If you're a football fan,Im sure you know what I am talking about.But for those of you who don't like football at all,no,it is not a maths equation.I am talking about a new football rule,suggested by FIFA president Sepp Blatter which aims at nurturing more home grown talents and to make sure that there is better balance in the competitions and not only three or four teams in a league of 18 or 20 are fighting to be the champion and all the others are just there to not be relegated.
The rule would limit every team to only five foreign players in their starting 11 which means six of them have to be players from the respective leagues country.Let's say if you are an English team,then six of the players in the starting 11 will have to be of england nationality while the other five could be from other nationality.The FIFA boss has pointed to the Premier League's dominance in this season's Champions League as as example of why his organisation must implement the idea,despite legal concerns from the European Union.His vision appears to be a step closer following the overwhelming backing at FIFA's annual congress in Sydney,Australia.However though,he will have to do some convincing as the European Union has already indicated that it is opposing the idea as it would contravene European laws.The Football Association (FA) has also voiced out its concern over the rule.
The rule would limit every team to only five foreign players in their starting 11 which means six of them have to be players from the respective leagues country.Let's say if you are an English team,then six of the players in the starting 11 will have to be of england nationality while the other five could be from other nationality.The FIFA boss has pointed to the Premier League's dominance in this season's Champions League as as example of why his organisation must implement the idea,despite legal concerns from the European Union.His vision appears to be a step closer following the overwhelming backing at FIFA's annual congress in Sydney,Australia.However though,he will have to do some convincing as the European Union has already indicated that it is opposing the idea as it would contravene European laws.The Football Association (FA) has also voiced out its concern over the rule.
If you remember sometime ago,UEFA,European football's governing body has proposed something similar before which has been approved by the EU but there is a major different.Their version of 'home-grown players' stated that four players in a Champions League or Uefa Cup squad must have been developed by the club,with another four having been produced by clubs from the same federation for at least three years between the ages of 15 and 21.Blatter wants to restrict the number of foreign players in teams by the start in the 2010/11 season,with a minimum of four home-grown players.He added he expects it to grow to six,with a maximum of five foreigners,by 2012/13 and claims the plan has the backing of key European delegates.Nothing is finalised yet though but Blatter will have a meeting with the EU on June 5 to discuss the matter further.
I understand what are the concerns of Mr Blatter but I don't know if the idea is actually feasible.Let's take the Premier League for example.Many people says it is probably the best league in the world and this season's Champions League final probably prove why.However,the downside of the league is that they have more number of foreign players in most of the team and more english born players are getting lesser opportunities to start in a game or be in one of the top clubs.Most of them are playing in the 2nd or 3rd division and it is very difficult for them to move to the next level as more Premier League clubs are looking abroad to bring in new players as well as bringing youngsters from abroad to train for the future,hence making it more difficult for the english players,in particular the youngsters to get the breakthrough that they want and really need.Let's look at last season statistics.
On average,there were only four players available for England duty in each Premier League starting line-up last season.As you can see there, Arsenal had the lowest number of English starters, averaging 0.34 per match,while West Ham had the highest number,with 6.61.The Hammers and Aston Villa (6.42) were the only two clubs in the Premier League to average more than six English starters last term,while the big four of Manchester United,Chelsea,Arsenal and Liverpool,averaged just 2.64 per game.Therefore,you can see where Mr Blatter's concern is comign from.However,I dont think the idea of having 6 home grown players starting a match is a good one especially in the Premier League because its a global brand and I don't think many clubs will go well with the rule.It would be interesting what will happen to a club like Arsenal if the rule is actually being implemented.I think the current UEFA rule is enough to solve or at least help to diffuse the current situation.Football is a global business,hence you need to go global to find new players but you shouldnt forget your local players.They too needs to be given the opportunity to shine on the big stage or their talents will go unnoticed.this could go further to increase the already ridiculous prices that clubs pay for English players.
If the FIFA plan does go through,I think it will be even more difficult for the clubs to attract foreign players and we will see more efforts being put into the academy system.It is not that england is lacking quality home grown players,but what if we come into a situation where clubs are being force to put their faith on their home grown players because of the lack of quality players in the team when in truth,they are not ready yet.This rule could also go further to increase the already ridiculous prices that clubs pay for English players and most probably,the most wealthy clubs (the top 4) will end up with all of the good ones.I think there should be a limit between the number of foreign players a club can buy in a season,maybe it will work I dont know.But it will be interesing to see if FIFA plan will actually be approve rather than limiting the number of foreign players in the starting 11.
