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Fifa in favour of Uefa's six-plus-five system

30/05/2008

The governing body of world football, Fifa, has voted in favour of exploring the possibility of introducing a 'six-plus-five' quota system throughout European domestic leagues.

The proposals come from the European administration Uefa, after new president Michel Platini put forward the initiative in order to bolster the domestic influence in a number of the top leagues, which are becoming increasingly cosmopolitan.

This is particularly true of the Premier League, which according to a BBC investigation earlier this week, is made up of almost two-thirds of foreign nationals as opposed to English players.

Several pundits, as well as Uefa's own director of communications William Gaillard, have admitted the proposals would likely be struck down by the European Union because the six-plus-five system would contravene freedom of movement regulations.

But Platini is keen to negotiate with all EU governments over the possibility of introducing such a quota in the future.

The Fifa vote represented the first step along the road towards such discussions, and according to reports it was passed with a significant majority of 155 votes to five.

While Fifa admitted that several clubs have already voiced their opposition to the plans, a statement from the congress meeting explained: "The Fifa congress fully supports the objectives of the six-plus-five rule and asks the president of Fifa and the president of Uefa to continue to explore, together with the sports movement, all possible means within the limits of the law to ensure that these crucial sporting objectives be achieved."

In support of its position on the matter, Fifa said the objectives of the plan were well-intentioned in order to "protect the national teams" rather than any attempt at restricting trade or employment opportunities.

The governing body said it wants to "give national-team players a fair chance to play for their clubs in their national competitions; to ensure that clubs invest in the development of local players and to reward those clubs that do so; to foster the training and education of young players, while at the same time making certain that they are protected; and to protect the local identity of clubs".