Plans by the Fifa president Sepp Blatter to force football clubs to field a majority of their nationals in their starting line-ups were wrecked today when the European Commission denounced the scheme as illegal and discriminatory. In a severe blow to Blatter's proposals ahead of a Fifa congress in Sydney on Friday, Vladimir Spidla, the European Commissioner for employment, said any EU country where the Blatter "6+5" formula was applied would face legal action.
The announcement effectively kills off the Fifa proposal. Blatter has been lobbying hard for support for his radical and controversial quotas scheme which could change the face of the modern game. The scheme would compel clubs to have six players from their home countries in their starting 11. But the plan appears unworkable if not applied in Europe. "The Commission is showing the red card to the 6+5 rule," said Spidla. "Professional footballers are workers."
Earlier this month the European parliament voted by a margin of more than 10-1 against Blatter's plan. Yesterday's statement from the Commission represented a pre-emptive strike against the Fifa boss ahead of the Sydney congress which is to vote on 6+5. Blatter has been seeking backing for his proposal by complaining about the Premier League's domination of the Champions League this year, arguing that his scheme would create a more level playing pitch internationally as well as in domestic competition.
Spidla countered that EU regulations on free movement of labour and non-discrimination had to be observed, meaning that there could be no team quotas based on ethnicity. Instead, the commissioner voiced support for Uefa's rival scheme to encourage "home-grown talent" through a different quotas system not based on nationality.
Despite the commission's move, Blatter appeared unchastened in Australia today. He emerged from a meeting of the Fifa executive to proclaim a consensus behind his plan, including support from the Europeans. He again rounded on the pre-eminence of the Premier League as a problem that had to be tackled. "At the end of the Champions League in Europe you have in the quarter-finals four teams of the same association; in the semi-finals three of these teams. Then in the final you are surprised that you have two teams of the same association?" he said. " We want to bring some remedies and this is the 6+5 rule's objective."
By contrast, Uefa, football's governing body in Europe, is proposing that teams competing in the Champions League or Uefa Cup must include a certain quota of players nurtured through the club or another club from the same country. The quota players would need to have spent at least three years between the ages of 15 and 21 at the club or at another club in the same country. The quota players, however, could be of any nationality and do not need to be from the country where they are playing. The Uefa proposal is aimed at encouraging and maintaining youth coaching schemes while avoiding racial or ethnic discrimination.
"Compared with the intentions announced by Fifa to impose the so-called 6+5 rule which is directly discriminatory and therefore incompatible with EU law, the home-grown players rule proposed by Uefa seems to be proportionate and to comply with the principle of the free movement of workers," said Spidla.
But Blatter showed little sign of conceding defeat. "The [Fifa] executive committee unanimously supported the proposed resolution concerning the 6+5 rule," he said. "We've had confirmation by all the confederations, including Europe, that everybody favours the objectives."
