Fifa chief ready to fight EU

Updated 09.43 Fri Oct 05 2007
Keywords: Sepp Blatter, EU, Fifa, football, sport

Fifa president Sepp Blatter is ready to go to war with the European Union over restricting the number of foreign players in teams.

The most powerful man in world football wants clubs to be limited to playing no more than five non-nationals in their starting XIs to encourage the development of homegrown talent.

"When you have 11 foreigners in a team, this is not good for the development of football, for the education of young players, and there is a financial aspect, too" - Sepp Blatter

Imposing such a quota would contravene EU employment laws, but Blatter believes this should be challenged.

He said: "Football has never had the courage to go against this practice.

"When you have 11 foreigners in a team, this is not good for the development of football, for the education of young players, and there is a financial aspect, too.

"Workers in Europe can circulate freely but footballers are not workers. You cannot consider a footballer like any normal worker because you need 11 to play a match - and they are more artists than workers."

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