I do not think this would be permissible under FIFA regulations (found here), but I am not completely sure. The relevant regulation, article 5, paragraph 3, provides:
“Players may be registered with a maximum of three clubs
during one season. During this period, the player is only eligible to play official
matches for two clubs. As an exception to this rule, a player moving between
two clubs belonging to associations with overlapping seasons (i.e. start of the
season in summer/autumn as opposed to winter/spring) may be eligible to play in
official matches for a third club during the relevant season, provided he has
fully complied with his contractual obligations towards his previous clubs.
Equally, the provisions relating to the registration periods (article 6) as
well as to the minimum length of a contract (article 18 paragraph 2) must be
respected.”
Since Ramirez played for us against Millwall and West Ham
and has played for Hull several times, he cannot play for another club this
season—unless Argentina has overlapping seasons. Do they? This is a surprisingly complicated
question for which my research ability is hampered by my lack of Spanish.
I went to Wikipedia (because it came up first on my google
search and is in English), It appears
clear that in past years and from August 2016 on, the Argentinian football
season was (or will be) on the same basic schedule as England’s. However, that is not true right now. Argentina appears to be in the midst of a big
reorganization that has its next season starting in February and running until
December 2015. However, they also had a short season that started in August
which did not involve any relegation. They will have another short season in
2016 running to the Summer of 2016 which will involve relegation. Was last fall’s season part of the same
season that starts up again in February or was it a separate short season? Who knows?
If it is a separate season, then, from Summer 2014 through Summer 2016,
Argentina will have three full seasons.
The FIFA regulations define season as:
“the period starting with the first official match of the
relevant national league championship and ending with the last official match
of the relevant national league championship.”
This would suggest that Argentina is starting a new season
in February. Yet, the clear intent seems
to be that seasons are supposed to last a full year. I do not know if these
shorter seasons will be viewed as full
seasons for the purposes of the FIFA regulations. Would FIFA allow a nation to have two national
league championships each year and, therefore, two full seasons each year? What about three or four per year? Surely, there would be some limit and the
logical limit is one per year.
Even if the short season counts as a season, there is a
second problem which arises out of a different FIFA rule, specifically, article
18, paragraph 2. Under that provision:
“The minimum length of a contract shall be from its
effective date until the end of the season, while the maximum length of a
contract shall be five years. Contracts
of any other length shall only be permitted if consistent with national laws.
Players under the age of 18 may not sign a professional contract for a term
longer than three years. Any clause referring to a longer period shall not be
recognised.”
Since Hull has only contracted to loan Ramirez until the end
of this premier league season, they cannot transfer him to Boca Juniors because
the minimum new contract length would be through December 2015. This, of course, is good for Southampton. If Boca really wants Ramirez before the Copa
America, they have to make a deal with us, not just Hull.
Of course, this is all based on a rumor that is probably not
true. So never mind?
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