Fifa player cap threat to teams

Last Modified: 30 May 2008
By: Krishnan Guru-Murthy

The FA says it will consider a Fifa proposal to limit the number of overseas players to a maximum of five in each team.

Could it be the end for English football's foreign legion? The FA has voted to explore a plan by the world football authority to introduce quotas for foreign players in club teams.

Fifa President Sepp Blatter wants a five-year programme to bring down the number of overseas players to a maximum of five in each team. The aim is to encourage the development of home-grown players.

But the plan falls foul of European law, which allows workers to move freely between member countries.

Jan Figel interview

We were joined from Brussels by the European Commissioner for Sport, Jan Figel to discuss the issue.

It was a triumph for English football: two Premier League sides battling it out for European club football's top prize in last week's Champions League final.

But of the 22 players who started that match, just 10 were English.

And there will be no English players competing for this summer's other big prize, the European Championships. Are the two facts linked?

Sepp Blatter's proposed six plus five rule, given the backing of Fifa members in Sydney this morning, would force professional clubs to field a maximum of five foreign players in their starting eleven.

Mr Blatter is seemingly unconcerned that the European Commission could find such a plan illegal.

If there were more English players in our top flight, would our national side be more likely to be in Europe this summer? Former England manager Steve McLaren isn't so sure.

And the prospect of falling standards is one that scares the top flight clubs. There is little appetite for the six plus five rule among them. The English FA may have voted with Mr Blatter this morning, but the support was not what one would call fulsome.

The European Union has at least endorsed a home-grown players rule, setting a quota of club-trained players, no matter what their nationality.

But the EU has shown no sign of budging on a nationality-based quota system. Sepp Blatter says simply that laws can be amended.

If the six plus five rule was ever enforced, it would be a significantly different Chelsea side. And Arsenal would have to raid the ranks of its youth and reserve teams to make up the numbers.