The Union of European Clubs has filed a voluntary submission with the Brussels Court of First Instance in the Royal Antwerp case concerning locally trained player rules. UEC believes restrictive quotas have failed to deliver their intended objectives. As a constructive alternative, UEC proposes the PDR, which directly rewards clubs for developing players between the ages of 12 and 19.
Brussels, 9 September
The Union of European Clubs (UEC) has filed a voluntary submission with the Brussels Court of First Instance in the Royal Antwerp case concerning rules on locally trained players, arguing that restrictive quota systems have failed to deliver their intended objectives and that a more effective alternative is available.
UEC’s position reflects the experience of its member clubs across Europe. Rules designed to encourage player development and strengthen competitive balance can instead create incentives for larger clubs to recruit players who already qualify as “home-grown” or locally trained from smaller clubs, rather than developing those players themselves.
The impact is particularly significant for clubs from smaller leagues, which can find themselves structurally disadvantaged when competing at European level.
UEC believes there is a better way to achieve the objectives that locally trained player rules are intended to serve: the Player Development Reward (PDR).
Rather than restricting clubs through quotas, PDR would directly reward those clubs that invest in the development of players between the ages of 12 and 19. By linking financial rewards to the clubs responsible for a player’s development, the model would recognise genuine investment in youth development while redistributing value more effectively throughout the football ecosystem.
The principle is straightforward: instead of restricting opportunity through quotas, football should reward the clubs that actually create it.
UEC has recently launched an interactive PDR simulator allowing clubs, players, journalists, supporters and other football stakeholders to explore how the system would operate in practice. Users can search by club, season or individual player to see the PDR entitlement generated by a player’s development between the ages of 12 and 19.
The tool demonstrates how an alternative to restrictive quota systems could support player development while contributing to greater competitive balance and solidarity between clubs.
