British football could be radically changed if the UK votes to leave the European Union, according to experts and leading voices in the game.

Some fear so-called Brexit could lead to more than 400 players losing the right to play in the UK, while others say it may give home talent a chance.

The UK will decide if it wants to stay in the EU in a referendum on 23 June.

"Leaving the EU will have a much bigger effect on football than people think," said football agent Rachel Anderson.

"We're talking about half of the Premier League needing work permits.

"The short-term impact would be huge but you could argue it will help in the long term as it could force clubs to concentrate on home-grown talent."

Some Leave campaigners, such as Brian Monteith of Leave.eu, argue that a post-Brexit UK could lower freedom-of-movement restrictions on the rest of the world which would "broaden the talent pool, not reduce it".

Players with an EU passport are currently free to play in the UK. Those without must meet Home Office criteria, the most important being that they are established internationals for leading nations.

Analysis of squads in the first two tiers in England and the Scottish Premiership has revealed a total of 332 players would fail to meet the current standards.

More than 100 Premier League players would be affected with Aston Villa, Newcastle United and Watford facing losing 11 players from their squads, while Championship side Charlton Athletic would need to find 13 replacements.

In fact, only 23 of the 180 non-British EU players currently playing in the Championship would get work permits - and most of those are former internationals from Ireland or Commonwealth nations with British passports.

Remarkably, none of the 53 non-British EU players in the Scottish Premiership would qualify for a permit on the basis of their international career alone.

That is the same situation for 63 non-British EU players in League One and 46 in League Two.