{"id":24717,"date":"2025-09-26T07:47:34","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T06:47:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/?p=24717"},"modified":"2025-09-26T10:39:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T09:39:08","slug":"the-claim-that-playing-in-the-premier-league-is-based-on-a-points-system-is-misleading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/the-claim-that-playing-in-the-premier-league-is-based-on-a-points-system-is-misleading\/","title":{"rendered":"EPL eligibility: Players from top 50 countries in FIFA ranking, not 100 qualify"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Claim:<\/strong> Former communications manager of the Liberia Football Association (LFA), Danesius Marteh, has alleged that for one to play in the Premier League, a player\u2019s country must be in the top 100 of the FIFA ranking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verdict: <\/strong>Misleading! Playing in the Premier League requires a point accumulation system and an automatic pass if your country is in the first 50 of FIFA\u2019s ranking.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Text<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Danesius Marteh, former communications manager of the Liberia Football Association (LFA)<\/a> and now a talk show host on Prime 105.5 FM<\/a>, has claimed that to play in the English Premier League (EPL)<\/a>, a player\u2019s country must be within the top 100 of the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marteh, the co-host of Prime Morning Drive (PMD), made the claim during the show’s Tuesday, September 9, 2025, edition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The show, which was carried live on the entity\u2019s official Facebook page, generated over 30 comments, more than 20 emojis, and 1k views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The claim was made between 17:33 and 17:45 minutes\/seconds<\/a> of the over 1-hour live show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journalist Marteh said, \u201cIt is not every player that goes to the Premier League; there are eligibility rules to play in the Premier League of all the leagues in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Background<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This claim comes a day after the Liberian National team, the Lonestar, drew<\/a> with opponent Malawi away in the ongoing World Cup qualifier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This result led to disappointment and frustration among many Liberians in the country\u2019s national team and became a major topic of public discourse across Monrovia and its environs. DUBAWA thought it was necessary to ascertain the fact in the claim since it has gained huge national interest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verification<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To verify this claim, DUBAWA\u2019s researcher first contacted the claimant via WhatsApp, and the claimant shared some light on his claim with a couple of links that back his assertion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a link <\/a>the claimant shared with DUBAWA that backs his claim, a Kenyan player moved to Manchester City, which collapsed<\/a> on grounds that the player failed to meet up with some of the criteria set by the English Premier League, and top among them was that Kenya was outside of the top 70 of the FIFA ranking at the time of signing.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the case of former football legend and Liberian international soccer icon, George Weah, the Claimant shared a link<\/a> that explains why Weah was able to play in the Premier League after being signed from AC Milan in 2000<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eligibility criteria for EPL<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the researcher reviewed the eligibility criteria for foreign players to play in the English Premier League (EPL) and discovered several benchmarks that any foreign player must meet to play in the EPL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First among the criteria is the Governing Body Endorsement (GBE) <\/a>for any players outside of the United Kingdom (UK), which is obtained by the English Football Association (FA). It is based on a point system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the GBE, the FA considers several factors in accumulating points. It examines the number of international appearances a player made for their country and the level of competition they played in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the GBE, \u201cAs a foreign player, you will qualify for the GBE if you have accumulated up to 15 points in your career. If you have also played a certain percentage of minutes for your team, you will also be eligible for an auto-pass, as long as your team is ranked in the top fifty by FIFA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, if a player does not meet the GBE criteria, there is an alternative for said player to still play in the English Premier League (EPL).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023<\/a>, the English FA introduced a new rule that permits Premier League and Championship teams to sign up to four international players who may not meet the standard points threshold for work permits.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below is a screenshot of an excerpt from the EPL criteria <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on the research conducted and all of the evidence available, the claim that only players whose countries are within the first 100 of the FIFA ranking can play in the English Premier League is misleading. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Claim: Former communications manager of the Liberia Football Association (LFA), Danesius Marteh, has alleged that for one to play in the Premier League, a player\u2019s country must be in the top 100 of the FIFA ranking. Verdict: Misleading! Playing in the Premier League requires a point accumulation system and an automatic pass if your country is in the first 50 of FIFA\u2019s ranking.   Full Text Danesius Marteh, former communications manager of the Liberia Football Association (LFA) and now a talk show host on Prime 105.5 FM, has claimed that to play in the English Premier League (EPL), a player\u2019s country must be within the top 100 of the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA). Marteh, the co-host of Prime Morning Drive (PMD), made the claim during the show’s Tuesday, September 9, 2025, edition. The show, which was carried live on the entity\u2019s official Facebook page, generated over 30 comments, more than 20 emojis, and 1k views. The claim was made between 17:33 and 17:45 minutes\/seconds of the over 1-hour live show. Journalist Marteh said, \u201cIt is not every player that goes to the Premier League; there are eligibility rules to play in the Premier League of all the leagues in the world.\u201d Background This claim comes a day after the Liberian National team, the Lonestar, drew with opponent Malawi away in the ongoing World Cup qualifier. This result led to disappointment and frustration among many Liberians in the country\u2019s national team and became a major topic of public discourse across Monrovia and its environs. DUBAWA thought it was necessary to ascertain the fact in the claim since it has gained huge national interest.  Verification To verify this claim, DUBAWA\u2019s researcher first contacted the claimant via WhatsApp, and the claimant shared some light on his claim with a couple of links that back his assertion. According to a link the claimant shared with DUBAWA that backs his claim, a Kenyan player moved to Manchester City, which collapsed on grounds that the player failed to meet up with some of the criteria set by the English Premier League, and top among them was that Kenya was outside of the top 70 of the FIFA ranking at the time of signing.   In the case of former football legend and Liberian international soccer icon, George Weah, the Claimant shared a link that explains why Weah was able to play in the Premier League after being signed from AC Milan in 2000 Eligibility criteria for EPL However, the researcher reviewed the eligibility criteria for foreign players to play in the English Premier League (EPL) and discovered several benchmarks that any foreign player must meet to play in the EPL. First among the criteria is the Governing Body Endorsement (GBE) for any players outside of the United Kingdom (UK), which is obtained by the English Football Association (FA). It is based on a point system. According to the GBE, the FA considers several factors in accumulating points. It examines the number of international appearances a player made for their country and the level of competition they played in. According to the GBE, \u201cAs a foreign player, you will qualify for the GBE if you have accumulated up to 15 points in your career. If you have also played a certain percentage of minutes for your team, you will also be eligible for an auto-pass, as long as your team is ranked in the top fifty by FIFA.  However, if a player does not meet the GBE criteria, there is an alternative for said player to still play in the English Premier League (EPL). In 2023, the English FA introduced a new rule that permits Premier League and Championship teams to sign up to four international players who may not meet the standard points threshold for work permits.   Below is a screenshot of an excerpt from the EPL criteria  Conclusion  Based on the research conducted and all of the evidence available, the claim that only players whose countries are within the first 100 of the FIFA ranking can play in the English Premier League is misleading. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"hannibal_claim_source":"","hannibal_source_label":"","hannibal_card_color":"blue","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[1571,3815,1960],"tags":[],"verdict":[],"ppma_author":[3532],"class_list":["post-24717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fact-check","category-homepage","category-liberia"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8R6dE-6qF","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":3532,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"jackson-c-clay-jr","display_name":"Jackson C. Clay Jr.","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4a1a3a0ffb70288fc47151919d35bfbf84da6ab614d08ddda46c3d772f23f39b?s=96&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Screenshot-2025-09-26-at-7.45.09-AM.png?fit=473%2C252&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24717"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24732,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24717\/revisions\/24732"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24717"},{"taxonomy":"verdict","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/verdict?post=24717"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=24717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}