The Premier League is the most watched football league in the world, attracting the best talent not just on the pitch, but in the dugout too. From Pep Guardiola to Unai Emery, international managers have become the norm rather than the exception. But behind most international appointments lies an immigration process that most fans never think about: the Governing Body Endorsement, more commonly known as a Work Permit.
The BBC recently reported on the increasing trend of clubs looking abroad for their managerial appointments, and the topic is as relevant as ever. Having advised on the immigration aspects of numerous Premier League managerial appointments, we wanted to shed some light on what it actually takes to bring an international manager or coach to England – and what better way to do it than through the lens of everyone's favourite fictional gaffer, Ted Lasso?
What is a Governing Body Endorsement?
Before a new international manager or coach can take up employment at a Premier League, EFL or WSL club, the club must obtain a Governing Body Endorsement (GBE) from the FA. This is a mandatory step under the Home Office's International Sportsperson (ISP) route. Without a GBE, no visa can be issued, and no right to work in the UK. The GBE criteria are agreed between the FA and the Home Office to ensure only elite international talent can come to the UK.
Introduced post-Brexit, the current GBE system is a "one-size-fits-all" framework covering the Premier League, the Championship, League One and League Two on the men's side and WSL / WSL 2 on the women's side. For the most part, that works. But it's not without its complexities, particularly for non-playing staff.
The Ted Lasso case study
Could Ted Lasso, an optimistic American college football coach with zero experience in association football, actually get the paperwork sorted to manage AFC Richmond in the Premier League? In short: almost certainly not.
Ted as Manager
For a first team manager or head coach with overall responsibility for the first team and first team selection, the criteria are clear and demanding. To automatically qualify for a GBE, a Manager must:
- Hold a UEFA Pro Licence (or equivalent).
- Have managed a club in a "Top League" for the "Prescribed Time" – that's either a cumulative 36 months, or a consecutive 24 months within the five-year Reference Period. Alternatively, they can have managed a national team ranked 50 or above in the Aggregated FIFA World Rankings for the same period.
On the Men's side, the "Top Leagues" are divided into five bands, starting with Band 1 (Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1) and extending down to Band 5, which includes leagues such as the Polish Ekstraklasa, the Australian A-League, and EFL League One.
If a manager doesn't meet the automatic criteria, the club can apply to an Exceptions Panel, an independent panel of three members including a legally qualified chair, at a cost of £5,000 plus VAT. The Panel will only recommend a GBE if satisfied that the manager is "of the highest calibre and is able to contribute significantly to the development of the game at the top level in England".
How does Ted measure up?
Ted's problems start immediately.
He does not hold a UEFA Pro Licence. Even if we assume he somehow obtained the US Soccer National Pro Licence (the highest US coaching qualification), the FA would need to assess whether this is "equivalent". Historically, the US National Pro is not treated as equivalent to the UEFA Pro and would be downgraded to at least a UEFA A.
Even if we got past the qualification hurdle, Ted has absolutely no experience managing in a Top League as defined by the criteria. American college football, however successful, is not association football, and US college sports do not feature in any Band.
This means Ted would need to go through the Exceptions Panel route. But a man who doesn't know what offside is would be a tricky sell to a Panel looking for someone "of the highest calibre" who can "contribute significantly to the development of the game at the top level in England".
Ted as Performance Manager (Head Coach)
What if AFC Richmond had a separate Manager with overall responsibility and Ted was appointed as Head Coach under the Performance Manager criteria?
Here, things get marginally more interesting. The qualification requirement is a UEFA B or equivalent OR an undergraduate or master's degree in sport science (or a related discipline). A US National Pro or National A licence might realistically be assessed as equivalent to the UEFA B, or perhaps Ted obtained a Sport Management degree while at Wichita State University. But Ted would then need to demonstrate five years' experience in "similar elite sports".
