By Martin Banks - 4th June 2008
Parliament’s president Hans-Gert Pöttering has been urged to give Fifa president Sepp Blatter a “dressing down” over controversial plans to limit the number of foreign players in club sides.
The demand came ahead of the German centre right MEP’s meeting with Blatter in Brussels on Thursday.
Blatter requested a meeting with Pöttering in order to explain his support for proposals to limit clubs to fielding a maximum of five foreign players in their starting line-ups. The request comes in the wake of a recent vote in parliament against the plan.
In an interview with Le Monde on 22 May, Blatter said that “MEPs voted on a draft they do not understand. The European parliament took a knee-jerk decision in saying no.”
Speaking ahead of today’s meeting, Socialist MEPs Guy Bono and Richard Corbett decried “the contempt” shown by FIFA and Blatter towards the EU on the so-called “6+5” nationality issue.
French Socialist deputy Bono, co-rapporteur of the white paper on sport, said, "Whether he likes it or not, we passed a resolution opposing the 6+5 nationality requirement, because it is against the European treaties. Even if the treaty recognised the uniqueness of football, it doesn’t mean that football is above the law or treaties.”
British deputy Corbett, who sponsored the amendment against the 6+5 nationality requirement, said: “Every club - even the big ones - must accept some responsibility for training and not rely solely on their financial muscle in the transfer market to acquire players who were trained by others. Football should not simply be a financial contest.
“However, the crude 6+5 proposal would be illegal under European law and would adversely affect sporting competition. If Blatter is serious he should follow the example of UEFA who worked with the parliament and the commission to frame their rules on home-grown players within the scope of EU law,” he said.
Blatter’s meeting with Pöttering was held in private in parliament and neither were immediately available for comment.
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