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(association football)</span></h1> <div id="p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-lang" > <input type="checkbox" id="p-lang-btn-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox mw-interlanguage-selector" aria-label="Go to an article in another language. Available in 8 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-8" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">8 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bg mw-list-item"><a href="https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BD_%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%81%D1%84%D0%B5%D1%80" title="Свободен трансфер – Bulgarian" lang="bg" hreflang="bg" data-title="Свободен трансфер" data-language-autonym="Български" data-language-local-name="Bulgarian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Български</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-da mw-list-item"><a href="https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fri_transfer" title="Fri transfer – Danish" lang="da" hreflang="da" data-title="Fri transfer" data-language-autonym="Dansk" data-language-local-name="Danish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Dansk</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-el mw-list-item"><a href="https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%95%CE%BB%CE%B5%CF%8D%CE%B8%CE%B5%CF%81%CE%B7_%CE%BC%CE%B5%CF%84%CE%B1%CE%B3%CF%81%CE%B1%CF%86%CE%AE_(%CF%80%CE%BF%CE%B4%CF%8C%CF%83%CF%86%CE%B1%CE%B9%CF%81%CE%BF)" title="Ελεύθερη μεταγραφή (ποδόσφαιρο) – Greek" lang="el" hreflang="el" data-title="Ελεύθερη μεταγραφή (ποδόσφαιρο)" data-language-autonym="Ελληνικά" data-language-local-name="Greek" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Ελληνικά</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fa mw-list-item"><a href="https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%84_%D8%B1%D8%A7%DB%8C%DA%AF%D8%A7%D9%86_(%D9%81%D9%88%D8%AA%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84)" title="انتقال رایگان (فوتبال) – Persian" lang="fa" hreflang="fa" data-title="انتقال رایگان (فوتبال)" data-language-autonym="فارسی" data-language-local-name="Persian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>فارسی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ko mw-list-item"><a href="https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%9E%90%EC%9C%A0%EC%9D%B4%EC%A0%81" title="자유이적 – Korean" lang="ko" hreflang="ko" data-title="자유이적" data-language-autonym="한국어" data-language-local-name="Korean" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>한국어</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pl mw-list-item"><a href="https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolny_transfer" title="Wolny transfer – Polish" lang="pl" hreflang="pl" data-title="Wolny transfer" data-language-autonym="Polski" data-language-local-name="Polish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Polski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tr mw-list-item"><a href="https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbest_transfer" title="Serbest transfer – Turkish" lang="tr" hreflang="tr" data-title="Serbest transfer" data-language-autonym="Türkçe" data-language-local-name="Turkish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Türkçe</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-vi mw-list-item"><a href="https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuy%E1%BB%83n_nh%C6%B0%E1%BB%A3ng_t%E1%BB%B1_do_(b%C3%B3ng_%C4%91%C3%A1)" title="Chuyển nhượng tự do (bóng đá) – Vietnamese" lang="vi" hreflang="vi" data-title="Chuyển nhượng tự do (bóng đá)" data-language-autonym="Tiếng Việt" data-language-local-name="Vietnamese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Tiếng Việt</span></a></li> </ul> <div class="after-portlet after-portlet-lang"><span class="wb-langlinks-edit wb-langlinks-link"><a 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data-mw-ve-target-container> <div class="vector-body-before-content"> <div class="mw-indicators"> </div> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div> </div> <div id="contentSub"><div id="mw-content-subtitle"></div></div> <div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content"><div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en" dir="ltr"><div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none">Transfer of an association football player whose contract has expired</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1251242444">.mw-parser-output .ambox{border:1px solid #a2a9b1;border-left:10px solid #36c;background-color:#fbfbfb;box-sizing:border-box}.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+link+.ambox{margin-top:-1px}html body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .ambox.mbox-small-left{margin:4px 1em 4px 0;overflow:hidden;width:238px;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ambox-speedy{border-left:10px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ambox-delete{border-left:10px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ambox-content{border-left:10px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ambox-style{border-left:10px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ambox-move{border-left:10px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ambox-protection{border-left:10px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.5em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.5em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image-div{width:52px}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ambox{margin:0 10%}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .ambox{display:none!important}}</style><table class="box-More_citations_needed plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Refimprove" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="39" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/75px-Question_book-new.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/100px-Question_book-new.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="399" /></a></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This article <b>needs additional citations for <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verification</a></b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"> Please help <a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Free_transfer_(association_football)" title="Special:EditPage/Free transfer (association football)">improve this article</a> by <a href="/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners" title="Help:Referencing for beginners">adding citations to reliable sources</a>. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.<br /><small><span class="plainlinks"><i>Find sources:</i> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?as_eq=wikipedia&q=%22Free+transfer%22+association+football">"Free transfer" association football</a> – <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?tbm=nws&q=%22Free+transfer%22+association+football+-wikipedia&tbs=ar:1">news</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?