Blatter, UEFA Homegrown plan and the Commission

As I was compiling links and sources for an article, here is the section (below) referring to our conversations this week and the pertinent references from EurActiv, EC, etc… Importantly, heretofore the EC position on the 6+5 rule is what everyone would expect, considering Employment/Labor Law and ECJ Jurisprudence. However, just for fun, here is an outrageous conspiracy theory:

– Could UEFA have poisoned Blatter’s (and the necessary advisors’) already deteriorating mind(s) and created this 6+5 travesty so as to deflect some of the controversy around the home-grown rule…? The results of the EC “home-grown” study are multiply-interpreted and one could always assume a variety of reasons for the numbers to fluctuate through 2012 whilst the implementation of home-grown rules will be “closely monitored”… The immediate result as I observe it this week, nevertheless:

– Apparently (also please retrieve the following links for more) the EC and political positions toward the “home-grown” rule may arguably be becoming even more favorable, considering the offered alternatives (pathetic offerings such as the 6+5…)

Enjoy your summer

Tassos
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here it is important to note that the Commission, via its Employment Commissioner Vladimir Špidla on May 28, 2008 (http://www.euractiv.com/en/sports/fifa-shown-eu-red-card-player-quotas/article-172786), chastised a directly discriminatory policy on the grounds of nationality proposed by FIFA to its member federations, the “6+5″ rule, according to which at least six players on the field at the beginning of each match would have to come from the country of the club they are playing for. On the other hand, the present studies the Commission has conducted (http://ec.europa.eu/sport/whatsup/ce_complementary_study%20_report_par_i_en.pdf) in regard to the “home-grown” rule concluded that the 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 centers is easier for the young national players rather than players from the other member states. According to the above release, Špidla, MEP Belet (EPP-ED), and Commissioner Figel all agreed that, although not perfect, the “home-grown” rule appears reasonable and modest, encouraging the investment of clubs in (local) youth development, thus deserving the support of the Commission, Parliament, and broader European political constituencies. Nonetheless, the Commission reportedly will ”closely monitor” the implementation of the UEFA rule and undertake “a further analysis of its consequences by 2012″ in order to assess its implications in terms of the principle of free movement of workers (http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/807&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en)
Sport&EU, The Association for the Study of Sport and the European Union can be found at http://www.sportandeu.com