First Division soccer champions Vasco will be allowed to sign seven new players who have shown interest in joining them for the upcoming season without going through late transfer restrictions.

But any other players wishing to join Vasco -- including those who may have transferred from the club but have now changed their minds -- will fall into the late transfer category which means no participation until November 15.

Bermuda Football Association yesterday confirmed a recent Royal Gazette article which reported that Vasco had applied to the BFA to have the late player registration waived so that they could sign additional players in order to form a viable team for the season. The request came after Vasco had been hit by 16 transfers which severely depleted their ranks.

Only one player, North Village's Jamel Smith, signed for them before the registration deadline, which meant that any player transferring after that would have had to wait until November 15 before being allowed to play.

As a result of the mass exodus, Vasco fell below the minimum required 18 players needed to be on a club's books in order to register for the First or Second Division.

Said BFA general secretary David Sabir yesterday: "The Executive Committee has concluded that as of the official registration deadline on July 31, Vasco had a total of 13 persons in possession of a valid (not expired) BFA registration card.'' Vasco's predicament was that unless they were allowed to register sufficient players prior to the late player registration period from November 15 to December 20, then they would not be eligible to participate during the 1999-2000 season.

Sabir pointed to two other instances in the last couple of years when St.

George's and Hotels were given additional time to register players so as to stay in the league. St. George's managed to accomplish their goal after a mass exodus while Hotels could not and subsequently withdrew from the league.

"The Executive Committee sees its role as facilitating the participation in football as much as possible and to assist in the survival of all its affiliates and clubs,'' added Sabir.

The players rumoured to be keen to join Vasco are Caisey brothers from Boulevard, Albert, Clinton and Taur, Chris Anderson from Dandy Town and Hamilton Parish trio Kuma Smith, Jermaine Belboda and Keenan Burchall who all want to stay in the First Division after Parish's relegation.

Vasco will be involved in the first match of the new season next Sunday when they take on FA Cup champions Devonshire Colts in the traditional season-opening Charity Cup.

And though they have won three league titles in the last four years, Vasco now face a big rebuilding job following the departure of such players as Kentoine Jennings, Ottis Steede, Tafari Outerbridge, Earl Richardson, Diallo Sharrieff, Voorhees Astwood, Stefan Dupres and Raynel Lightbourne.