Eurosport - Thu, 08 May 17:10:00 2008

The European Parliament voted against FIFA president Sepp Blatter's controversial plan to limit the number of foreign players at football clubs.EU lawmakers rejected Blatter's "6+5 rule" - allowing no more than five foreign players to start a match - by 518 votes to 49, but most backed UEFA's "home-grown player rule".

"The parliament calls on the member states and sports associations not to introduce new rules that create direct discrimination based on nationality, such as FIFA's 6+5," the resolution said.

"It calls on the Commission to recognise the legality of measures favouring the promotion of players who have come through training schemes, such as a minimum number of locally-trained players, irrespective of their nationality."

FIFA opposes the UEFA rule, which sets a quota of locally-trained players at clubs but without any discrimination on nationality, arguing it encourages recruitment at a young age.

UEFA says Blatter's proposal is unworkable in the EU because it contravenes the bloc's laws on the free movement of workers and could lead to costly legal challenges - a view echoed by the EU assembly.

"Unfortunately the 6+5 rule is not compatible with the free movement of persons in the EU. The European Treaty is very clear on this point: discrimination on the basis of nationality is not allowed and this also counts for football," Belgian MEP Ivo Belet, author of the parliament's report on the future of professional football, told the assembly.

"We therefore ask FIFA to join forces with the European Parliament and the European Commission and fully back the 'home-grown' rule."

MEPs also slammed Blatter's idea of reaching a "gentlemen's agreement" with the individual associations at FIFA's congress later this month, saying he risked a repetition of the 1995 "Bosman Ruling" by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

The ruling by Europe's top court, named after Belgian player Jean-Marc Bosman, gave all sports professionals within the 27-member bloc the freedom to change clubs.

"We ask Mr Blatter not to take us back to Bosman. We cannot go back to the pre-Bosman era. A professional footballer is a worker and should be treated like any other worker," Greek MEP Mnolis Mavromatis, who wrote Thursday's resolution, said.

Dutch MEP Toine Manders said: "In the jungle of sport we need clear legal guidelines. If you ask if these gentleman's agreements will hold, you are very wrong."

"We are talking about big business, powerful clubs who will go to court if necessary. Mr Blatter will only open up another Pandora's Box like Bosman."

The Commission is expected to come forward later this year with a proposal on locally-trained players in all sports, which will require the backing of both the EU assembly and the 27 sports ministers.

To change FIFA's rules, Blatter needs 75 percent support at the congress in Sydney on May 29 where each of FIFA's 208 member associations who are eligible to vote have one vote each and UEFA as an organisation has none.
Reuters

Africa's football 'slave trade'

By the BBC's Jon Sopel in Paris

Unscrupulous agents are bringing young African footballers to Europe and dumping them if they fail to make the grade, prompting a French official to dub the practice "the new slave trade".

France is in the vanguard of trying to outlaw soccer clubs paying for players under the age of 18 in an effort to halt the trade in young African hopefuls.

In Africa many youngsters act out their fantasy of being top stars, like one group of schoolchildren I saw having a kick-around in the Ivory Coast.

They play barefoot in the heat of the afternoon - two rocks serve as goalposts - all dreaming of one day being a top professional in Europe.

"I want to play in Europe," says one boy, "and make lots of money to send to my family".

"In Europe," says another 12-year-old, "I would play for Manchester or PSG [Paris St Germain]."

Disciplined regime
At the Paris St Germain training ground just outside Paris, there are many young African players going through their paces.

They all have agents and are well looked after by the club and put up in a smart hostel.

There is a disciplined regime of football in the mornings and schooling in the afternoon.

Bartholemew Ogbeche is 15 and was playing for the Nigerian Youth team when he was spotted and offered the chance to come to PSG.

He admits he knew little of what he was signing up to, but counts himself lucky that he is at a big club.

The question is how to protect youngsters who don't know what they are letting themselves in for.

Michele Benguigui is one of France's top agents, and brought David Ginola to Spurs from Newcastle.

He says the law needs to be tightened with stricter licensing of who can be a soccer agent.

Easy prey
Until then, he says, children will be easy prey.

"What child can resist a grown-up promising fame and riches?" he says.

We tracked down a young West African boy who was brought to France with precisely that hope of greatness.

When he was interviewed last November he had just arrived and the dream burned bright.

But he hasn't made the grade. His club has discarded him.

His agent doesn't want to know, and he was too scared to give us an interview, because he is now living as an illegal immigrant in fear of arrest.

The new slave trade
There are thought to be hundreds more like him and it is this which the French Government is determined to stamp out.

Gilles Smadga, the chief of staff to the sports minister, calls it "the new slave trade" and says it has to be stopped.

The new law will prevent cash transfers for children under the age of 18 with restrictions on the activities of both agents and clubs in their ability to put young adolescents under contract.

Smadga says what brought this to public attention was not only the treatment of African youngsters but the case of a 15-year-old French boy, Jeremy Allaniere, who was bought by Arsenal for FF1m.

It caused an enormous furore in France, and at the time Arsene Wenger said he may not have had ethics on his side, but said he had the law.

The French are determined that the law too must be called in to protect young hopefuls.