View Full Version : UEFA sets foreign player limits
From BBC Sport: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/4233353.stm
Uefa has announced clubs competing in the Champions League and Uefa Cup will have to include four homegrown players in their 25-man squad from 2006.
Europe's governing body also wants to implement the plan in domestic leagues but that will have to be agreed by each national association.
Uefa then wants six homegrown players by 2007 and eight in 2008.
Of the eight, at least four must be trained by the club's own academy and the rest from the home country.
Uefa defines a club-trained player as one who has been registered for a minimum of three seasons with the club between the age of 15 and 21.
Of the 32 sides in last season's Champions League, five clubs would have not had enough homegrown players.
They are: Arsenal, Chelsea, Celtic, Rangers and Ajax.
Uefa's 52 member associations will vote on whether the same rule should apply to domestic competitions at a Congress in Tallinn, Estonia in April.
There has already been strong opposition voiced by the Premier League and the Italian federation.
Should be interesting!
Utterly pointless and I wonder how long it will take for the first legal challenge to these new regs
AdamBrunt
03-02-2005, 14:38
i wonder how long it will take for the first legal challenge to these new regs
I can't believe it will take that long at all .... that idea will never get past the race discrimination board type people !!!
I can't believe it will take that long at all .... that idea will never get past the race discrimination board type people !!!
Race discrimination :thinking:
I was thinking more along the lines of european work laws
pompeyfan
03-02-2005, 14:41
Good idea IMO - a similar system is in operation in the German lower leagues.
I don't really see how there can be a legal challange though - if it's the rules of the competition and some clubs/assocations don't like the rules they have the option not to enter the competition.
I don't really see how there can be a legal challange though - if it's the rules of the competition and some clubs/assocations don't like the rules they have the option not to enter the competition.
Exactly the tournament is invitation only. There is no devine right for league winners to enter the event, let alone 2rd, 3rd or 4th place. Besides it's only 4 homegrown players in a squad of 25. That's not going to affect any club is it?
Besides it's only 4 homegrown players in a squad of 25. That's not going to affect any club is it?
Erm then again.
Of the 32 sides in last season's Champions League, five clubs would have not had enough homegrown players.
They are: Arsenal, Chelsea, Celtic, Rangers and Ajax.
Not even 4 homegrown players? That's shocking!
nb: i'll read the whole of the article first next time.;)
unrealnils
03-02-2005, 14:50
We didnt (arsenal) have 4 homegrown players in a squad of 25 that we submittied ...........
if those laws were in we would have submitted a diffrent set of 25 players :)
I think so anyway
billyblockhead
03-02-2005, 14:53
Surprised by Chelsea being on that list, thought they had more than 4 English players in the squad last season.
Scott Parker
Frank Lampard
John Terry
Glen Johnson
Joe Cole
Shouldn't affect my team (Newcastle) we've got a fair few English players.
Surprised by Chelsea being on that list, thought they had more than 4 English players in the squad last season.
Scott Parker
Frank Lampard
John Terry
Glen Johnson
Joe Cole
Homegrown, not bought!! Only Terry came through the Chelsea ranks
Citysmith
03-02-2005, 14:59
Superb, will make people think and give Youth a chance
Homegrown, not bought!! Only Terry came through the Chelsea ranks
They can be bought, they just have to be bought young. :dork: Now if Spurs could actually qualify for Europe one day :gag: :nuts: our current transfer policy would be about right.
AdamBrunt
03-02-2005, 15:09
Exactly the tournament is invitation only. There is no devine right for league winners to enter the event, let alone 2rd, 3rd or 4th place. Besides it's only 4 homegrown players in a squad of 25. That's not going to affect any club is it?
But UEFA also want the idea extended to domestic leagues as well.
AdamBrunt
03-02-2005, 15:13
Race discrimination :thinking:
I was thinking more along the lines of european work laws
Hmmm ... an English side saying to a foreign player "You can't play for us because we have our quota of foreign players already" sounds like race discrimination to me :thinking:
Surprised by Chelsea being on that list, thought they had more than 4 English players in the squad last season.
Scott Parker
Frank Lampard
John Terry
Glen Johnson
Joe Cole
Shouldn't affect my team (Newcastle) we've got a fair few English players.
We have Lenny Pidgeley and next year Glen Johnston will be 3 years under the club (so he should count as home grown!).
But UEFA also want the idea extended to domestic leagues as well.
They do, but they have to get the National Associations backing for that. To do that the clubs have to agree. In the meantime if people want to enter UEFA competitions they should abide by UEFA rules.
johnson293
03-02-2005, 15:40
Shouldn't affect my team (Newcastle) we've got a fair few English players.
Yeah, suppose that is part of Sir Bobby's legacy..he did buy a few british players, and not just imports.
However, I'd be more worried about whether we'll actually be playing in europe next seaosn or after, rather than whether we have enough 'homegrown' players or not!!! :help: :brickwall
MJ
Hmmm ... an English side saying to a foreign player "You can't play for us because we have our quota of foreign players already" sounds like race discrimination to me :thinking:
It goes on all the time with non-EU players, this is just an extension of that.
We have Lenny Pidgeley and next year Glen Johnston will be 3 years under the club (so he should count as home grown!).
Shouldn't Robert Huth count as well? I know he's not English but he's been with the club since a junior.
Hmmm ... an English side saying to a foreign player "You can't play for us because we have our quota of foreign players already" sounds like race discrimination to me :thinking:
except foreign players could count as homegrown if they have been there 3 seasons.
