Policy Focus

MEPs give guarded welcome to Fifa foreign players quota

MEPs have given a guarded welcome to plans by Fifa, the world football’s governing body, to control the influx of foreigners in domestic leagues.

It follows a meeting on Monday between Fifa president Sepp Blatter and parliament’s culture and sport committee about the future of professional football in Europe.

At a news conference on Monday, Blatter defended his proposals for the so-called 6 plus 5 principle, which would allow any team to field only five foreign players on the pitch at one time.

The rule, which Fifa wants implemented by 2012, has been declared illegal by the EU, which insists it breaks a law that allows workers to move freely between member countries.

Blatter said, “Rules can always be amended or changed. I am an optimist and have to stress that I have been mandated by Fifa to pursue this.”

Speaking at the same conference, Belgian EPP-ED deputy Ivo Belet, parliament’s rapporteur on the future of the sport, said he and other members of the committee “generally” agreed with Blatter’s 6 plus 5 plan.

He added, “However, we have got to be realistic on this and accept that at present this plan contravenes EU law.”

Belet said he favours the so-called home-grown players rule, which means four players in a Champions League or Uefa Cup squad must have been developed by the club, with another four having been produced by clubs from the same national federation.

“Football is evolving in a perverse and destructive way and, either way, we have to save the sport from this trend,” he said.

Blatter also demanded an end to the profiteering raids on English clubs by foreign billionaires and called for a strict regime of controls to rein in the power of the Barclays Premier League.

He warned that the game is at a crossroads at which the richest clubs would become ever richer at the expense of those without the backing of billionaires prepared to spend their way to success.

He said he has charged Michel Platini, the president of Uefa, with enforcing stricter licensing rules on ownership, which could mean delving into the backgrounds of potential owners and ensuring that they have the cash to support a takeover.