The European Commission formally backed UEFA's "home-grown player rule" yesterday in a bid to avert controversial FIFA plans to curb the number of foreigners at soccer clubs which Brussels said is illegal.
The EU executive hopes the move will be enough of an olive branch for soccer's world governing body to ditch tomorrow's vote on president Sepp Blatter's "6+5 rule", which limits the number of foreign players starting any club match to five.
"After intensive discussion, in-depth analysis and a report carried out by the European Commission, I can for the first time say that UEFA's so-called homegrown player rule is compatible with EU rules concerning free movement of workers," EU Sports Commissioner Jan Figel told Reuters in a telephone interview.
"I do not tell FIFA what to do but the FIFA rule which is 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."
UEFA's homegrown player rule sets a quota of locally-trained players at clubs but without any discrimination on nationality. But FIFA had said it opposed the rule arguing it encourages recruitment at a young age.
"The rules adopted by UEFA are necessary and proportionate. We cannot see any need for additional rules such imposing further restrictions on the transfer of young players," Figel said.
On Tuesday, Blatter said despite EU opposition he would forge ahead with his plans after FIFA's executive committee backed "the objectives of 6+5", which soccer's top official believes will prevent a handful of rich clubs dominating honours.
But UEFA officials said the move by Brussels may persuade the FIFA chief not to put the issue to a vote at the congress in Sydney, thus avoiding a showdown with the EU and placing the European governing body in a difficult position.
"The key word is objective. The homegrown player rule achieves most of the objectives of 6+5, so hopefully Blatter will see this as a compromise, at least in Europe," one senior UEFA official said.
The UEFA official said Blatter now faces a number of possible scenarios:
• go ahead with tomorrow's vote, angering the EU and forcing a confrontation with UEFA boss and ally Michel Platini who said his organisation will not pursue 6+5 on legal grounds;
• vote on 6+5 with the exception of Europe, which UEFA says is workable, but others say will lead to future complications for FIFA;
• replace his 6+5 with UEFA's homegrown player formula; or
• postpone the vote for a year and have further discussions with the various confederations.
Whatever Blatter decides, UEFA, which only enforces its home-grown player rule in its own club competitions such as the Champions League, said it would not be asking its associations to automatically impose its rule domestically.