Contract and Loan end dates - Season 2023/24
Any player who is on the old version of the Non-League Contract will be subject to the Clause 1 provision which automatically extends the term of the contract to cover the last competitive fixture of the club’s first team (in the event that this falls later than the stipulated end date of the first Saturday in May).
For players who have signed the new Non-League Contract which came into force on 1 July 2023, there is no such provision as standard. Some clubs entered wording to this effect alongside their chosen end date, as advised in the guidance issued alongside the contract. Clubs should check whether their contracts contain this provision to extend.
In the event that your club has a player registered under contract, which expires this season; you did not enter the wording to extend and your club does or may have matches which fall after the end date inserted into the contract, please take note of the following:
Clubs and players are advised to submit a written agreement of your own drafting, confirming the extension of the end date to the relevant date in May 2024, in order to cover any remaining first team fixtures which fall beyond the current end date of the contract.
For clubs with players out on loan, where the loanee club has or may have first team fixtures which fall after the end date of the player’s contract, the parent club and the player should similarly agree and submit an extension to the contract, to enable the loanee club to then extend the period of the loan with the player in the normal way (Rule 6.6.1 of the Standardised Rules) in order to cover the loanee club’s remaining first team fixtures. Loans whose end dates fall after the end date of the player’s contract will not be accepted unless the contract has been duly extended in this way.
The signed letters of amendment can then be uploaded to iFAS as a Contract Amendment to allow the club to amend the end date accordingly.
Please note that the letters of amendment extending the term of the contract, and any loan extensions, provided they are continuous (i.e. there is no break), may continue to be submitted after the March registration deadline.
We are in consultation to amend the contract for future seasons to automatically extend as per the previous version.