If you are considering a football boarding school year abroad for your child, you will probably come across “FIFA Article 19” sooner or later. It sounds technical, but the idea behind it is simple, and understanding it helps you ask the right questions. This article explains what FIFA Article 19 is and what it means for you, as a parent, and your child when considering international football programs.
What is Article 19?
Article 19 is part of FIFA’s Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players. Its purpose is to protect children. As a general rule, international transfers of players are only allowed once the player is over 18. It also covers a player who has never been registered with a club, is not a national of the country concerned, and has not lived there continuously for at least five years.
Because the rule is strict, there are only a few narrowly defined exceptions. FIFA also defines a minor simply as a player under 18 years old.
Why do parents come across Article 19?
Most parents come across Article 19 for the first time while comparing football boarding schools abroad. The reason is simple: football boarding schools at international academies welcome teenage players from other countries around the world who move to the country of the football academy to spend several months or years being part of the program. Article 19 is the FIFA rule that governs international moves of players under 18. While reading admissions information or speaking to an academy, parents often hear about Article 19 and, more specifically, that their child might not hold a federation licence, and they want to know why.
What it means for your family in practice
Players from abroad are able to join international football boarding school programs because these programs are set up as educational football programs, combining elite-level training, schooling and residential care. They are not solely football programs, nor are they a way to register into the club’s teams like the club’s own local players. They are programs designed to bring educational and sports value to participants and provide a world-class educational experience.
Because of this nuance, football boarding school programs differ in whether or not they provide a federation license to their participating players. The federation license is required for the players to participate in official league games.
Elite professional football clubs programs
Some programs, especially those organised by elite professional football clubs, are not able to provide a federation license to the players that join the program to play matches with their own academy teams due to Article 19. In this case, the practical consequence is that players take part in friendly matches and tournaments on a regular basis, rather than playing official league matches with the academy teams
Other programs organised by elite professional football clubs choose a different way of working and instead register the participants in a local regional team so that the players can play official matches with this regional team, which is allowed and not affected by Article 19. In both cases, players train throughout the week with the elite professional football club’s youth academy teams.
At first, the lack of official matches with the elite professional football clubs’ academy teams can sound like a loss or a downside, for example, to parents who are used to their child playing official league matches every weekend at home.
However, in both these cases, at the international academy of a professional club, the players are in the same high-performance training environment as the academy’s own players. Players train daily with the academy’s official teams, work with the Club’s coaches in individual sessions, and get game time and exposure through regular matches during the program.
Furthermore, it is important to note that when the players take part in friendly matches or matches through the local regional team, these matches are against the same regional teams the academy’s official teams face in their league, so the opposition is just as competitive. The label on the match is different, but the level of football is not. In addition, Elite clubs also tend to judge young players on their development over time, not on weekend results. We wrote a detailed article explaining why international academies don’t offer official league matches and why it is not an issue.
This point is often misunderstood by families when hearing or reading that players are not able to receive an official federation license because of Article 19. That’s why it is an important point to clarify and discuss with the programs’ admission staff or a trusted partner of the programs.
Private academies
Private academies are football training companies that are not part of an official professional football club. Generally, to be in accordance with Article 19 and FIFA regulations, private academies also choose to register the participants of their football boarding school in a local regional team. This way, their international participating players can benefit from their academy’s proven training methodology while also benefiting from exposure to tournaments, friendly matches and official league matches. Kaptiva Sports Academy, for example, is an affiliate partner of Sant Cugat FC, a team in the region of Barcelona. Its players can train with the club and play friendly matches against it, and players who hold an approved Catalan federation licence may be selected for some league games. A player who is registered in this way is therefore able to play official matches in accordance with Article 19 and FIFA regulations. You can read more about the Kaptiva Sports Academy Program on our Kaptiva Sports Academy program page. WOSPAC Academy in Barcelona follows a similar model through its partnership with UE Cornellà, a federated and officially recognised club in the Barcelona area. WOSPAC players combine daily training with the academy’s coaches with additional sessions at the club, play competitive matches every week and take part in tournaments at the end of the season. You can read more on our WOSPAC Football Boarding School Barcelona page.