&q=%22Free+transfer%22+association+football&tbs=bkt:s&tbm=bks">newspapers</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?tbs=bks:1&q=%22Free+transfer%22+association+football+-wikipedia">books</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22Free+transfer%22+association+football">scholar</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/action/doBasicSearch?Query=%22Free+transfer%22+association+football&acc=on&wc=on">JSTOR</a></span></small></span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">February 2024</span>)</i></span><span class="hide-when-compact"><i> (<small><a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a></small>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p>In professional <a href="/wiki/Association_football" title="Association football">association football</a>, a <b>free <a href="/wiki/Transfer_(association_football)" title="Transfer (association football)">transfer</a></b>, also known as a <a href="/wiki/Bosman_ruling" title="Bosman ruling"><b>Bosman transfer</b></a>, involves a professional association football club releasing a player when the player's <a href="/wiki/Contract" title="Contract">contract</a> has expired or made available just before the end of the contract. The player can then sign for any club offering them a contract.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="How_it_works">How it works</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Free_transfer_(association_football)&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: How it works"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The club acquiring the player does not have to pay any <a href="/wiki/Remuneration" title="Remuneration">compensation</a> for their release due to having nothing left to pay on their contract, hence, the term free transfer. Some individual leagues have restrictions to protect academies. For example, in the UK, players under 24 who are out of contract are only available on a free transfer if released by the club holding the players' licence. </p><p>Another type of free transfer is when a player is transferred from one club to another for no price, sometimes a transfer for a <a href="/wiki/Nominal_fee" title="Nominal fee">nominal fee</a> is credited as a free transfer. </p><p>With six months or less remaining on an existing contract for players aged 23 or older, they are free to negotiate with other clubs and sign a pre-contract agreement, indicating their ability to move to their intended club on a <a href="/wiki/Bosman_ruling" title="Bosman ruling">Bosman</a> transfer when the next transfer window opens. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Usage">Usage</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Free_transfer_(association_football)&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Usage"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Free transfers are common in all strata of football. From leagues where money is less commonly available for clubs to spend on transfer fees, and also for players to leave wealthy clubs on a free transfer if the club cannot offer first team football, especially when departing for clubs in lower leagues. </p><p>Often, a player will opt to 'run down' their contract with one club so that they may join another free subsequently. This makes them a more attractive proposition for the club the player seeks to join, and the lack of a <a href="/wiki/Transfer_fee" class="mw-redirect" title="Transfer fee">transfer fee</a> being paid by the receiving club is often reflected in a more lucrative salary for the player than had they been purchased<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (July 2020)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup>. A good example of this would be <a href="/wiki/Sol_Campbell" title="Sol Campbell">Sol Campbell</a>'s move from <a href="/wiki/Tottenham_Hotspur_F.C." title="Tottenham Hotspur F.C.">Tottenham Hotspur</a> to north-London rivals <a href="/wiki/Arsenal_F.C." title="Arsenal F.C.">Arsenal</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Free_transfer_(association_football)&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Free_agent" title="Free agent">Free agent</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Free_agent_(association_football)" class="mw-redirect" title="Free agent (association football)">Free agent (association football)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reserve_clause" title="Reserve clause">Reserve clause</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Transfer_(association_football)" title="Transfer (association football)">Transfer (association football)</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Free_transfer_(association_football)&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFDorsett2017" class="citation news cs1">Dorsett, Rob (15 November 2017). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/11127389/premier-league-club-officials-growing-concerned-at-free-transfers-and-money-leaving-football">"Premier League club officials growing concerned at free transfers and money leaving football"</a>. <i>Sky Sports</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">11 February</span> 2024</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Sky+Sports&rft.atitle=Premier+League+club+officials+growing+concerned+at+free+transfers+and+money+leaving+football&rft.date=2017-11-15&rft.aulast=Dorsett&rft.aufirst=Rob&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skysports.com%2Ffootball%2Fnews%2F11095%2F11127389%2Fpremier-league-club-officials-growing-concerned-at-free-transfers-and-money-leaving-football&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AFree+transfer+%28association+football%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> </ol></div></div> <p><br /> </p> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1012311289">.mw-parser-output .asbox{position:relative;overflow:hidden}.mw-parser-output .asbox table{background:transparent}.mw-parser-output .asbox p{margin:0}.mw-parser-output .asbox p+p{margin-top:0.25em}.mw-parser-output .asbox-body{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output .asbox-note{font-size:smaller}.mw-parser-output .asbox .navbar{position:absolute;top:-0.75em;right:1em;display:none}</style><div role="note" class="metadata plainlinks asbox stub"><table role="presentation"><tbody><tr class="noresize"><td><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Soccer_stub.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="Stub icon" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9d/Soccer_stub.svg/30px-Soccer_stub.svg.png" decoding="async" width="30" height="30" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9d/Soccer_stub.svg/45px-Soccer_stub.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9d/Soccer_stub.svg/60px-Soccer_stub.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="42" data-file-height="42" /></a></span></td><td><p class="asbox-body">This <a href="/wiki/Association_football" title="Association football">association football</a> article is a <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Stub" title="Wikipedia:Stub">stub</a>. 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