FIFA's Six-Plus-Five Quota Proposal is Given a Red Card

The quota proposal which has been ratified by FIFA's Congress is not going to materialise.

This is a follow up to the article I wrote a couple of days ago, where Sepp Blatter felt that he could enforce the six-plus-five rule without much difficulty. Contrary to his beliefs, the European Union, as well as the Professional Footballers Association Chairman Gordon Taylor, have indicated the plans will not go ahead.

John McDonald—spokesman for the European Commissioner for Sport—told BBC that he does not expect Blatter's ambitions to succeed.

"It is a non-starter as far as we are concerned," he said.

"Interestingly, the wording that Mr Blatter mentioned this morning at his press conference was that FIFA's resolution is to explore within the limits of the law the six-plus-five rule."

"And they can explore as much as they like, but, unfortunately, a six-plus-five rule is against Community legislation."

Gordon Taylor has also said that he cannot understand what Blatter is trying to accomplish with these quotas, considering that UEFA already has a "homegrown quota" system wherein teams participating in the Champions League had to register a minimum number of players who had been nurtured in their academies.

He told Sky Sports News, "We are very much aware of the decreasing number of players qualified to play for England and it is one of the reasons why we have the embarrassment of not having England at Euro 2008."

"But, in Europe, you cannot discriminate on the grounds of nationality, so we have to really look at the UEFA proposal, and say that not only should we have eight players in as squad of 25 that have been developed in a country or club irrespective of nationality, but to have them on the field of play."

"We would be very much in favour of the UEFA criteria being developed further, because the European Commission has indicated they would go ahead with that, because focus is on youth development irrespective of nationality."

He went on to say, "The fact is that club football is so cosmopolitan that you can't really roll back time. They have to look realistically at the law and that is why I think they must look at the UEFA criteria."

"I think it is posturing and tilting at windmills. I think it is just to reinforce the point, but I am not sure at what they are aiming for."

"It's like standing up and saying we are in favour of removing all income tax. Everybody would say 'yes, that's great, but, by the way, that's not possible." quipped Taylor.

Good last line, that. The fact is that Blatter is trying yet again to seek some attention and grab the headlines. He's only ended up embarrassing himself because every sane human being who is well versed with European Law is saying that whatever he's trying is going to be of no use.

So, sorry Sepp - it's a red card for you on this issue!