New to soccer question thread

[saskriders]

I thought there was one of these stickied before, but I guess I will have to just make it.


Anyways, how do players enter the top leagues? Since there aren't drafts what determines who has player rights?

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[Live in the Now]

As 18 year olds or over, if a player is to move to a top league, they're put up for sale just like anyone else. For a player to be without a club at 18 years old is super rare.

As under-18's, players are not allowed to move outside a certain catchment area determined by what country they play in. For example I'm fairly certain EU nationals can go play in any other country in the EU even as youth players. There may be restrictions in certain countries, though.

 

[maclean]

All teams have youth teams, so at say 4 years old you can already be playing for a major club and make your way up through the age groups to the top team. If you're good then a better team may notice you and pay to acquire you. There is not the same kind of parity that there is in the NHL, so a better (and richer) team within a league may always end up acquiring the better players from the poorer teams in the league. At the same time because they have so many prospects there may be players that are good but aren't getting a chance to play who end up getting loaned out to other teams.

 

[Chloraflora]

Kids basically get scouted at school games and signed to clubs' youth schemes. One of the ways smaller clubs stay in business (at least it used to be) was to sign promising young kids and sell them for a profit to bigger clubs.