—are now living with a question mark over their immigration and work statuses.
AFC Bournemouth (3)Harry Arter - Ireland - Yes (Born in Britain)Joshua King - Norway - Would not qualify (Norway is not an EU country but is part of the free movement zone. The national team is not a top 50 team)Eunan O'Kane - Ireland - Would not qualifyEmerson Hyndman - U.S. and Portuguese citizenship - Would not qualifyArsenal (11)Per Mertesacker, Germany (retired from international football in 2014) - Would not qualifyLaurent Koscielny, France - YesMesut Ozil, Germany - YesOlivier Giroud, France - YesNacho Monreal, Spain - Would not qualifySanti Cazorla, Spain - YesHector Bellerin, Spain - Would not qualifySerge Gnabry, Germany - Would not qualifyGranit Xhaka, Switzerland - YesPetr Cech, Czech Republic - YesFrancis Coquelin, France - Would not qualifyBurnley (4)Rouwen Hennings - Germany - Would not qualifyFredrik Ulvestad - Norway - Would not qualifyStephen Ward - Ireland - Would not qualify. (Played in 6 of 12 competitive internationals.)Kevin Long - Ireland - Would not qualifyChelsea (19)Asmir Begović - Bosnia - YesBranislav Ivanović - Serbia - Would not qualify. (Not a top 50 nation)Kurt Zouma - France - Would not qualifyCesc Fàbregas - Spain - YesEden Hazard - Belgium - YesThibaut Courtois - Belgium - YesPedro - Spain - YesLoïc Rémy - France - Would not qualifyDiego Costa - Spain - YesNemanja Matić - Serbia - Would not qualify. (Not a top 50 nation)César Azpilicueta - Spain - Would not qualifyNathan Benjamin Aké - Netherland - Would not qualifyMatej Delač - Croatia - Would not qualifyTomáš Kalas - Czech Republic - Would not qualifyDanilo Pantić - Serbia - Would not qualify (Not a top 50 nation)Jeremie Boga - France - Would not qualifyMarco van Ginkel - Netherlands - Would not qualifyMario Pašalić - Croatia - Would not qualifyMarko Marin - Germany - Would not qualifyCrystal Palace (2)Yohan Cabaye - France - YesDamien Delaney - Ireland - Would not qualify (Retired from international soccer.)Everton (10)Joel Robles - Spain - Would not qualifyDarron Gibson - Ireland - Yes (Born in Britian)Aiden McGeady - Ireland - Yes (McGeady also holds Scottish citizenship)Romelu Lukaku - Belgium - YesKevin Mirallas - Belgium - Would not qualify (Played 4 of 15 competitive fixtures.)James McCarthy - Ireland - Would not qualify. (Played in 8 of 12 competitive fixtures.)Muhamed Bešić - Bosnia - YesGerard Deulofeu - Spain - Would not qualifySéamus Coleman - Ireland - Would not qualify. (Played in 8 of 12 competitive fixtures.)Shanji Tarashaj - Switzerland - Would not qualifyHull City (4)David Meyler - Ireland - Would not qualify. (Played in 4 of 12 competitive fixtures.)Adama Diomandé - Norway - Would not qualifyDušan Kuciak - Slovakia - Would not qualifyBrian Lenihan - Ireland - Would not qualifyLeicester City (8)Kasper Peter Schmeichel - Denmark - YesRitchie De Laet - Belgium - would not qualifyN'Golo Kanté - France - would not qualifyRobert Huth - Germany - would not qualifyMarcin Wasilewski - Poland - Would not qualify (He retired from international football in 2013.)Christian Fuchs - Austria - YesGökhan İnler - Switzerland - YesRon-Robert Zieler - Germany - would not qualifyLiverpool (17)Loris Karius, Germany - Would not qualifyDejan Lovren, Croatia - Would not qualifyChristian Benteke, Belgium - YesMamadou Sakho, France - YesAlberto Moreno, Spain - Would not qualifySimon Mignolet, Belgium - Would not qualifyEmre Can. Germany - Would not qualifyTiago Ilori, Portugal - Would not qualifyDivock Origi, Belgium - YesAdam Bogdan, Hungary - Would not qualifyMartin Skrtel, Slovakia - YesMario Balotelli, Italy - Would not qualifyLazar Markovic, Serbia - Would not qualify. (Not a top 50 nation)Sergi Canos, Spain - Would not qualifyPedro Chirivella, Spain - Would not qualifyLuis Alberto, Spain - Would not qualifyMarko Grujic, Serba - Would not qualifyManchester City (10)Bacary Sagna - France - Would not qualifyVincent Kompany - Belgium - YesSamir Nasri - France - would not qualify (Has not played for France since 2013)Aleksandar Kolarov - Serbia - Would not qualify (Not a top 50 nation)Jesús Navas - Spain - Would not qualifyKevin De Bruyne - Belgium - YesEliaquim Mangala - France - Would not qualifyDavid Silva - Spain - YesGaël Clichy - France - Would not qualifyİlkay Gündoğan - Germany - YesManchester United (12)David de Gea - Spain - would not qualifyMemphis Depay - Netherlands - YesJuan Mata - Spain - YesAnthony Martial - France - Would not qualifyAdnan Januzaj - Belgium - Would not qualifyDaley Blind - Netherlands - YesAnder Herrera - Spain - Would not qualifyMarouane Fellaini - Belgium - yesMorgan Schneiderlin - France - Would not qualifyBastian Schweinsteiger - Germany - YesMatteo Darmian - Italy - YesTimothy Fosu-Mensah - Netherland - Would not qualifyMiddlesbrough (5)Dimitrios Konstantopoulos, Greece - Would not qualifyDaniel Ayala, Spain - Would