player may be granted a second redshirt year. Before the 2018 season, a player lost redshirt status with his first game appearance in that season; since then, redshirt status is lost only if the player appears in more than four games during that season. Prior to 1972, the NCAA prohibited freshmen from participating in varsity games, though they could practice with the varsity team and compete on separate freshmen teams, similar to junior varsity teams in high school football. International players The practice squad has also been used by professional teams and leagues as a way to bring in and train players from outside the United States or Canada, where gridiron football is not a popular sport, as an attempt to foster international interest. In the CFL, players from outside Canada are designated "international" players, which is usually used in reference to American players, but a subset of "international" players known as "global" players was implemented in 2019 to refer to players originating from outside the United States and Canada. This section, for both the NFL and CFL, refers to players that would be eligible for the CFL's "global" designation. NFL The NFL has operated programs in which selected international players were assigned to teams' practice squads as an extra member who did not count towards a team's maximum practice squad size. The first, called the International Practice Squad Program, began operation in 2004. In 2005, Rolando Cantu of Mexico was promoted to the Arizona Cardinals' active roster after spending the previous season on the practice squad as a member of the program. Players from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Japan, and Russia also participated. In 2008, the program sponsored sixteen players, the largest number ever. The program was discontinued for 2009. The rule allowing for an extra practice squad player of international origin, however, remained in the NFL's rulebook and teams attempted to use the rule even after the demise of the program. For example, in 2013 the Detroit Lions attempted to use it to add Norwegian kicker Håvard Rugland to their practice squad, but were rejected by the NFL, which stated that the rule was meant to be used for players from NFL Europe, which folded after the 2007 season. A new program, the International Player Pathway, was created in 2017. This new initiative started as a trial involving only NFC South teams. Each team in