As you can see,I have talk about the Premier League and the english teams for most of the time but it actually applies to all the other league in other countries as well.I talk about the english teams in particular because I think they will be affected the most.In any case,I hope the plan will not go through but at the same time,I hope that the top teams in the Premier League will give the english born players more opportunities to play in the first team.
*The report was taken from TEAMtalk and BBC.
4 comments:
Importing foreigner players to the league isn't a bad thing and if you look at England in the recent years, more and more non-englishman were brought in to club like Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool and of course, Newcastle!
This problem had already alerted both the FIFA and the English Football Association a couple of years ago. Yes, this will definitely in favor of foreign players as more and more of them look to play their football in England soil.
I felt there is a need to implement this rule to actually reserve some places for these English youngster. One of them might be the next 'rooney' or 'lampard'!
BPL is one of the best league in the world. The league belongs to England, not a internation league where many foreign players get to squeeze inside a team to fight for the champions trophy! Thus, reserving the places for its countryman is vital.
Just look at the S-League in Singapore. Since 1996, the league restricted maximum 4 foreign players in a team. Why? The answer is the same, that is to reserve the places for Singaporean!
What if the foreigner playing in your country's league out-numbered the number of local playing? Aren't that ridiculous? Importing oversea players help improving the league play and also for the local to learn from them, but there should be a limit. Or else, the league would lost its meaning. The fundamental of developing the next or many hot-prospect will be less likely to happen.
You are right.Importing foreign players to the league is not a bad thing.It will increase the entertainment value and the standard of football instead of just getting home grown players to play in the league,but the problem is,there are too many foreigners coming to play in the English Premier League in particular,hence limiting the chance for the home grown players to shine on the big stage.
There is a increasing need to balance the numbers of foreign and home grown players playing for a club so that it wont have a huge effect on the both of them.Yes of course,the BPL is one of the best league,if not the best and hence every players around the world would want to challenge themselves to play with the best,but it is also important that they dont forget about their home grown players too.
I think you cant compare the S-League to the BPL because its two completely different leagues with different situation.Singapore teams might have more local players playing but the problem for us is that we are lacking of quality football clubs,hence the need to invite clubs like Super Reds or Albirex to join.
I was saying that the rule is something similar to S-League which restrict the number of foreigner play in a club. This is the same. However I agree with you BPL is not the similarly alike. Infact, all league around the globe are not the same. Every league has its own kind of style to bring they best of football which they might think will works.
So in term of oragnisation, attitude and overall structure, BPL is different from the S-League. Yes, S-League even welcome foreign clubs to play in the league. You are right, Singapore are lacking some quality football clubs. To add on, the S-League main objective for inviting oversea clubs to participate in the league is to improve the overall league standard. This is a complimentary thing to note as S-League are still a young and future bright league. Even Blatter once praise the S-League for implement this kind of league style. He even supported the build of artificial pitch in Jalan Besar Stadium which had already became the home soil of FAS after National Stadium.
In conclusion, local players cannot be neglected. This is the message I think Blatter would like to spread.
Yes of course,the idea of the rule is the same.Less foreigners and more home grown players,we all know that.
I agree with you about the part that SLeague needs to invite foreign teams to compete in the league here because as you all know,we are a small country,hence not many football clubs are able to play in the league,plus the players here are not like the players in Europe.Most of them are part time players and receieve only a few some of money for their wages,so like ive said earlier,different league requires different method to solve the problem.
But back to the point of restricting the number of foreign players,I think there is more to it than just that.I mean the rule is also implemented to give the less richer clubs a better opportunity to remain as competitive in terms of attracting the players they want because as you can see in the BPL for example,the top 4 always remain the same while the rest are battling for UEFA Cup spot or prevent from being relegated,so with this rule,hopefully the gap between the big and the smaller clubs will be close down and hopefully we will see one or two other clubs breaking in into the top 4 as they call it.
Post a Comment