When can you change football clubs if you are under 15?

At the turn of a playing term: 1 March, 1 July or 1 November. Your old club does not need to approve the move. Mid-term you need special grounds, your old club’s approval and permission from the district FA.

How much does it cost to change football clubs?

Nothing for you. Up to 14 there is no fee at all. From 15 the new club pays SEK 500 for a standard transfer or SEK 6,000 for express. No money passes between clubs in a youth move.

What is the free month in Swedish football?

15 November–15 December. During that period a player aged 15 or over can change clubs without the old club’s approval (RB 2026 chapter 2, section 2). Outside it, approval is required, otherwise you only become eligible in the next free month.

For players

Two sets of rules: up to 14, and from 15

By Gustav, founder of Breakout · 5 min read

Up to and including the calendar year you turn 14, you change clubs at the turn of a playing term, and your old club does not need to say yes. From 1 January of the year you turn 15, it is a transfer in Fogis, with a free month, a fee and a waiting period. Most of what is written about changing clubs mixes the two up. Here is what the Swedish FA’s Representation Regulations actually say.

Two sets of rules

Up to and including the calendar year you turn 14, you are tied to one club per playing term in competitive matches (the Swedish FA’s registration regulations, RB 2026 chapter 1, section 3). Your registration, however, can be moved at any time, and your old club cannot stop you (chapter 2, section 1). There are three playing terms: 1 March–30 June, 1 July–31 October and 1 November–28 February. Change at the turn of a term and nothing more happens than your new club registering you.

From 1 January of the year you turn 15, different rules apply. You are registered anew as a player, and a change of club is a transfer in Fogis (chapter 1, section 4; chapter 4, section 10). Since 2026, registration in Fogis is compulsory from the age of 9, so there is a record of where you have played whatever your age.

How to change clubs up to 14

Wait for the term to end, ask your new club to register you, done. If you want to move in the middle of a term you need special grounds, for instance living in two places after a move. Then you need your old club’s approval and permission from your district FA. In Stockholm that dispensation is free.

What protects you from being courted is not the RB but your district’s competition regulations (TB). Stockholm FA’s recruitment policy forbids clubs from making first contact with players at other clubs up to and including 31 October of the year the player turns 14. Other districts have their own rules or only recommendations. Check your district before assuming a rule applies.

How to change clubs from 15

It is the new club that completes the transfer in Fogis, with your written approval and your guardian’s (RB 2026 chapter 5, section 7.2 and chapter 4, section 8). You can object within 14 days. The fee is SEK 500 for an amateur transfer and SEK 6,000 for an express transfer, and the club pays it – never you. You become eligible to play at the earliest four days after the fee is paid, or immediately with express (chapter 5, section 4). During the transfer period you play competitive matches only for your old club (chapter 4, section 4).

The free month, 15 November–15 December, is the period when your old club cannot block the transfer (chapter 2, section 2). Contract terms that try to restrict it are void (chapter 2, section 4). Outside the free month you need your old club’s approval. If they say no you are not stopped, but you only become eligible in the next free month (chapter 2, section 5). The Competition Committee can grant an exception if you move for reasons unrelated to football.

The 1 September rule: change after 1 September and you cannot play in national leagues or the U16–U19 leagues for the rest of the season (chapter 4, section 3). Does not apply up to 14.
Two transfers within 16 weeks are presumed to be a bridge transfer, that is, a way around the rules. The penalty can be up to SEK 25,000 (chapter 1, section 15).
Loans exist only for professional players (chapter 3, section 12). You are registered with one club at a time; futsal counts separately (chapter 1, section 2).

What to tell your coach

The rules require no conversation. In a free-month transfer it is the new club that must notify the old club in writing within a week (chapter 5, section 7.1). Everything else is a recommendation, and the recommendations assume you speak up first.

Our advice, not a rule: tell the coach yourself, before the new club gets in touch and before the team hears it from someone else. You do not need to justify the choice in detail. A short conversation is enough, and it is what the coach remembers the day you need a reference.

Check before you move

Changing clubs rarely fixes what is wrong. Before you decide, ask the new club about specifics.

Playing-time policy: how is playing time shared in your age group, and who decides?
Travel and time: an academy often trains four times a week (Linköping FC). Work out the travel time for an ordinary week, not a dream week.
Cost: a child’s main sport costs on average SEK 9,400 a year for ages 7–18, with a range of SEK 5,000–25,000 between sports, up 68 per cent since 2009 (Swedish Sports Confederation, 2024). Ask what the fee covers.
Certification: top-flight academies are certified by Swedish Elite Football (SEF). Ask how many stars the academy holds.

What research says about moving up early

Moving into an elite environment early looks good in the short term and worse in the long term. In 2024 Güllich and Barth reviewed 51 studies covering 6,233 athletes: an early elite environment went with better results as a junior and worse results as a senior. The relationship changes direction depending on when you measure.

Swedish registry data says something similar. In 2021 Söderström and colleagues followed 3,943 boys and 4,056 girls in U15 district squads: being at an elite club at 15 reduced the likelihood that the girls were still playing at 21, and made no difference for the boys. Specialisation also raises injury risk – an odds ratio of 1.27 for injury and 1.36 for serious overuse injury in Jayanthi’s 2015 data. The Swedish FA advises against selecting on results up to the age of 12, on the grounds that even those who get more playing time tend to quit.

Money and Fogis

Nothing is paid when you change clubs. Training compensation is only triggered the day you sign your first or second professional contract in one of the four top leagues, and it is then shared between the clubs you were registered with from the year you turned 12 – according to Fogis (RB 2026 chapter 7). That is why registration matters.

Trial sessions in Breakout go through a parent’s approval for players under 15. Last checked against RB 2026; RB 2027 comes into force at the end of November 2026.

Common follow-up questions

When can you change football clubs if you are under 15?: At the turn of a playing term: 1 March, 1 July or 1 November. Your old club does not need to approve the move. Mid-term you need special grounds, your old club’s approval and permission from the district FA.
How much does it cost to change football clubs?: Nothing for you. Up to 14 there is no fee at all. From 15 the new club pays SEK 500 for a standard transfer or SEK 6,000 for express. No money passes between clubs in a youth move.
What is the free month in Swedish football?: 15 November–15 December. During that period a player aged 15 or over can change clubs without the old club’s approval (RB 2026 chapter 2, section 2). Outside it, approval is required, otherwise you only become eligible in the next free month.