not qualifyTomas Mejias, Spain - Would not qualifyJulien De Sart, Belgium - Would not qualifyViktor Fischer, Denmark - Would not qualifySouthampton (8)Cédric - Portugal - Would not qualify (Played 3 of 11 competitive fixtures)Jordy Clasie - Netherlands - Would not qualifyFlorin Gardoș - Romania - Would not qualifyShane Long - Ireland - YesDušan Tadić - Serbia - Would not qualify. (Not a top 50 nation)Oriol Romeu - Spain - Would not qualifyGraziano Pellè - Italy - YesVirgil van Dijk - Netherland - Would not qualifyStoke City (17)Erik Pieters, Holland - Would not qualifyMarc Muniesa, Spain - Would not qualifyGlenn Whelan, Republic of Ireland - YesStephen Ireland, Republic of Ireland - Would not qualifyMarko Arnautovic, Austria - YesJoselu, Spain - Would not qualifyMarc Wilson, Republic of Ireland - Yes (born in Britain)Ibrahim Afellay, Netherlands - Would not qualifyJonathan Walters, Republic of Ireland - Yes (Holds a British passport.)Giannelli Imbula, France - Would not qualifyXherdan Shaqiri, Switzerland - YesDionatan Teixeira, Slovakia - Would not qualifyShay Given, Republic of Ireland - Would not qualifyPhilipp Wollscheid, Germany - Would not qualifyBojan, Spain - Would not qualifyJakob Haugaard, Denmark - Would not qualifyDaniel Bachmann, Austria - Would not qualifySunderland (9)Patrick van Aanholt - Netherlands - Would not qualifySebastian Larsson - Sweden - YesFabio Borini - Italy - Would not qualifyJordi Gómez - Spain - Would not qualifyJohn O'Shea - Ireland - YesYounès Kaboul - France - Would not qualifyJeremain Lens - Netherlands - YesVito Mannone - Italy - Would not qualifyJan Kirchhoff - Germany - Would not qualifySwansea City (9)Łukasz Fabiański - Poland - YesJordi Amat - Spain - Would not qualifyMarvin Emnes - Netherlands - Would not qualifyKristoffer Nordfeldt - Sweden - Would not qualifyFranck Tabanou - France - Would not qualifyBafétimbi Gomis - France - Would not qualifyGylfi Sigurðsson - Iceland - Yes (Not in the EU but part of the free movement area)Àngel Rangel - Spain - Would not qualifyGerhard Tremmel - Germany - Would not qualifyTottenham Hotspur (11)Hugo Lloris – France – YesMichel Vorm – Netherlands – Would not qualifyToby Alderweireld – Belgium – YesJan Vertonghen – Belgium – YesKevin Wimmer – Austria – Would not qualifyDeAndre Yedlin – Latvian citizen, USA international – YesNabil Bentaleb – French citizen, Algeria international – Would not qualifyMousa Dembele – Belgium – Would not qualifyChristian Eriksen – Denmark – YesNacer Chadli – Belgium – YesErik Lamela – Spanish citizen, Argentina international – Would not qualifyWatford (18)Costel Pantilimon – Romania – Would not qualifyRene Gilmart – Ireland – Would not qualifySebastian Prodl – Austria – YesGabrielle Angella – Italy – Would not qualifyJoel Ekstrand – Sweden – Would not qualifyJose Holebas – Greece – Would not qualifyDaniel Pudil – Czech Republic – Would not qualifyAllan Nyom – French citizenship, Cameroon international – Would not qualifyEtienne Capoue – France – Would not qualifyMario Suarez – Spain – Would not qualifyValon Behrami – Swiss – YesAdlene Guedioura – French passport, Algeria international – Would not qualifyJosé Manuel Jurado – Spain – Would not qualifyAlmen Abdi – Swiss – Would not qualifySteven Berghuis – Netherlands – Would not qualifyNordin Amrabat – Dutch citizen, Morocco international – Would not qualifyObbi Oulare – Belgium – NoMatej Vydra – Czech Republic – would not qualifyWest Brom (4)Jonas Olsson, Sweden - Would not qualifyJames McClean, Republic of Ireland - Yes (born in Britain)Sebastien Pocognoli, Belgium - Would not qualifyAnders Lindegaard, Denmark - Would not qualifyWest Ham (11)Adrian – Spain – Would not qualifyDarren Randolph – Ireland – YesRaphael Spiegel – Switzerland – Would not qualifyWinston Reid – Danish citizenship, New Zealand international – Would not qualifyAngelo Ogbonna – Italy – Would not qualifyJoe O'Brien – Ireland – Would not qualifyCheikhou Kouyaté – Belgian citizenship, Senegal international – Yes, qualifies with SenegalDimitri Payet – France – Would not qualifyPedro Obiang – Spain – Would not qualifyManuel Lanzini – Italian citizenship – Would not qualifyDiafra Sakho – French citizenship – Would not qualifyJim Weeks, Aaron Gordon, and Will Magee contributed research for this story.
Advertisement
Advertisement
AFC Bournemouth (3)Harry Arter - Ireland - Yes (Born in Britain)Joshua King - Norway - Would not qualify (Norway is not an EU country but is part of the free movement zone. The national team is not a top 50 team)Eunan O'Kane - Ireland - Would not qualifyEmerson Hyndman - U.S. and Portuguese citizenship - Would not qualifyArsenal (11)Per Mertesacker, Germany (retired from international football in 2014) - Would not qualifyLaurent Koscielny, France - YesMesut Ozil, Germany - YesOlivier Giroud, France - Yes
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement