6+5 = Discrimination? Why FIFA’s Proposed Quota Rule Doesn’t Add Up
By David D’Orlando.
In May, 2008, at the 58th Congress in Sydney, Australia, FIFA’s governing members passed a resolution on the proposed “6+5 Rule.” One hundred fifty-five out of the two hundred possible votes were cast in favor of adopting the rule. However, despite this overwhelming support, few of FIFA’s European delegates expect the rule to be employed without a fight. Why would a rule with seemingly so much support within FIFA have any trouble being implemented? The answer is that the proposed rule has the potential of crumbling in the face of European Union (EU) law.
The proposed 6+5 Rule would require that at the start of every European professional soccer match, six of the players filling the eleven starting roster spots must be eligible to play for the national team of the particular club team’s parent nation, and a maximum of five players may be non-eligible, foreign players. For example, a team like Manchester United, based in Manchester, England, and playing in the English Premier League, would need to start every game in European competitions with six players who are either British-nationals or eligible to play for the English national soccer team. The remaining five players in the starting line-up could then be nationals of any country. The situation would be identical for club teams in other European nations. The key is that the majority of players in the starting line-up, six out of the possible eleven starters for each side, must be of the same national origin as their team’s host nation, or they must have been deemed eligible to play for the host country’s national soccer team.
FIFA’s president, Joseph S. Blatter, is championing the new rule in the hope that it will take full effect by the 2012-13 season. Blatter asserts that the purpose for the proposed 6+5 Rule is to “encourage the development of young players, protect national teams and maintain competitiveness and the unpredictability of results.”