ASI Report "Sweet FA – Why foreign player crackdowns hurt English football" is featured in the Yorkshire Post

A new Adam Smith Institute report, "Sweet FA – Why foreign player crackdowns hurt English football" is featured twice in the Yorkshire Post as a front-page news story and feature article.

Despite its claim to be “the most watched league in the world” there have long been concerns about its impact on the England team with fewer young, homegrown players getting the chance to play on the big stage.

However, a new report published today by the Adam Smith Institute challenges the view that restricting the number of overseas players would benefit the national game, claiming there is no link between the amount of time home-grown stars play in the Premier League and the performance of the English team.

The study, the first research of its kind, found that the same goes for the other major leagues in Europe — Spain’s La Liga, Germany’s Bundesliga and Italy’s Serie A.

It also pours cold water on the FA’s plan to crack down on foreign players in the Premier League, saying it would damage the league’s quality and success in European club competitions.

The report, Sweet FA – Why foreign player crackdowns hurt English football, has been pieced together using Fifa’s world rankings, as well as data recording the number of hours played by English footballers over a period stretching more than 20 years.

Its author, Ben Southwood, head of policy at the economic think-tank, says the findings challenge the idea that “importing” foreign footballers to the UK means English players have fewer opportunities to play for the top clubs.

Read the full feature here.

The report, written by ASI Head of Policy Ben Southwood, finds that the Football Association's plan to crack down on foreign players in the Premier League would damage the league’s quality and success in European club competitions, without any benefit to the English national team’s performance.

Read the full report here: “Sweet FA – Why foreign player crackdowns hurt English football”