Boost for Blatter plan to cut foreign imports

A report by the Institute for European Affairs — commissioned by FIFA to study the issue — claims the idea of restricting foreign players in league games through the 6+5' rule does not break EU rules on free movement of workers.

If implemented it could have a dramatic effect on English football because 65 per cent of the players in the Premier League are imports. The Premier League have consistently opposed the idea.
Blatter is delighted with the result of the report, which will form the basis of fresh talks between FIFA and the European Commission. The FIFA chief said: "This study confirms that we are not breaching European law in defending the 6+5 rule.

"On behalf of FIFA and its member associations, I would like to express my pleasure at this finding. Through 6+5 we wish to encourage the development of young players, protect national teams and maintain competitiveness and the unpredictability of results. This is why 6+5 is beneficial to football."

The study was carried out by five professors, all experts in European law, and INEA chairman Professor Jurgen Gramke insisted the report, although commissioned by FIFA, was entirely independent.

The key point is that under the proposal, each club must field at least six players eligible for the national team in the starting XI, but there is no limit on substitutes being foreign, or on the number of foreigners in a squad.

So far, the EC along with most EU governments say it would amount to discrimination at work and a restriction on the free movement of workers.
However, Gramke said: "There is no conflict with European law." The report says that, under EU law, the "regulatory autonomy" of sporting associations is supported.

"The key aim of the 6+5 rule in the view of the experts is the creation and assurance of sporting competition," it says. "The rule does not impinge on the core area of the right to freedom of movement. The rule is merely a rule of the game declared in the general interest of sport in order to improve the sporting balance between clubs and associations."

FIFA's Congress endorsed the rule in May last year, but six months later EU ministers said it broke EU rules. Today's report says that, at worst, the rule could constitute "indirect discrimination" because "it is not directly based on the nationality of professional players"