[Archive 2008-05-31] FIFA and European Union are set to collide

Historical archive — originally published 2008-05-31. This report records what was known on that date. It is not current news; subsequent events may have changed the situation. Wikinews closed in May 2026.

FIFA, the world's governing body for football (soccer), and the European Union are set to collide over the controversial 6+5 Rule.

The problem is that FIFA wants to limit the number of foreign players in the starting 11 to a maximum 5 players per side while the European Union allows free movement of workers making FIFA's 6+5 Rule illegal within the European Union.

Despite the legal issue about the 6+5 Rule within the European Union, FIFA President Sepp Blatter presented the 6+5 Rule to FIFA Congress where the member national associations of FIFA would vote on examining the issue further.

On May 8, the European Union voted against the 6+5 Rule and have indicated that they will take legal action against any national association within the European Union that introduces FIFA's 6+5 Rule.

Depending if and how fast FIFA gets their way, the 6+5 rule can be implemented as soon as 2012 with smaller variations leading the way to 2012.

May 28, 2008: The European Union has indicated that they will take legal action against any national association that applies FIFA's 6+5 Rule.

May 30, 2008: FIFA members voted in favour of a 6+5 Rule. 155 associations voted in support for the objectives of the 6+5 Rule that would require clubs to start all matches with at least 6 players who are eligible for the national team. Only 5 voted against and 40 didn't cast a vote.

May 30, 2008: In response to FIFA's overwhelming support from the 58th FIFA Congress, the European Union reiterated how the 6+5 Rule would violate European law because "it would fall foul of the EU's anti-discrimination legislation..."

The Telegraph took a look at the last Day of the FA Premier League to see how clubs matched up with the 6+5 Rule. The table below shows 2 sets of results.

The 1st set of results indicates if clubs met the required 6 National players based on if the 6+5 Rule applies to only English-qualified players.

Source and licence

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