Coup d'envoi de l'Euro au milieu d'un différend entre l'UE et la FIFA[en] 

FIFA's congress voted (155 'yes', 5 'no') on 30 May 2008 in favour of a resolution requesting the presidents of FIFA and UEFA to explore all possible means within the limits of European law to ensure that the "6+5" objectives can be carried out accordingly.

According to the FIFA 6 + 5 rule  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. With this rule FIFA aims to restore clubs' national or local identities and encourage them to invest time and money in the education of young players, instead of buying players from around the workd.

According to the Commission, limiting the number of foreign players in club competitions constitutes discrimination based on nationality and is against Community law, which guarantees the freedom of movement of workers (see European Court of Justice Bosman ruling  on the freedom of movement of professional footballers).

The EU executive is more in favour of UEFA's 'home-grown' rule, on which it recently commissioned a specific study . According to the UEFA rule, football clubs need to have a minimum number of locally-trained players in the team of core players, but it does not impose nationality quotas.

The clash between FIFA and the Commission originates from the fact that the EU executive considers professional football as it does any other economic activity, which means EU internal market rules apply. Meanwhile, FIFA argues that the mention of the 'specific nature of sport' in the new Lisbon Treaty means that football is not concerned by those rules.

The meeting between Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering and FIFA and UEFA presidents Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini took place on 5 June. 

It follows a Parliament vote against the 6+5 rule in early May and the Commission's warning, last week, that EU member states will face infringement procedures if their national football leagues apply FIFA's nationality-based quota on players. 

In the meeting, all parties outlined their positions on the issue. Pöttering namely restated the Commission and Parliament's stance on the illegality of the rule, while UEFA acknowledged its support for its objectives - restoring the competitive balance between national team football and club football and safeguarding the education and training of young players. Nevertheless, UEFA acknowledges that the rule as such is illegal in the EU context. 

All parties agreed that "factual discussions" on the issue "would be continued at a later date". 

Before the meeting, Socialist MEPs called on the Parliament President to clearly pass the message on to FIFA that "football is not above the law or treaties".

According to insiders, the 6+5 rule will never be implemented, because for it to come into effect, FIFA would have to enter into legal conflict with the Commission and this is highly unlikely.

After the meeting, FIFA said in a statement that it "firmly believes" that 6+5 will help maintain the harmony and balance between national team football and club football, safeguard the education and training of young players and help maintain the competitiveness of club competitions. 

FIFA President Sepp Blatter said FIFA "does not want to go against the existing laws. Regarding Europe, we want to use the legal basis of the Treaty of Lisbon, which acknowledges the 'specificity' of sport and its structures and organisations, and comes into force on 1 January 2009. We want to go for consultation, not confrontation". 

UEFA President Michel Platini declared that "6+5 is considered illegal within the European Union. [But] UEFA totally shares the philosophy and objectives of 6+5". Therefore, UEFA "fully supports" the FIFA resolution on 6+5 and "will do everything to help the FIFA President to defend the objectives" of the resolution.

French Socialist MEP Guy Bono said Parliament passed a resolution opposing the 6 + 5 nationality requirement because it is against the European treaties. "Even if the treaty recognised the uniqueness of football, it doesn't mean that football is above the law or treaties," he added. 

He also believes that by trying to impose its rule, FIFA "will get nothing" and will simply make the organisation lose credibility.

British Labour MEP Richard Corbett said all clubs "must accept some responsibility for training and not rely solely on their financial muscle in the transfer market to acquire players who were trained by others". 

But he stressed that FIFA's proposal "would be illegal under European law and would adversely affect sporting competition. If Blatter is serious he should follow the example of UEFA who worked with the Parliament and the Commission to frame their rules on home-grown players within the scope of EU law". 

For the richest clubs, the introduction of the FIFA rule would mean that they could no longer buy the best players from around the world to create a team without having to consider national considerations much more carefully. 

Moreover, the top clubs fear that the requirement to have at least six domestic national players in their team would force the price of home-grown players even higher. In this regard, money would still be of great importance for clubs forced to choose from a limited number of top quality players within their own country.