FIFA vs EU: Battle of the Bureaucrats

There’s an almighty battle brewing that could well determine the future of European football, and it involves two of the world’s biggest bureaucracies. FIFA and the European Union.

FIFA head honcho Sepp Blatter (pictured, possibly practicing a left handed jab) is keen to push forward with his six plus five idea, which would limit European clubs to fielding a maximum of five foreign players. The other six have to be nationals of the country where the league is based.

This, of course, against the EU law which guarantees freedom of movement for workers within EU nations. Blatter has argued that footballers aren’t workers but entertainers, and to some extent I’d agree that football is an exception. But the EU weren’t buying that.

So now sneaky Sepp is trying to get around EU law by reaching “gentlemen’s agreements” with various national football associations. The EU are understandably unhappy with this attempt to circumvent the law and has now warned Blatter and FIFA against trying it.

Seconds out, round one…

“EU laws are superior to any such gentleman’s agreements,” an official at the EU executive familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. “I would advise FIFA to think carefully and maybe to think twice about such a move.”

Which sounds a bit like a threat to me. We know Blatter feels very strongly about six plus five, and is determined to make it happen. But is he willing to throw and/or take punches in a fistfight with the EU?

Stay tuned, this could get ugly.

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