BRUSSELS, May 8 (Reuters) - The European Parliament dealt another blow to FIFA president Sepp Blatter's controversial plans to curb the number of foreigners at soccer clubs by voting against the proposals on Thursday.
EU lawmakers rejected Blatter's '6+5 rule', allowing no more
than five foreign players to start a match, by 518 votes to 49
but most backed the 'home-grown player rule' of European
soccer's governing body UEFA.
'The parliament calls on the member states and sports
associations not to introduce new rules that create direct
discrimination based on nationality, such as FIFA's 6+5,' the
resolution said.
'It calls on the Commission to recognise the legality of
measures favouring the promotion of players who have come
through training schemes, such as a minimum number of
locally-trained players, irrespective of their nationality.'
FIFA opposes the UEFA rule, which sets a quota of
locally-trained players at clubs but without any discrimination
on nationality, arguing it encourages recruitment at a young
age.
UEFA says Blatter's proposal is unworkable in the EU because
it contravenes the bloc's laws on the free movement of workers
and could lead to costly legal challenges - a view echoed by
the EU assembly.
'Unfortunately the 6+5 rule is not compatible with the free
movement of persons in the EU. The European Treaty is very clear
on this point: discrimination on the basis of nationality is not
allowed and this also counts for football,' Belgian MEP Ivo
Belet, author of the parliament's report on the future of
professional football, told the assembly.
'We therefore ask FIFA to join forces with the European
Parliament and the European Commission and fully back the
'home-grown' rule.'
MEPs also slammed Blatter's idea of reaching a 'gentlemen's
agreement' with the individual associations at FIFA's congress
later this month, saying he risked a repetition of the 1995
'Bosman Ruling' by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
The ruling by Europe's top court, named after Belgian player
Jean-Marc Bosman, gave all sports professionals within the
27-member bloc the freedom to change clubs.
'We ask Mr Blatter not to take us back to Bosman. We cannot
go back to the pre-Bosman era. A professional footballer is a
worker and should be treated like any other worker,' Greek MEP
Mnolis Mavromatis, who wrote Thursday's resolution, said.
Dutch MEP Toine Manders said: 'In the jungle of sport we
need clear legal guidelines. If you ask if these gentleman's
agreements will hold, you are very wrong.'
'We are talking about big business, powerful clubs who will
go to court if necessary. Mr Blatter will only open up another
pandora's box like Bosman.'
The Commission is expected to come forward later this year
with a proposal on locally-trained players in all sports, which
will require the backing of both the EU assembly and the 27
sports ministers.
To change FIFA's rules, Blatter needs 75 percent support at
the congress in Sydney on May 29 where each of FIFA's 208 member
associations who are eligible to vote have one vote each and
UEFA as an organisation has none.
