The Danish Football Federation, in the past week, adopted a number of changes to the rules for club transfers for children and youth players, which came into effect on July 1st. Until now, clubs were legally allowed to approach other clubs to recruit players once they had reached Under-13 level, but the Danish FA have now changed the rule to include Under-10 players.
"We know that early recruitment of players can be difficult, and as long as children thrive in their local environment, it is best to wait to change your club. However, if clubs still want to recruit, the children have better assurance that the change will suit them with the new rules", says the Danish FA.
Danish FA going against their own principles
The new rules have caused outrage from prominent members of Danish sport, among them the former CEO of the Danish national elite sports institute, Team Danmark, Michael Andersen, who explains his dissatisfaction with the proposal.
"Historically, the Danish FA were one of the first to look into age-related training concepts, where you look at what children need at different age levels. I find it quite incredible that the federation now introduces rules which go totally against the principles adopted by the Danish Sports Association (Dansk Idræts Forbund), where children should stay in their local clubs in order to thrive", says Michael Andersen.
"The trend is that clubs are buying players earlier and earlier because they have to comply with the 'homegrown player' rule, and there are examples of players being purchased before they have had their debut in the Danish Superliga. The Danish FA is supposed to lay out rules to protect children's welfare in football across the nation. But with this proposal, they run errands for the clubs in the Danish Superliga purely from a financial perspective," says Michael Andersen.
Children risk losing the joy of football
If a club recruits a player at the Under-10 to Under-12 level, it must be committed to offering the player training and matches in the first team until the player reaches the Under-15 level, says the Danish FA. But that is total nonsense, says the former CEO of Team Danmark.
"The Danish FA says that clubs are committed to offering the player training and matches in the first team until the player reaches the Under-15 level, but who is going to control that? That makes absolutely no sense".
"What is essential is whether you manage to maintain the joy that children have when they play football. For now, there is only room for 11 players on a football team. There is research that shows that it is very difficult to predict who will go all the way. You risk losing the children who try their luck and are not selected,” says Andersen.
Andersen also points out that the new rules challenge the roles for parents. "It changes the parents' behaviour because they indirectly put pressure on the children's performance. Some children can handle it, but in the long run, I think that children, even those with talent, will lose their joy if the system becomes too narrow too early."
Andersen's comments are backed up by an extensive post on LinkedIn by former Danish national team captain William Kvist, who says that commercialisation in football has gone wild at the expense of children's welfare.
“We have forgotten about 99% of the population”
"We have created a football culture in Denmark where everything is about finding the one per cent who will go on to play in the national team and big foreign clubs. But we have forgotten something important along the way: The other 99%!"
"When everything is about finding the right person who is good enough to play in the national team jersey, sports for children turn into a matter of pressure, expectations, and selection rather than play, community, and great experiences."
Danish Minister of Culture, Jakob Engel-Schmidt, also has harsh words about the new recruitment rules that are now in use.
"I must say, I am very sceptical about the new rules that have now been introduced. It seems that the Danish federation has completely given up on recruitment when they set rules like this.
"Children should be allowed to be children. And they should be allowed to be children for a long time. The age limit for recruitment of 13 years should not have been changed."
The Danish FA say that they are prepared to discuss the new rules with the Minister of Culture.