Duty of care
Article 19 also sets expectations for the club once a minor is registered. The club must take reasonable steps to protect and safeguard the player and give him the chance to obtain an academic education that allows a career outside football. FIFA describes its wider work in this area on its safeguarding pages. This is why a quality program should be able to explain its schooling, accommodation and supervision in detail.
What about short high-performance camps?
Article 19 is about one specific subject: a minor being registered with a club in another country. Registration is what makes a player officially part of a club, and it is what lets him play in that club’s official matches. Because the rule is triggered by registration, it is mostly relevant to full-year boarding programs, where a player joins a club or academy for a whole season.
A short camp works differently. Take the Getafe C.F. High-Performance Elite Football Camp as an example. It is a one-week program in Madrid for players aged 14 to 18. Players train with the academy’s coaches, stay in the school’s residence, and may watch or play in friendly matches, and then they go home. They come to train for a week, not to join a new club. It is a bit like a language course abroad: your child spends time in another country to learn, but he has not moved there. In a case like this, Article 19 generally does not come into play.
Other high-performance programs work in a similar way. At the Paris Saint-Germain Academy Pro high-performance camp in Evian, near Geneva, and the Atlético de Madrid high-performance program, players join for anywhere from one week up to three months and train alongside the clubs’ academy players. They are there to train and develop, not to transfer to a new club. You can compare all of them on our high-performance camps page.
A full boarding year is different in length and structure. Imagine your child moves to Madrid in September, lives on campus, goes to school there and trains with the academy’s players for the whole season, as in the Getafe CF football boarding school program. Because this is a long stay in another country, connected to a professional club, it is the situation in which Article 19 is involved, and it is why programs are set up the way described above.
There is one situation worth knowing about. If a camp includes a trial with a club, meaning the club is assessing him as a possible player, a separate rule called Article 19ter applies. It is designed to keep trials safe and reasonable for young players. For minors, it requires written permission from the parents, a named contact person at the club and suitable accommodation. It also limits a player to two trials per calendar year, with a maximum of eight weeks per club per season for players aged 21 and under, and only friendly matches may be played during a trial.
If you are not sure which category a program falls into, ask the program admission team one simple question: “Will my child be registered with a club?” If the answer is no, Article 19 is generally not involved. If the answer is yes, ask which exception applies and who will handle the application.
How Oxasport can help
Oxasport is an official partner of the programs it offers and guides families through the full enrollment process, including the documentation, at no additional cost to the family. If you would like to talk through your child’s situation, contact us.
This article is a general explanation, not legal advice. Rules can be updated, so always check the current FIFA regulations or ask us about your specific case.
Frequently Asked Questions About FIFA Article 19
Article 19 is the FIFA rule that protects young players moving between countries. As a general rule, international transfers are only allowed once a player is over 18, with a small number of narrowly defined exceptions.
That depends on whether he will be registered with a club in a national federation. If he trains, goes to school and plays friendlies and tournaments, then no federation licence is needed, because no transfer or first registration takes place, so Article 19 approval does not come up. If he is registered with a club, the rule applies.
Players in these programs usually do not hold a federation licence, so they do not take part in official league matches. This is a choice made by the Academy organising the program to allow players from around the world to participate in the program without being impacted by FIFA’s Article 19. They still train every day and play friendlies and tournaments against competitive opposition.
In practice, the club and the national association prepare and submit it, and parents are asked to provide documents. For players aged ten and over, the Players’ Status Chamber of the FIFA Football Tribunal must approve the transfer or first registration before the association requests the international transfer certificate or completes the registration.
Article 19 is triggered by registration with a club, so a short camp where players train for a week and then go home usually does not fall under it. Trials with a club are covered by a separate rule, Article 19ter, which sets conditions such as written parental permission and suitable accommodation for minors.
Also read
The Ultimate Guide to Football Boarding Schools for Parents
Best Football Boarding Schools in Madrid
Unlock Your Potential: An Inside Look at the Elite Atlético Madrid Academy
Football Boarding Schools vs. Football Academies: Choosing the Best Path for Your Child