On February 4, Fifa's football committee came forward with a stand defending the 6+5 rule that provides for each club to have no more than five foreign players on the starting list of each game.

One of the rule's strong supporters was the Swiss president of Fifa, Joseph Sepp Blatter. "Over the years and decades, by signing more and more foreign players, clubs have gradually lost their identity, first locally and regionally, and today, even nationally as in some cases all players hail from abroad or even from a different continent," he wrote on Fifa's website. "Young players lose their motivation in the same way as their perspectives dwindle in terms of one day getting a chance to play in their favourite club's first team. Strong club competitions with huge prize money for the participating clubs have brought about a two-tier society in many countries as the gulf between the haves and have-nots has widened. Only two or three teams play for the league title and all others are fighting against relegation," he said.

Football legend and current Fifa executive committee member Franz Beckenbauer strongly backed Blatter's position. "We're living in a globalised world. But I do not think that open markets are the right future for the game.You can also be successful with domestic players, and money alone does not guarantee success."

Despite strong messages sent by both Blatter and Beckenbauer, Fifa's website had a line for the home continent of the two officials. "Mindful of the political environment, the Fifa president will not tackle supranational organisations such as the EU but rather convince them of Fifa's approach, referring expressly to the mention of the specificity of sport in the new European Treaty," the website said. Indeed Fifa had reasons to worry because the 6+5 rule was not taken well by the European Union especially because it was not in compliance with its policy on free movement of workers.

Uefa, trying to find the balance between Fifa and the EU law, adopted its own rule known as "the home-grown players' rule". It provides for clubs participating in the Champions League and the Uefa Cup to have a minimum number of home-grown players in their squads. Another difference was that Uefa used the term "locally trained players" as opposed to national and foreign players. This means that as of next season each European football club should have at least eight "locally trained players" out of a group of 25. That way Uefa's stand was more in favour of the clubs rather than the countries, which, in effect, represents much of the philosophies of both Uefa and Fifa. The latter had said it opposed the rule, arguing that it encouraged recruitment at a young age.

This seemed to have satisfied the European Commission which on May 28 came out with a stand on the Fifa rule. It was not a surprise that the EC backed Uefa's rule against Fifa and its provisions for fixed quotas for foreign and national players. On May 28, the EC published an independent study on Uefa's "home-grown players' rule" adopted by Uefa. "Compared with Fifa's 6+5 rule, which is incompatible with EU law, the Commission considers that Uefa has opted for an approach that seems to comply with the principle of free movement of workers while promoting the training of young European players," the statement said.

Vladimir Spidla, European Commissioner responsible for employment, social affairs and equal opportunities, said that "compared with the intentions announced by Fifa to impose the so-called 6+5 rule, which is directly discriminatory and therefore incompatible with EU law, the `home-grown players' rule proposed by Uefa seems to me to be proportionate and to comply with the principle of free movement of workers. The professional footballers are workers, therefore the principles of non-discrimination and freedom of movement must be respected. The Bosman ruling [see box] was very clear on this and as the rule is incompatible with EU law, the EC would not hesitate to launch infringement procedures against any of the EU 27 if they were to adopt the rule".

Jan Figel, European Sports Commissioner in charge of education, training, culture and youth, has stated that "measures which require the top European clubs to preserve quality training structures seem to me to be necessary. The Uefa rules thus avoid the risk of professional football clubs abandoning training structures. After intensive discussion, in-depth analysis and a report carried out by the European Commission, I can say for the first time that Uefa's so-called homegrown player rule is compatible with EU rules concerning free movement of workers," he said. "I do not tell Fifa what to do but the Fifa rule currently on the table constitutes a clear direct discrimination based on nationality which is against EU laws. We think the Uefa rule is the best rule, but I can now offer even more intense and open dialogue with Sepp Blatter."

Figel also said that Uefa's home-grown player rule set a quota of locally trained players at clubs but without any discrimination on nationality. "The rules adopted by Uefa are necessary and proportionate. We cannot see any need for additional rules such as imposing further restrictions on the transfer of young players," he said.

Nevertheless, the EC did not fully embrace Uefa's rule. The same statement said that the EC study concluded that "Uefa rule does not lead to direct discrimination on the basis of nationality, but that a risk of indirect discrimination on the basis of nationality exists as access to clubs' training centres is easier for young national players rather than players from the other member states". Therefore, the EC said it would closely monitor the implementation of the Uefa rule and undertake a further analysis of its consequences by 2012 to assess its implications in terms of the principle of free movement of workers. The EC stand made little difference to Blatter who, a few days ahead of Fifa's May 30 58th congress in Sydney, said that despite EU opposition he would go ahead with his plans to introduce the 6+5 rule.

In light of this message the congress went as planned for Blatter. With a significant majority (155 yes, 5 no) the congress voted in favour of the 6+5 rule. "We do not want to go against the existing laws. Regarding Europe, we want to use the legal basis of the Treaty of Lisbon, which acknowledges the specificity of sport and its structures and organisations, and comes into force on January 1 2009. We want to go for consultation, not confrontation," Blatter told delegates, as quoted by Fifa.com.

A break in the ranks was noticed, however. Michel Platini, Uefa president said that the 6+5 was considered illegal within the European Union. "[But] Uefa totally shares the philosophy and objectives of 6+5. Uefa fully supports the resolution presented. We will do everything to help the FIFA president to defend the objectives presented today," Platini said. Beckenbauer opted for the support of national football federations. He made a reference to English fans by saying that "everybody regrets that England will not be represented at Euro 2008. It is unfortunate that English fans will not take part in the event. It is not only England that is affected by the current situation. Other countries are concerned. Maybe it will be Germany soon". All this means that Fifa is determined to follow its policy and will take full advantage of the provisions in the Treaty of Lisbon. It seems that lawyers will have the final world on the issue and all will be decided by January 1 2009 when the Treaty of Lisbon will come into effect. As Platini's statement at the congress showed, there is still room for manoeuvre.

The case that changed the world of football

Jean-Marc Bosman is a Belgian football player who played for RC Liege. In 1990 he claimed that the Belgian Football Federation and Uefa-Fifa transfer rules had prevented his transfer to a French club, US Dunkerque. He brought an action against RC Liege, the Belgian Football Federation and Uefa. The court decided that if a professional football player's contract with his club expired and if that player was a citizen of one of the member states of the European Union, this club could not prevent the player from signing a new contract with another club in another member state or make it more difficult by asking this new club to pay a transfer, training or development fee. The court ruled also that limitations concerning the nationality of professional players who were citizens of a member state of the European Union (within competitions between football clubs organised by sporting associations), were not allowed.

Uefa's 'home-grown rule'

Home-grown players are defined by Uefa as players who, regardless of their nationality or age, have been trained by their club or by another club in the national association for at least three years between the age of 15 and 21. The Uefa rule does not contain any nationality conditions. It also applies in the same way to all players and all clubs participating in competitions organised by Uefa.

At the beginning of each match, each club must field at least six players eligible to play for the national team of the country of the club. There is no restriction on the number of non-eligible players under contract with the club, nor on substitutes to avoid non-sportive constraints on the coaches (potentially 3+8 at the end of a match).