"6 plus 5" ... well that's Arsenal buggered, then

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Sepp Blatter is reported today to have got his - on many levels admirable - plan to ensure that every club, around the globe, has to field 6 players from its home national association, through the legal eagles at the EU. By 2011.

Arsenal and Liverpool would be buggered by this at the moment; any others?

[Guest]

"6 plus 5" ... well that's Arsenal buggered, then

Baines, Lescott, Jagielka, hmm ... would need to have a fair sprinkling of Vaughan/Rodwell/Gosling etc unless Arteta and/or Anichebe could be blagged as English ...

[A Doctor Speaks]

"6 plus 5" ... well that's Arsenal buggered, then

I'm sure I read that their status is affected either by where they started their career(as in outside their home country), or whether they've actually played for their country.....

If that's wrong, so be it.

[Guest]

"6 plus 5" ... well that's Arsenal buggered, then

Actually, though, how could they legally enforce it as the eleven who took the pitch? If it was a restraint of trade or EU-ish issue, why wouldn't it come down to the matchday squad or competition squad rather than strictly the eleven on the field at the start?

[Anton Gramscescu]

"6 plus 5" ... well that's Arsenal buggered, then

1. No he didn't. He just paid somebody to write him something saying it was and tehn published it.

2. Even if he did, the 6+5 proposals also calls for unlimited substitutions, so Arsenal could send their tea ladies out for the first whistle and then sub them all off at the first whistle.

3. I'm pretty sure that Almunia, Walcott, Wilshere, Ramsey (assuming they make their usual exceptions for "home nationals"), and Denilson would all qualify as domestics under the 6+5 definition. As would Fran Merida, actually. Possibly Clichy (has he been capped yet?)

[Guest]

"6 plus 5" ... well that's Arsenal buggered, then

If it's anything like the current UEFA ruling, would the members of 'The Six' simply have to have completed three years' training in the club's country before the age of 21, or would they actually have to have been born in the club's country?

[Anton Gramscescu]

"6 plus 5" ... well that's Arsenal buggered, then

As I understood it the definition was "eligible to play for that country" (hence the reason Almunia would count), which is quite different from the "homegrown" rule you cite which is currently in force for European competition.

[anton pulisov]

"6 plus 5" ... well that's Arsenal buggered, then

But this ain't gonna happen, because it is clearly a case of workplace discrimination based on nationality.

Barcelona would just give their whole team Spanish passports anyway.

Why the INEA report thinks it should be allowed:

The autonomy of FIFA as a federation, which is a consequence of the fundamental freedom of association, in principle justifes the restriction of market freedoms. Even in the case of a direct discrimination, therefore, an unwritten restraint would be established as justifcation for the “6+5 Rule”.

Essentially: We are FIFA, so we should be allowed to do what we want. A completely laughable argument.

[manandvans]

"6 plus 5" ... well that's Arsenal buggered, then

Totally agree with the above. It's a restraint of trade.
A couple of ex-pros banging on about football being a 'special case' ain't gonna cut it in a courtroom.

[anton pulisov]

"6 plus 5" ... well that's Arsenal buggered, then

It's the same argument they used in the Bosman case. It didn't work then and it won't work now.