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Join the Sky Sports debate on Fifa's bid to limit foreign players

Last updated: 30th May 2008

Sepp Blatter

Blatter: Hopes rule is in place by 2012/13

Football's world governing body has voted in favour putting a limit on the number of foreign players each team could field.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter wants the controversial rule to be in place by the 2012/13 season - but we would like to know what you think of the plan.

The rule would limit every team to only five foreign players in their starting XI.

Do you think this would have a dramatic effect on the game in this country? Would it spell the end of the Premier League's dominance in Europe?

Which clubs do you think would suffer the most if this rule was brought in?

Fifa's controversial proposal is different from a "home-grown players" rule proposed by Uefa who define "home-grown players" as team members who, regardless of age or nationality, have been trained by their club for at least three years between the ages of 15 and 21.

Do you think Uefa's idea is more workable?

Let us have your thoughts using the form below.

Comments

Daragh Kennedy (Manchester United fan) says...

Can someone please explain why this rule is being introduced. I'm a little confused. I'm hearing so much about the national teams been affected. So if we removed the Ronaldo's/fabregas/drogba's etc does this mean that all of a sudden, English players better than Terry/Rooney/Lampard/Gerrard/Cole/nevilles/beckham/owen/scholes/hargreaves etc are goin to magically appear ?? Or does it just mean that these players will be playing at a lower level each week thus having a devastating effect on the best league in the world and the national team suffers again because of the players competing at a lower standard. How many players does a country wish to have on its panel ?... there is still going to be the limit of 22/23. So if the premier league has every team with ONLY English players can anyone honestly say that the english panel (22/23) is going to be better than the top English players at the moment. Highly unlikely. Blatter never complained when Spanish teams ot Italian teams were dominating Europe because of their financial wealth and buying foreign players.Since English teams seem to be finally getting a hold on Europe (past 2 season: 3 English clubs in Uefa CL semi finals). Blatter has always disliked English clubs and i think its time people recognised this. This is a blatent move to prevent the success cycle of football, when its English clubs time.

Posted 06:53 2nd June 2008

Tommy Smith (Arsenal fan) says...

I have been reading the comments that people have been writing on here and the point against the quota seriously out-weigh the positives. call me bias because i am a gunners fan but honestly, blatter has got his head in the clouds! there is no evidence to suggest it will work, its illegal and why would the top bosses pick foreign players over potentially good English talent. why not try to develop youth systems? all this quota will do is extend the gap (even further) between the top 4 and the rest with the top teams paying over the top prices the better english players. i like the point that was made earlier that "All teams within the leagues will be on an equal footing - to a certain extent - and therefore the smaller clubs will be able to compete with the bigger clubs when it comes to transfers. (we pay these players too much anyway)." Anyway thats all i got to say, sepp blatter is an idiot!

Posted 22:36 1st June 2008

Dan Green says...

i think this is a good idea but 6 players is too much to ask. most of the squad will have to be english to compensate for injuries or players that are unfit. the reason this is a good idea is because the premier league is full of foreign players and you dont see much of english players in the starting line up.

Posted 22:28 1st June 2008

Tahir- intermilan fan Tarsan (Barnsley fan) says...

I am an Inter Milan fan and the only critics, which I have for my team is the foriegn players that dominated the team. Now I am not going to watch the Euro 2008. Because Marco is the only prayer representing Inter in the National Team. Fifa 6+5 proposal will restore the sprit of the football.

Posted 22:12 1st June 2008

Graham Shear (West Ham United fan) says...

Some simple facts; the EPL is incredibly financially successful and it is, in reality, the primary world wide football brand whose product is purchased and watched from Iceland to New Zealand. FIFA may hold the central rule book and have the rights to the world cup but they no longer exclusively control the big money and hence power in the game. They appear to be mounting an attempt to regain their centralised control over the game and the money flowing into it, a little like Formula One and the FIA. I hear you ask what has this got to do with the rule change being proposed? Well thats also simple. By reducing the impact of the EPL and restricting the ability to buy the best talent, FIFA can rein in the run away financial success of the EPL all in the name of creating a more balanced game and protecting grass roots development. The idea that a Scottish or Irish player in the EPL would be classified as a foreigner is as strange to us now as the inconsistancy of football being exempted from the central ethos of freedom of movement within the European Union is to most lawyers. I for one would be amazed if the EU will ever be able to agree on this issue as it would surely mean the start of the dilution of the Treaty of Rome and the end to the notion that any EU national is free to live and work in any EU Nation State. The result is lots of hot air from Zurich and the potential for confrontation between FIFA and the European Commission. FIFA will lose and in the meantime the EPL and the FA should continue to avoid the flack and focus upon leading the world in sales of the best televised sport on the planet.

Posted 22:05 1st June 2008

Callum Mccoy (Manchester United fan) says...

