League reduces Home Grown Players to four players from five

The Gibraltar football league has reduced the number of Home Grown players required by any club to go down from five to four.
According to the latest league regulations published by the Gibraltar FA clubs will only be required to “ensure that the Team has a minimum of 4 registered Home-Grown Players at all times.”
The changes come after football league clubs called on a reduction of the home grown player rules earlier this year asking to adopt a four home grown player rule instead of the five.
Although there has been no official announcement as to the changes, the latest publication of the rule for the 2023/24 season highlights that the reduction has taken place.
Further more Home-Grown Players registered in the GFA Intermediate League shall not form part of the squad quotas set out.
Notably the new rules sets out that a “minimum of seven (7) and a maximum of eleven (11) starting Players (with corresponding shirt numbers, and of which at least four (4) must be Home Grown Players);” .
The rules also provide that “a Team must have a minimum of 4 Home-Grown Players on the field of play at all times.” Exceptions to the rules also exist, notable with a rule now introduced that “in the event that a home-grown player is dismissed during a match, resulting in the team having less than the required number of home-grown players on the field, the team will not be obligated to make a substitution to comply with this requirement. The team will be permitted to continue playing with an equivalent number of fewer home-grown players as home gown players dismissed, for the remainder of the match without facing a breach of the Home-Grown Player Rule.”
The drop in home grown player numbers, although not a surprise for many, will raise further concerns as to the development of home grown talents within Gibraltar’s league club football environment.
The new rules also state that League clubs will be required to have during any point in any given season, a minimum number of Players that may be registered in a Team.
The minimum for this season has been set at 17, and the maximum number of Players has been put at 25.
“If at any time during the football season, a Club does not have the prescribed minimum number of Players registered, the Club shall be automatically removed from the GFL and the GFA shall notify the Club of this in writing.”
The new rules also stating that irrespective of whether a Team consists of 17 or 25 registered Players, a minimum of two Players must be registered as goalkeepers.
Teams also can only register no more than three Third Country Players.
“In total, there should not be more than 3 Third Country Players registered by a Club to form part of the Team competing in the GFL and the GFA Intermediate League. If a Third Country Player is registered as a Player of a Team competing in the GFA Intermediate League, that Player cannot form part of the Team competing in the GFL, and may only be eligible to play in accordance with the Feeder Player Rule set out in the Intermediate League Rules.”

Further changes will also be seen in the format and structure of the league.
The GFL shall consist of three three rounds.
In the first round, all Teams shall play each other once.
In the second round, all Teams shall play each other once.
Upon completion of the second round, only the top six teams will form the Championship Group and compete in a final third round.
The Championship Group Round shall therefore consist of one round in which only these top six (6) Teams play each other once.
Upon completion of the second round the bottom five (5) Teams’ participation in the GFL will conclude.