Club-trained player
Also called homegrown player
A club-trained player is one who was registered with their current club for three entire seasons, or 36 months, at any point between the ages of 15 and 21.
The definition is precise and worth reading slowly. The window runs from the age of 15, or the start of the season in which the player turns 15, to 21, or the end of the season in which they turn 21. Within that window the player must have been registered with the club for three entire seasons or for 36 months. The period does not have to be continuous, and nationality is irrelevant.
Two things people get wrong. It is three entire seasons or 36 months, whichever the club can show, not simply three years. And the qualifying period does not need to be unbroken, so a loan out and a return can still add up.
The status matters because competition regulations frequently build squad requirements around it. Whether a player qualifies can decide whether they can be registered for a competition at all, which makes it a question to answer before a transfer rather than after.
Worked example
A player joined at 14, left on loan at 17 for a season, came back and left permanently at 20.
Two spells, and whether they total three entire seasons or 36 months inside the 15 to 21 window is the whole question. The gap does not disqualify them.
Source: FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, January 2026 edition, Definitions, no. 31
Related terms
- Training compensationTraining compensation is paid to the clubs that trained a player when they first register as a professional, and on every subsequent transfer until the end of the calendar year of their 23rd birthday.
- Electronic player passportThe electronic player passport is the consolidated record of where a player has been registered across their career, from the calendar year of their 12th birthday onwards.
- Registration periodA registration period, known everywhere as the transfer window, is one of the two annual periods fixed by each association during which players may be registered with a new club.