This is the worst rule ever! This will ruin the pl completly. If they are going to do this to the pl then they should do it to every other league aswell! FIFA dont want the english league to be the best in the world thats why they are doing this, they want it back to how it used to be with the italians dominating urope again! Once this rule takes place it will be barcelona, real madrid, inter, ac milan and juventus that are the best in the competition and the english lubs will be knocked out early on. Also the big 4 will end up buying most of the english players out of the pl and have to sell some of there good foreign tallent because they will not be able to play them. For example liverpool are trying to buy barry for £12m if this rule comes into place he would end up costing about £20m! I think this rule mite not affect arsenal because alot of there players could be classed as home grown! I think this rule is a joke and should not take place!!!!

Posted 21:18 1st June 2008

Kieran Anderson (Sunderland fan) says...

This rule would spell the end of English dominance of the Champions' League and worsen the quality of our Premier League, the best and most entertaining league in the world, since it prevents some of the best players from playing. The supposed advantage of this rule is that it would improve the national side since more homegrown players are playing regularly, however this isn't the case. The French players that won the World Cup in 98 and the Euro in 2000 were largely based abroad and much of the current Brazilian squad is also and these are top teams and they have no problem producing players and gaining success from players that play abroad. Currrently England has produced its best generation of players to date and has won nothing, thus the problem isn't English talent but the unity of the national side and its team ethic. The problem isn't producing the talent, it's the use of it afterwards.

Posted 20:33 1st June 2008

Jonny Mcmullan (Leeds United fan) says...

I think this ruling is exactly the medicine the English FA deserve - if it goes ahead then once for and all there will be no more excuses for the national side. Bottom line is qf and sf appearances in major competitions is about as good as England can get. i think they have a great collection of players - but then so do France, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Italy, Germany, Croatia, Portugal, and at least 2 dark horses at any tournament. Can all these 'top' countries always win? The influx of ' foreigners' has doen nothing but improve the English league and quality of english player - that includes managers (imagine a prem without alex ferguson, arsene wenger, jose mourinho, george graham, rafa benitez, even vialli et al). A friend of mine is a Liverpool supporter and he made the best argument I have heard - the great Liverpool side that won their european cups weren't exactly 11 english men were they - lawrenson, dalglish, grobbelar, hansen, souness - surely if the quota comes in the english league would struggle to ever reach those heights again. We could barely cope without the other home nations let alone the rest of the world!

Posted 19:29 1st June 2008

Lee Trevis (Manchester United fan) says...

A point a lot of people are missing is that this proposal won't just mean each team will need 6 English players in their squad they will need many more as if any of your English players were injured you wouldn't be able to field a legitimate team by the new rules. This means that realistically a 22 man squad would actually need to have more like 12 English (not just British) players in it to account for injuries. This would decimate squads such as Arsenal and Liverpool in particular. A more realistic ratio would be the answer as in such a short space of time PL teams could not adjust to the proposed rules in time.

Posted 19:08 1st June 2008

Mohamed Ali (Arsenal fan) says...

This idea is a joke! Do you want a strong national team? Send the English players abroad to Italy,Spain,France and Germany.Look at Real Madrid,Barca,Milan,Inter,Roma,Bayern Munich for ex.,how many home-grown players they have every game?3-4 only at most and sometimes less than 3 and nobody cares for that! You know why?Cuz they have an ARMY of players playing in England,Italy and Germany etc. so the players playing outside "only" can make a strong team,so when turning to their local leagues they'll pick the best from the top clubs to complete the rest for NT.Now look at England,NO English player is playing outside except Becks! So when picking players for NT they choose the top4 players,then guess what?They turn to the likes of Blackburn,Boro,Man City,Aston Villa and West Ham to pick the rest,which isn't good enough.Let's send our English kids abrod,no more "home,sweet home" for them if we want a strong NT.

Posted 13:41 1st June 2008

Jamie Edwards (Liverpool fan) says...

i think its good we are thinking along these lines, but think about it, it isnt good for english football. The top clubs will buy all the english players from the other clubs, meaning the lower clubs in the prem will play players who are not good enough and therefore will struggle. plus liverpool want barry for 12m, if this rule goes ahead, ur lookin at at least 20m. it wont work

Posted 19:59 31st May 2008

George Carroll (Manchester United fan) says...

this man and FIFA to that matter are so predictable. they are terrified that the PL might dominate. if the situation was going on in other countries eg spain and italy, the idea wouldnt have even been raised. it is well known that teams from other leagues have fielded teams with mostly foreign players yet the situation has been ignored. then the last two years has seen english teams rise to power and this year the competition was bossed. and as soo n as this happens, what does blatter and FIFA do. try and play down the succes, relating it to foriegners and demanding all this be changed. il tell you this for a fact, if real madrid barca milan inter and others played entirely foreign teams, nothing would be said. there would be more fuss made if an english team plays one foreigner

Posted 16:01 31st May 2008

Peter Davies says...

it just wouldnt work. firstly it would ruin the PL and would benefit other european countries such as italy and spain. all of the best players english and foreign would leave the PL for the La Liga or the Serie A. all players want to play at the highest level and if they are playing with average 18 year old english players they would not develop and they would therefore want to leave. also, the top english players other than beckham play regularly for their clubs in ENGLAND and the best english players play for the best clubs in the PL.

