Official: FIGC Recognises Players from the UK As Equivalent To EU As AC Milan Stand To Gain

The FIGC have officially announced a move to recognise English and Swiss players as the equivalent to EU citizens from the current 2023/24 season. This is a significant move for Serie A clubs who would have usually lost non-EU spots as a result. In the case of AC Milan, this makes Ruben Loftus-Cheek who was signed from Chelsea FC this summer no longer takes up a non-EU spot in the club which allows Milan to pursue one more player who does not hold a European passport if needed. Fikayo Tomori who holds English and Canadian citizenship will also now not occupy a non-EU spot going forward. The rule was previously applied to Swiss citizens hence the signing of Noah Okafor did not affect the non-EU spots regardless.

Milan are only able to register a maximum of two non-EU players this summer regardless of departures. It was expected that a sale of a non-EU players was required to be able to register Chukwueze but this is no longer the case as Loftus-Cheek has not taken the first spot. If Milan want to sign another non-EU player after this, they will have to sell or loan out one of the existing non-EU players on the roster.

The current non-EU players on Milan’s roster going forward are:

• Marko Lazetic - Serbia
• Devis Vasquez - Colombia
• Rade Krunic - Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Junior Messias - Bazil
• Samuel Chukwueze - Nigeria (should be announced this week).