FIFA boss Blatter pushes for 6+5 rule for clubs

FIFA president Joseph Blatter will submit the 6+5 rule to the FIFA Congress in Sydney, Australia, on May 29 and 30, a statement said Tuesday.

 Under the rule, a club team would have to start a match with at least six players who would be eligible for the national team of the country in which the club is domiciled.

 FIFA's Football Committee, chaired by Franz Beckenbauer and including leading personalities from the game, agreed on Monday that the 6+5 rule was necessary "in principle" and "also advisable from a moral point of view."

   But some members "expressed certain doubts as to its effectiveness", the statement said.

 Some committee members fear top clubs would still buy the best players, effectively depriving medium and smaller clubs of good and affordable players.

 However, Blatter said clubs had gradually lost their identity by signing more and more foreign players.

 "Young players lose their motivation in the same way as their perspectives dwindle in terms of one day getting a chance to play in their favourite club's first team," he said.

 "Strong club competitions with huge prize money for the participating clubs have brought about a two-tier society in many countries as the gulf between the haves and have-nots has widened.

 "Only two or three teams play for the league title and all others are fighting against relegation."

   Blatter wants to convince supranational organisations such as the European Union of FIFA's approach, "referring expressly to the mention of the specificity of sport in the new European Treaty," the statement said.

 He received support from Beckenbauer who said: "We are living in a globalised world. But I do not think that open markets are the right future for the game. You can also be successful with domestic players, and money alone does not guarantee success."

   The committee also discussed issues such as artificial turf, goal-line technology and refereeing.

 On goal-line technology, the committee questioned whether the small number of situations requiring this technology "warranted the implementation of extensive, complex and costly measures."

   Concern was voiced over the fact that the universality of the game would be jeopardised if such systems were used only in certain events and countries, FIFA said.