Posted 15:28 31st May 2008

Dan Ribeiro (Liverpool fan) says...

FIFA are coming at this from the completely wrong direction. If their justification for this is to break the domination of certain teams/countries, they should analyse why the players are moving abroad in the first place. And this boils down to one thing....Money!! Historically speaking when Italian, Spanish (and now English) teams dominated European competitions, their leagues were the most powerfull at the time. As a result the clubs were able to buy the best talent in the world - and pay the highest wages - because they had the most money at the time. This is the root cause of foreign transfers... Players will flock to these leagues because thats where the money is. If Fifa really want to even the playing field then they should cap transfers and salaries across the whole of Europe. This would have a three-fold effect: 1. All teams within the leagues will be on an equal footing - to a certain extent - and therefore the smaller clubs will be able to compete with the bigger clubs when it comes to transfers. (we pay these players too much anyway) 2. Foreign players will be less likely to travel far. (i.e why would a player leave his family, friends and country to play in England if they would be paid just the same at home). 3. Clubs will have to plunge more money into grass roots local development so as to produce - rather than buy - that 'special' player. This would be so much more effective than the current ruling and would resolve both forms of football domination (i.e. clubs and countries) as well as promote youth development. The number of foreign players would drop in time voluntarily and there would be no contravention of European law which makes me wonder why this hasn't even been mentioned. The cynical part of me wonders if a drop in salaries/transfers would result in less of a budget in Fifa's own pockets.

Posted 15:27 31st May 2008

Olawunmi Raji (Manchester United fan) says...

The proposal is not illegal and I sincerely believe if implemented properly it will work. Although, it may be difficult at the beginning but along the line it is going to be okay. This will make every club to have an effective academy and transition plan. The proposal does not stop foreign players coming in. It is just a way of allowing homegrown raw talents and also encouraging committment and loyality on the part of players. Many beleived the rule is out of jealousy because of the dominance of English clubs in CL. I disagree. The long term implementation of this policy will make all leagues very strong and consistent. Afterall, the PL and CL Champions(Man Utd) have at least 6 home grown talents. The South American leagues are good examples where home grown talents developed effectively. For the sake of continuity, consistency, and commitment let us all embrace the policy. African players coming to europe will be more affected.

Posted 14:56 31st May 2008

Luke Chard (Arsenal fan) says...

It won't happen because it can't happen. Did Blatter just turn away from football during the Bosman court case years. Rather than trying to stop players in a team why doesn't he try to sort out the game we have at the moment and concentrate on things like goal-line technology or a way to impose TV technology to stop the controversy, not start more!

Posted 13:35 31st May 2008

Lewis Robinson (Northampton Town fan) says...

The debates on illegality are over my head as I've never studied employment law. However, pretending thats not a problem, I think instead of a team limit a better idea would be a squad limit. I've no problem with the very best foreign players playing in the premier league. It improves the league and the England team having these players here. What bugs me is when you have average foreign players on the bench, in the squad and in the reserve team. To have a squad limit of 12 or 15 foreign players would mean teams such as Arsenal can pretty much carry on the way they are, but when there's an injury a home based player can step in. If under that system, where home-based players at least get the opportunity to play, they still cannot shine, then they can no longer say they havent been given the chance and cry "unfair" like they can now

Posted 11:58 31st May 2008

Bill Dyer (Rangers fan) says...

The man is an idiot. Also those of you who think England will benefit....dream on. For the first time in decades, England (accepting the failure to qualify this time round) have the talent at International level, thanks to the quality of their foreign colleagues at club level. Perhaps we should accept that if our young players are good enough, they will get a slot at any club, in England or abroad. Blatter has never hidden his loathing of all things English and it sticks in his throat to see English clubs dominate Europe. I only hope the EU stick to their guns and send this idiot away to spoil another part of football, at which he is expert.

Posted 11:15 31st May 2008

James Moore (Chelsea fan) says...

To the man who said Arsenal cant afford english players. Im sure in London theres thousands of youth that want to join Arsenal, so it is up to Arsenal to put them through, the usual requirement is that they have to be French speaking. As for buying English players theres plenty in Aston Villa, Blackburn, Tottenham and Man City, which wouldn't cost anymore than a Samir Nasri. English players may not have the flair Wengers looking for but they have strength and want in the team they play in, which is why Man U and Chelsea do well, because they have an English core. Blatter has to bring in this rule not because im worried for the national team, but to improve the tradition of the league, to make it a English league.

Posted 11:06 31st May 2008

Barry Mccann (Celtic fan) says...

The 'debate' shouldn't exist because it is illegal to enforce nationality restrictions on starting elevens.

Posted 10:50 31st May 2008

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