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Blatter Says Balls To EU
Foreign legion: In 2000, Chelsea were the first British team to field a "foreign XI"
Sepp Blatter, the president of football's ruling body FIFA, has called on clubs to overturn an EU ruling which allows clubs to field an unlimited number of foreign players.
According to a report in the EU Observer, Blatter wants to challenge the EU ruling, based on the 1995 Bosman ruling, which overturned the previous FIFA rule that clubs could play no more than five foreign nationals at any one time. The Belgian player Jean-Marc Bosman took the authority to the European Court claiming that the rule restricted the free movement and trade of EU nationals.
Since then, the game has changed enormously in the UK in particular. Some clubs have fielded all-star teams with no British players; small clubs complain that they can no longer afford British players and import "cheaper" stars from Africa and eastern Europe.
Blatter, however, says that the rule damages football:
"This is a matter of principle and we need to protect the national identity of the football clubs," he told the BBC, "in football principles are different... You cannot consider a footballer like any normal worker because you need 11 to play a match - and they are more artists than workers..
"When you have 11 foreigners in a team, this is not good for the development of football. Football has never had the courage to go against this practice but it must now."
