Push for curb on foreign stars

Date: 03/02/2000

By Peter Chapman

SPORTS Commissioner Viviane Reding is urging soccer's governing bodies to curb the number of non-EU players joining Union clubs to protect the dwindling job opportunities for local talent.

The call comes five years after the European Court of Justice ruled, in a case brought by Belgian player Jean Marc Bosman, that sports bodies must scrap regulations restricting the right of member-state citizens to play for clubs in other member states. The Luxembourg judges also said it was illegal for clubs to demand transfer fees for out-of-contract players.

Critics claim the ruling opened the floodgates for clubs to sign scores of foreign players from other member states, destroying the traditional link between local clubs and their communities and depriving talented youngsters of potential jobs.

But Reding insisted this week in an interview with European Voice that the ECJ's verdict had left open the option of putting restrictions on non-EU players joining Union teams. "The court has not in any sense ruled on third-country nationals, so there is a lot of latitude for the federations and the clubs to act. They could decide to set limits," she said.

One of the biggest complaints about the impact of the Bosman ruling is that it has left clubs with little incentive to take the financial risk of nurturing young talent. Rich clubs can recruit from a large pool of foreign players, leaving some of the smaller teams which used to survive by nurturing players and selling them facing financial ruin.

"Today, it is more efficient to buy a team," said Reding, adding: "I would like to come back to the situation where clubs create their teams by training the youth."

The Commissioner said she had invited soccer and other EU sports federations to Brussels for further talks on this issue later this year. "We are going to have similar problems in many sports - not just soccer," she added.

But Andreas Herren, spokesman for world soccer body FIFA, said Reding's plan would discriminate against third-country nationals such as the many Brazilians playing in the Italian soccer league.

He added that FIFA still favoured a general world-wide limit of five foreign nationals in every 11-player team, although he admitted the Bosman ruling would make it illegal for FIFA to impose such restrictions within the Union.

"FIFA wants a balanced ratio. We advocate the six-plus-five rule," he said. "It gets a lot of support in football circles, but since the Bosman ruling cannot be revoked, we need to look at suitable alternatives."

One idea mooted by FIFA would be to draw up a voluntary code of conduct under which EU clubs would promise to limit the number of foreign players to five.

Sports Commissioner Viviane Reding is urging soccer's governing bodies to curb the number of non-EU players joining Union clubs to protect the dwindling job opportunities for local talent.