Uefa defines a club-trained player as one who has been registered for a minimum of three seasons with the club between the age of 15 and 21.
I can see this being a complete nightmare to monitor. 3 seasons is that whole seasons? What happens if the player was bought in the January sales would the club have to wait until 3 years January to count? Do you count seasons loaned out to other clubs against the 3 years total?
If it really comes down to it, clubs will simply add some of their trainees to the squad list and they'll never get a game. There will be ways around this and they will be used, making it a little pointless in the long run.
Shouldn't Robert Huth count as well? I know he's not English but he's been with the club since a junior.
And Forsell :-)
There's our quota of club trained already..
If it really comes down to it, clubs will simply add some of their trainees to the squad list and they'll never get a game. There will be ways around this and they will be used, making it a little pointless in the long run.
They can't as they can only enter 25 players in UEFA competitions and 4-8 will need to be homegrown (whatever that means!!!)
And Forsell :-)
There's our quota of club trained already..
Don't forget Carlton Cole.
Yeah but are Forssell and Cole gonna play for Chelsea again? And would it really be fair to them to keep them sticking around mostly on the bench for the sake of a quota?
Adam Thirnis
03-02-2005, 17:35
4 is not enough - should be twice that.
Hmmm big implication for our clubs... I assume that for an English club, through the English FA, that Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish players will be considered as foreigners?
I think it's a good idea in principal, but the timing is a little tight. The way it is being done is wrong though: it will hamper the development of young players I think - e.g. this season Bentley (and Pennant) would not be sent on loan to other Prem clubs, purely so they could be on the Champs League list and most likely not even warming the bench in that competition. That's going to seriously hamper their development, not improve it.
To REALLY make a difference, requiring say at least 2 English players in the TEAM with one under 23 would do it.
However it surprises me considerably seeing as the 3 foreigners rule had to be abandoned due to EU laws.
Frightening thing is how far we've come though... a few years back a 3 foreigners rule, now a 4 English players rule!.
The 3 little pigs
03-02-2005, 18:43
About time really, who wants to see XI foreigners playing for your team? Its always good to see young players coming through the youth set up.
You can still see foreigners playing for your team as long as those foreigners were brought up through the ranks of your club or other clubs within the home country.
cheeseypuffs
03-02-2005, 21:01
What a surprise! (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/4234761.stm)
We didnt (arsenal) have 4 homegrown players in a squad of 25 that we submittied ...........
if those laws were in we would have submitted a diffrent set of 25 players :)
I think so anyway
But then again, people like Hoyte, Pennant, Aliadiere arent on that list of 25 because they're under 22 and dont have to be submitted, so Arsenal could meet this law if they had to.
unrealnils
04-02-2005, 00:43
yeah thats what i mean if we wanted to we could get in the comp if those rules appiled we would just have a diffrent 25 players in the squad
A very good idea IMO (as I stated in the original thread about this here:
http://www.thedvdforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=338173 ;) )
I really cant see there being any legal challenge to it as it does not stop foreign players playing or the club buying them, so can hardly be called racist etc.
Everybody must see the sense in a team registered in England having some English players in its squad :shrug:
It will also benefit the England squad as more English players will be developed by the big clubs.
©™~UKJEZZA~™©
04-02-2005, 08:23
Shouldn't Robert Huth count as well? I know he's not English but he's been with the club since a junior.
Will UEFA count him as 'Homegrown' ?
Surely this law is being introduced to increase the number of young nationals per country? If Huth counts, then for Man Utd Pique,. Spectre, Rossi and the likes will also count.
That would make the whole law pointless. They might as well leave it how it is. :shrug:
Will UEFA count him as 'Homegrown' ?
Surely this law is being introduced to increase the number of young nationals per country? If Huth counts, then for Man Utd Pique,. Spectre, Rossi and the likes will also count.
That would make the whole law pointless. They might as well leave it how it is. :shrug:
As I pointed out above, and it's in the original post
Uefa defines a club-trained player as one who has been registered for a minimum of three seasons with the club between the age of 15 and 21.
So the nationality of the player is immaterial. Clubs will just look at bringing in youth players from abroad at a younger age so that they will count as a home grown player when they break into the first team. I would imagine that fewer potentials will make it as it must be hard enough moving to another part of the country to sign for a non-local team let alone moving to another country.
Whilst UEFA's reasons for doing this are sound as I'm sure we would all like to see the Premier League teams playing mostly English players, I just don't think it's a very good solution.
Isn't this unfair on those clubs who can't afford to keep their best home-grown players (e.g. Ajax)?
DarthPearce
04-02-2005, 12:16
I think we'll just end up with a few youth team players named in the squad of 25 for UEFA games who don't have a hope of getting on for a game - not going to make much of a difference to youth development IMO.
The law will be much more effective once we hit 2008 as 8 players out of 25 is quite a lot.
AdamBrunt
04-02-2005, 16:23
The law will be much more effective once we hit 2008 as 8 players out of 25 is quite a lot.
But unless you have an injury crisis the size of Liverpool's current one, 8 still isn't enough to stop you playing your "foreign all star XI" so why bother ??
Even with 8 home grown players in your squad of 25, you could still go through the whole CL competition without actually playing a single one of them.
But unless you have an injury crisis the size of Liverpool's current one, 8 still isn't enough to stop you playing your "foreign all star XI" so why bother ??
Even with 8 home grown players in your squad of 25, you could still go through the whole CL competition without actually playing a single one of them.
It's highly unlikely that a team will go through the Champions League using only 17 players. Its possibile, but everyone gets injuries in certain positions at some stage of the season.
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