College football coaching in the US? It's elite, certainly, but "similar" to association football? This would almost certainly need an Exceptions Panel assessment and, at the very least, significant scrutiny from the FA's technical team. It's a creative argument but a difficult one. In any event, there's nothing to suggest there is a Manager operating above him.
Ted and AFC Richmond Women
In the latest season of Ted Lasso, Ted takes over as head coach of the newly formed AFC Richmond women's team. This raises a fresh set of immigration challenges, because the women's game has its own entirely separate GBE criteria.
The Women's Manager criteria require the same UEFA Pro Licence and management experience in a Top League, but the landscape is very different. The women's criteria only recognise two bands of Top League, compared with five on the men's side. Band 1 includes the WSL, French Feminine Division 1, German Frauen Bundesliga, NWSL, Spanish Women's Primera Division, Swedish Damallsvenskan, the Vrouwen Eredivisie and Italian Femminile Serie A. Band 2 covers the Australian W League, Brazilian Feminino Serie A, Danish Elitedivisionen, Japanese WE League, Mexican Liga MX Femenil and Norwegian Toppserien. There is also a notable difference in the international route: a manager of a women's national team needs an Aggregated FIFA Women's World Ranking of 40 or above, compared with 50 or above on the men's side.
The key point: experience in the men's game won't count.
Here's the important point that could easily be overlooked: even if Ted had successfully navigated the Exceptions Panel to coach AFC Richmond's men's team, that experience would not count towards the automatic qualifying criteria in the women's game. The men's and women's GBE criteria are entirely separate. Ted's experience in a Top League with AFC Richmond in the Premier League would not count towards relevant experience under the women's criteria as the Premier League is not a Top League under these criteria. AFC Richmond Women would need a fresh Exceptions Panel application. The same would be true if Pep decided to come back and manage Man City women.
The Exceptions Panel members in the men's game and women's game are different and independent. AFC Richmond would need to prove that Ted can make a significant contribution to the development of the women's game at the highest level in England. His experience and success in the men's game would no doubt be taken into account by the Panel, but it is far from a given that he would be awarded the GBE.
The women's game does, however, have its own Performance Manager criteria, mirroring the men's equivalent – a UEFA B Licence or sport science degree plus five years' experience in a Top League or similar elite sports. As with the men's criteria, a Head Coach can qualify under this route provided they are not fulfilling the role of Manager or Assistant Manager.
The Exceptions Panel
Across all coaching criteria, the Exceptions Panel serves as a crucial safety valve. The fee is £5,000 plus VAT, the panel is independent, and decisions are made by simple majority, with the chair holding a casting vote. From our experience, these panels take their role seriously and the bar is high – the standard of supporting evidence has increased in recent times and significant input is required from the club's senior leadership.
Importantly, if a manager or coach fails at both the automatic criteria stage and the Exceptions Panel, they have no further opportunity to apply for a GBE unless their circumstances change, and they will not be eligible to be the manager or coach for the applicant club.
The bigger picture
The Premier League's international flavour is one of its greatest strengths – over half of the current crop of managers required immigration support to take up their roles. The current GBE system has largely been a success, balancing the need to attract world-class talent with the protection of domestic coaching pathways.
But as coaching structures evolve with flatter hierarchies, specialist roles, transition coaches, multi-disciplinary performance teams, the criteria will need to keep pace.
The FA is due to review the GBE criteria for non-playing staff now that this summer's transfer window has closed, and it's a timely exercise. The fundamentals are sound, but the game is moving fast, and the non-playing staff landscape looks very different today than it did when these criteria were first drafted.
So next time you see a Premier League club announce a new international manager, spare a thought for the lawyers and the football operations and recruitment teams working behind the scenes. It's not quite as simple as Rebecca Welton picking up the phone and hiring an American football coach on a whim.
Ted Lasso is a wonderful show about belief, biscuits, and being kind. But 'Believe' wouldn't quite sway an Exceptions Panel.
