Weird Foreigners Ruling in Spain?

I've noticed something I consider to be very odd throughout my most recent season in Liga adelante (Div2) in Spain and was wondering if I have just misunderstood the rule or if it's a bug. Also a complex yet strange decision by players to join certain clubs, read on...

At the start of the season, I had 3 foreigners- Australian defender, Australian midfielder and American striker (none with 2nd nationalities). Only being able to register 2 foreigners for the league, I selected the defender and striker and by mid-season the midfielder was understandably upset at lack of first team football. I sold him to Numancia, also in my league, who were battling relegation (and now, having finished the season, they have indeed been relegated).

Problem 1: He was signed right at the end of the registration window, and I was shocked to find a couple days later when I checked the Numancia squad that he was ineligible because they hadn't registered him! A month later when I played them however, he was somehow registered and played 70mins against me!

Problem 2: Why would a foreign player join a club in the relegation zone knowing that shoulld they be unable to save themselves, he'll be unable to be registered in Div2B (no foreigners permitted) and therefore be left to just train all season or sold again after just 6 months!? He has no relegation release clause, and I accepted at least 3 offers for him from better cllubs yet he chose Numancia. I really don't think this would be too hard to code in- "Player X has rejected the contract offer from Numancia. He is concerned that the looming threat of relegation will leave him ineligible for first team duty next season."

Problem 3: Now this is odd unless there's a law regarding African players in Spain. Straight after I sold the aforementioned midfielder, I promoted a young midfielder from the U19s to be registered in his place. I registered him no problems, before realising his only nationality was Nigerian. Surely that's considered Non-EU, and would mean I had 3 foreign players registered in a league that permitted only 2? Interestingly, a young Ghanaian (no 2nd nationality) just returned from loan to Div2B club Benidorm. Sure enough, he played 27 games in the league.

Hope that wasn't too confusing for everyone... Any thoughts?

African players are considered eu players in spain now i think.

African countries are not included in the non EU players due to the Kolpak ruling. Basically becuase the countries have economic ties with Europe, (Senegal-France etc) they dont count.

Found this on the interweb

In addition, players from the ACP countries—countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific that are signatories to the Cotonou Agreement—are not counted against non-EU quotas, due to the Kolpak ruling.

Awesome, thanks guys. I'm surprised I wasn't aware of this earlier having played in Spain for about 6 seasons now! Time to start scouting Africa I suppose. That solves Problem 3 but 1 and 2 still need to be looked at

With regards to problem 1, could they not have registered him for the reserves or under-18's then promoted him later?

Problem 2 definitely needs a fix though

^Nope. Reserves and youth team can't have foreign players registered. And I think the game would seem very artificially intelligent if SI solved problem 2

If he's registered for the youth then you can play him in the senior side

If he's registered for the youth then you can play him in the senior side

Yeah but if he's a 'Fgn' then he can't be registered for the youth team...

I'm not sure about Spain, but there are some leagues where you don't need to register the player immediately. During the course of the season, when you decide to use him, there's a message that you need to select a number for him. I know that this happens, at least, in Italy.

Also, in England, if the player is less than 22 years old he doesn't need to be registered. When you decide to use him, just insert him onto a squad slot and you'll be able to give him a squad number.

Maybe it's the same with Spain?

Sorry to necro this thread, but it's the only one I found covering my pretty confusing problem.

As the OP stated, the 2nd best league in Spain requires squad registration before the start of the season, and allows a maximum of 2 foreigners. B-team and U19-teams do not allow foreigners at all (foreigners as in no EU passport ofc). Now, that's all well and good, but how can the club Castellón then have the following FGN-players registered:

Juninho (Brazil), 13 league games

Jonas (Brazil), 11 league games

Adailton (Brazil), 10 league games

Angel Puertas (Argentina), 2 league games

Diego Menghi (Argentina), 2 league games

None of them have a second nationality. Only one of them is under 20. They've all been in the club all season. It doesn't make sense at all. I'm playing with 9.3.0. btw.

.. I find it pretty unfair since I couldn't register even a third foreigner (I had 6 in my squad when I took over the club, and I was forced to send 4 of them on loan. 3 of 'em went to the same club and all play there btw)

Update: It's not only one club. It's at least 6 clubs that has more than 2 registered non-EU players, using 3+ in each game. What am I missing here?

There definitely should be a list of countries that are exempt from the Non-EU ruling in the rules sections of leagues - I would never have figured that certain pacific, african and caribbean nations would be exempt from the quota. It would help a lot of people when deciding who to register as a foreign player.

There definitely should be a list of countries that are exempt from the Non-EU ruling in the rules sections of leagues - I would never have figured that certain pacific, african and caribbean nations would be exempt from the quota. It would help a lot of people when deciding who to register as a foreign player.

* Angola

* Benin

* Botswana

* Burkina Faso

* Burundi

* Cameroon

* Cape Verde

* Central African Republic

* Chad

* Comoros

* Congo-Brazzaville

* Congo-Kinshasa

* Côte d'Ivoire

* Djibouti

* Equatorial Guinea

* Eritrea

* Ethiopia

* Gabon

* Gambia

* Ghana

* Guinea

* Guinea-Bissau

* Kenya

* Lesotho

* Liberia

* Madagascar

* Malawi

* Mali

* Mauritania

* Mauritius

* Mozambique

* Namibia

* Niger

* Nigeria

* Rwanda

* São Tomé and Príncipe

* Senegal

* Seychelles

* Sierra Leone

* Somalia

* South Africa

* Sudan

* Swaziland

* Tanzania

* Togo

* Uganda

* Zambia

* Zimbabwe

African non-signatories (DO count against Non-EU quotas): Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt

Thats great research mate, but SI should put the list of nations exempt from quotas in the rule sections of the leagues - rather then have to ask on the forums/ find out ourselves.

Thats great research mate, but SI should put the list of nations exempt from quotas in the rule sections of the leagues - rather then have to ask on the forums/ find out ourselves.

Yeah totally agree. There are so many different intricate rules around the many playable nations that an extensive rules section should be included for every league. Its not like it requires any extra research considering they are already programmed in.

Yup - in fact I am going to suggest that on the wishlist.

I've posted about them adding this for ages because the countries allowed are not described well at all by the current rules and theres no way you can be expected to work them all out. For example in Switzerland, Norway, Iceland the rules refer to non-EU players when the nations themselves are non-EU or in Turkey there are rules against foreign players when in fact you can sign players from turkic nations although this doesn't stretch as far as turkic regions in Russia or Xinjiang but I don't know if it should and there is no mention of this rule anywhere in fm. It would also be nice if it told you what the conditions for work permits are, I think most people have worked out what you need for a UK one but a South African one I'm not too sure.

Yes - a much more detailed rule section of leagues are needed - especially regarding registration and work permits etc. I have posted in the wishlist for a full list of countires which are exempt from Non-EU rules. Lets hope SI stumble across it and agree that it needs to be implemented.