FIFA wants 6+5 rule in football!

I am totally in favor of this rule. English football is becoming ridiculous – Arsenal fielded an average of 0.5 British players per match this season. Players like Drenthe shouldn’t be moving so young.

I don’t think anything as drastic as 6 + 5 will be introduced though. More likely is the ruling UEFA’s pushing for, which involves players who are trained in the country. Either way – I think this will improve things anyway.

If the rule becomes less about nationality and more about roots in the club then I think the EC are more likely to allow it. I hope so anyway. Anything to drive big money out of football again – the state of the Premiership, though it’s buying a lot of success, is a sad one.

Coincidentally, I’d like to see only the champion from each league enter the Champions League again – it’s a competition that’s become devalued.

Posted from  Japan

i agree, too and would like to mention that before the champions’ league which is no more champions’ league with 4 clubs of the 3 top championship the 2 other cups were really interesting. sometimes the uefa cup was much more difficult to win than the european cup. now we have a mega champions’ league and a far less interesting uefa cup. uefa cup is only interesting from march…
uefa probably will oppose to the 6+5 proposition. the 4+4 rule (which means that in the whole squad there should be 4 eligible for the national team and 4 from the club’s youth system) is more realistic – manchester united,barcelona,bayern munchen, etc try to do this way. but other clubs (inter,arsenal,etc.) will have problems.
all these changes should be welcomed by dutch clubs and will be good for dutxh football.

Posted from  Hungary

i don’t agree with the rule.
6+5 rule will only benefit the spanish and italian league since most spanish and italian clubs go after players in south america with EU passports. most south americans players have mostly spanish, italian, and german passports.

i blame arsenal and wenger, if they never played an all foreign starting 11 in the champions league we wouldn’t have this debate right now.

Posted from  United States

@ Michael-Olivier
Mind you, the Dutch have also had their fair share of South-Americans. I believe both Seedorf and Davids were born and raised in Suriname.

Anyway, I don’t expect this rule to end all inequality (in terms of number of English, Spanish and Italian clubs in the final stages of the Champions League) either–indeed, only the format Rob is so nostalgically referring to could do this–, but I do agree that this is a step in the right direction. When we’re talking about the pan-European club tournaments, I guess it’s true that results are becoming rather predictable (i.e., one of the ‘big’ teams will win), and thus uninteresting for the bulk of the fans. Sure, we’re seeing good football, but the smaller countries really don’t stand a fair chance against clubs from the three or four major leagues. (By way of illustration, Hull City A.F.C. is certain of €70m additional income for reaching the Premier League, while that other A.F.C., Ajax, has a budget of similar size only when it reaches the Champions League!)

Jan’s picture is somewhat unidimensional, though, for while I can’t deny this 6+5 rule has some advantages for Dutch club football, I’m not quite sure whether it’s just as positive for the Dutch national team. Would players like Van Persie and Sneijder have been just as good had they stayed in the Netherlands for another year or two? And what are the effects for other small countries which don’t happen to be renowned for their excellent youth programmes?

I agree with the rule. I think it’s beneficial to the countries where the teams play in and helps football develop in those countries. I like seeing stars go abroad to other countries to learn another side of their game, but that should be done after they are stars, not when they are just young promising talent.

For example, Van Persie could still play for Arsenal, but chances are that Arsenal wouldn’t have signed him until he had proven himself in Holland. This would be better for Feyenoord – they keep him for longer and they get more money from the transfer. It’s also better for England because Arsenal are forced to develop/buy English talent as well. Finally, it’s good for Holland as Van Persie has more time to learn to play in the Dutch style.

Stefan – “And what are the effects for other small countries which don’t happen to be renowned for their excellent youth programmes?”

They are forced to develop youth programmes, as they should be.

Posted from  Canada

dont matter cause its never gonna happen..its against EU law…no way can FIFA have any saying in that

remember; the situation as it is right now is ideal for Oranje

Posted from  Netherlands

Goose – why is the current situation ideal for Oranje? And it’s against EU law, but it wouldn’t be impossible to get a “special provision” for sport or something like that.

Posted from  Canada

yeah, it’s all arsenal’s fault. that’s pure bullshit. if there is any fault to be had here it is from the FA’s ridculous rules and pricing of english players. if you can buy a talented player from spain for 3millions pounds, why on earth would you pay 10 million on a equally talented player from hull? especially if said player may not be technically gifted? the 6+5 rule might help england get better but it just makes football worse in general. until teams start finding ways around it. should this rule go thru i would imagine you would see players not playing for their countries so they could play in other lucrative leagues.