​Rezvan Burleanu, president of the Romanian Football Federation, announced that the “5+6 Rule” will be applied starting from the 2024/2025 season. This measure was taken to increase the number of players who train at the national level.

FRF, a measure taken to increase the number of players training at national level

“A new 5+6 rule was approved, which is effective from the 2024/2025 season, according to which there must be at least five players on the field who have passed national training. We want to facilitate the repatriation of children who have left the country.

What we also notice about Ligue 1 is that the number of minutes played by foreign players is increasing year on year. We have seen a downward trend in the use of U21 and U23 players.

In recent years, clubs have sold players worth about 140 million euros. 62% of sales go to football players under the age of 23. At the European level, we detect a growing interest in this category.

In December, we said that we would use the mechanism of solidarity payments. At the first stage, we will apply financial sanctions. They will be tied to amounts from UEFA and state funds if they are unblocked. At the beginning of the year, I had a meeting with the Prime Minister of Romania.

We are confident in the participation and support of the most important academies of Romanian football. Solidarity payments are available to all Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 clubs that have not qualified for the European Cup groups and are among the top 20 academies. In 2024, payments will amount to 2.5 million euros. If you don’t follow the rules, the money will be stopped” – Rezvan Burleanu.

Also on Tuesday, Burlianu announced that an “intelligence center” will be created in Bucharest with the support of a Dutch company, which will collect data and parameters of Romanian football players.

“At the end of January, we are completing an audit carried out by a Dutch company to create an intelligence center in Bucharest that will collect all the data and parameters we will find at the level of Romanian football. They will be analysed, filtered and provided to clubs free of charge,” – Rezvan Burleanu.

The FRF detailed the measures taken by the executive committee:

“Starting from the 2024-2025 season, teams receiving UEFA solidarity payments (League 1 and League 2 clubs whose children’s and junior schools are among the top 20 academies in the classification process) have an obligation to effectively use during games at least 5 players trained at national level are eligible to play in the national team (among them at least one U21 player at League 1 level).

If the above condition is not observed (regardless of the number of matches in which it is not observed), the guilty club will be fined the amount of the UEFA solidarity payment.

The amounts resulting from the application of possible sanctions will be divided equally between the first 3 teams that took the best places in the Ligue 1 ranking, that fulfilled the condition regarding the minimum number of players trained at national level, who are eligible for the national team, and whose academies are located in the list of the first 20 academies of professional clubs according to the classification of children’s and junior academies.

Starting from the 2025-2026 season, Ligue 1 teams are obliged to effectively use at least 6 nationally qualified players (including at least one U21 player) during games.

If the above condition is not observed (regardless of the number of matches in which it is not observed), the guilty club will be fined the amount of the UEFA solidarity payment due to the club for that year. For the avoidance of doubt, the sanctions will apply to the offending League 1 clubs regardless of whether they are eligible to receive solidarity payments from UEFA.

The sums resulting from the application of the above sanction will be divided equally between the first 3 teams to occupy the best places in the League 1 standings, who have fulfilled the above condition of using the minimum number of players who have passed national training and are eligible to play in the team. national, and whose academies are included in the list of the first 20 academies of professional clubs according to the classification of children’s and junior academies.

To avoid any confusion, the penalty for not using a nationally trained U21 player who is eligible to play for the national team throughout the duration of Ligue 1 play remains unchanged, with the offending club being penalized with a game forfeit.

Also, for the avoidance of doubt, players of Romanian nationality will also be considered to have trained at national level, regardless of the date of registration with a club in Romania and/or duration of participation in football competitions in Romania.” This is stated in the press release of the FRF.