If Great Britain left the EU, would the Shaqiri play in Liverpool?

Shaqiri meets the criteria required to gain work permit, which would allow Albanian travel with Premierliga leader Liverpool. However, he would first have to follow certain procedures, writes the Express newspaper.

At the moment, work permits are required only to footballers from countries outside the European Union. But, with the finalization of the BREXT agreement, this rule will apply to all foreign footballers.

Among the footballers that would be required permission to play on the Premierliga is Shaqiri. He would have to apply for this permit to the relevant office in England, which is responsible for working visas.

In Great Britain, to gain permission as a football player, you must meet certain criteria. A player automatically qualifies for a work permit if he has played a certain percentage in national team matches over the past two years, before the application was made.

Under these conditions, Shaqiri would gain his work permit as he plays in most of the Swiss National match, which is placed in eighth place, according to the latest set of world football body FIFA.

In fact, since the beginning of 2017, Shaqiri has been missing in only two matches of the Swiss National. In both of them, he had not been part of the team because of a muscle injury in March 2018.

Criteria for automatically qualified for work permits:

• If the national player applying for work permits is ranked 1-11 on FIFA's list, the player must have played at least 30 percent of the matches held over the past two years;
• If the national player applying for work permits is ranked 11-20 on FIFA's list, the player must have played at least 45 percent of the matches held over the past two years;
• If the national player applying for work permits is ranked 21-30 on FIFA's list, the player must have played at least 60 percent of the matches held over the past two years;
• If the national player applying for work permits is ranked 31-50 on FIFA's list, the player must have played at least 30 percent of the matches held over the past two years.

If Shaqiri had not met the criteria for automatically obtaining his work permit, he would have to submit a request to “Submission Panel”. His request, depending on his price, salary, and career history, would be once again appreciated. Oral interviews can also affect the final outcome.

Switzerland is not an EU member, but is part of Europe's free market and a member of the European Economic Zone. For this reason, Shaqiri is affected by the decision of Great Britain to leave the EU.

As the Shaqiri meets these criteria, foreign players such as N'Golo Kante and Riyadh Mahres would not earn the right to play in Premierliga. As a result, Chelsea and Manchester City, but other clubs, would be without some important players in their team.