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Should there be a foreign player limit?

Should there be a foreign player limit?


  • Total voters
    43

JamesTheYiddo

Well-Known Member
Oct 25, 2006
6,339
124
Fifa president Sepp Blatter has told the BBC he is ready to challenge the European Union to get a quota on foreign players within European teams.

Blatter made his comments in response to an NOP poll of football fans for BBC1's Football Focus. He wants clubs to be limited to five foreigners in their starting XI to allow homegrown talent to flourish. The proposal contravenes EU law but Blatter says football needs to act and says a reduction "is a good solution".

The 71-year-old Swiss argues that football deserves special treatment because it is not like any other job.

"Workers in Europe can circulate freely but footballers are not workers," he said.

"You cannot consider a footballer like any normal worker because you need 11 to play a match - and they are more artists than workers."

However, Blatter says he is ready to fight any EU move.

"Football has never had the courage to go against this practice," he said.

"When you have 11 foreigners in a team, this is not good for the development of football, for the education of young players, and there is a financial aspect, too."
 

LSUY

Well-Known Member
Jul 12, 2005
24,010
66,826
Personally I think there should be a limit on foreign players. Foreign players do improve the quality of football in the league but if the young British players aren't getting a shot then the national team will suffer. Look at David Bentley, he's not good enough for the Arsenal squad yet he plays for England. It was the same with SWP and Joe Cole for a while.

I don't want to see a limit like only 3 non EU players but one that says a certain amount of English players have to be in the matchday squad, like they do in Scotland.
 

Doctor Who

New Member
Jul 26, 2007
335
1
no afcorse , limit will ruin the quality of the game , english or forgein the players are humans with 2 legs ....if accepted this will be like rasism
 

tony0379

The bald midget has to go!
May 17, 2004
15,802
41,078
damn right there should coz i fear for the national team in 10-15 years time
 

dontcallme

SC Supporter
Mar 18, 2005
33,986
81,917
Am i the only person who thinks our national team might become worse if we limit the number of foreign players. Life is competitive and if you want to succeed you have to work really hard (x factor contestants excluded).

The EPL is the best in the world alongside the Spanish and Italian leagues. If anyone wants to play regularly in the prem they need to have a lot of ability and work hard to get their chance. Only the best make it. If we limit foreign players the average players now in the Championship and league one who will never make it at international level will be playing top level football and the quality will go down and as there's less competition some of our players who have shone recently won't have the need to rise to the challenge.

Some players like Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, Emile Heskey, Peter Crouch etc weren't expected to have huge careers when in their teens but i believe because of the extra quality the foreign imports bought to our country they had to really up their game and helped them become internationals. Also i think playing alongside Desailly helped Terry become a much better player as well.

Our national team now is as good as it has been for years and i think it's a complete cop out to blame any problems on foreigners whether it's football or anything else.
 

LSUY

Well-Known Member
Jul 12, 2005
24,010
66,826
Am i the only person who thinks our national team might become worse if we limit the number of foreign players. Life is competitive and if you want to succeed you have to work really hard (x factor contestants excluded).

The EPL is the best in the world alongside the Spanish and Italian leagues. If anyone wants to play regularly in the prem they need to have a lot of ability and work hard to get their chance. Only the best make it. If we limit foreign players the average players now in the Championship and league one who will never make it at international level will be playing top level football and the quality will go down and as there's less competition some of our players who have shone recently won't have the need to rise to the challenge.

Some players like Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, Emile Heskey, Peter Crouch etc weren't expected to have huge careers when in their teens but i believe because of the extra quality the foreign imports bought to our country they had to really up their game and helped them become internationals. Also i think playing alongside Desailly helped Terry become a much better player as well.

Our national team now is as good as it has been for years and i think it's a complete cop out to blame any problems on foreigners whether it's football or anything else.

Foreign players do help with the development of English players, look at Naybet and King but too many can stop English players from getting the experience they need, like in the Champions League. If there isn't a limit then the FA is running the risk of the top four being all foreign players. Look at Arsenal they've managed to have two matchday squads without any British players in recent years.

There needs to be a limit saying that you can have as many foreign players as you want but this number of British players have to be on the field or in the matchday squad.
 

KeaneIsKeane

Active Member
Nov 6, 2006
1,203
12
Limiting the amount of foreign players is unfair in the sense that you're limiting the opportunity of players from countries with weak domestic leagues to make good money for their skills because now they're competing for less spots in leagues like La Liga and the EPL. Its unfair. If English players aren't good enough, they aren't good enough. No need to coddle them.
 

N10toN17

New Member
Jan 22, 2007
1,288
1
The cream rises to the top, if young English players can't make it, it's because they're not good enough. Instead of trying to limit overseas players, we need to ask, why as the richest footballing nation on the planet, our academies can't produce like others in Europe etc.
 

PT

North Stand behind Pat's goal.
Admin
May 21, 2004
25,468
2,408
It is going to go down the route Mourinho wanted to go which is Premiership clubs having a second sdtring team/squad which competes in the Championship. The kids get proper education in a competitive environment which would mean they are better preapred for the rigours of the Premeiership.

Players like Ifil, Dervitte, Barnard etc would have a stage to prove they are good enough for the step up without having to be loaned out to different trainers, systems etc.
 

GenericID

Member
Nov 15, 2006
271
1
Has been said before, the only countries that currently suffer from not having a cap are ones with leagues that can never rise above a certain level due to talent constantly being leeched off....such as the Eastern European nations. I couldn't give a fart about England, they get no sympathy from me. Especially when they choose to build that giant white elephant that is the New Wembley(tm) and not channel their energies into a Clairefontaine-esque project. Where is the demand for English players abroard? Says it all, really.
 

ripley

Well-Known Member
Jan 7, 2005
640
285
Where is the demand for English players abroard? Says it all, really.

Well...let's see...there Beckham...and um, umm let's see...
Hugh Laurie...does he count?

but to be fair...i think there has been a demand for top end English talent but most teams know that it'll be hard to extract them from the comfortable confines of the pastoral homeland.

Look at the WC champions...how many of the Italian players were plying their trade outside of Italy when they won? I'm sure that there was demand for many of them...but why should they leave when they have everything at home?
 

GenericID

Member
Nov 15, 2006
271
1
Well...let's see...there Beckham...and um, umm let's see...
Hugh Laurie...does he count?

but to be fair...i think there has been a demand for top end English talent but most teams know that it'll be hard to extract them from the comfortable confines of the pastoral homeland.

Look at the WC champions...how many of the Italian players were plying their trade outside of Italy when they won? I'm sure that there was demand for many of them...but why should they leave when they have everything at home?

Probably more the case of the money being here and the hurley-burley style of the EPL being the only thing that our players are adept at. The 3 most recent high-profile transfers overseas where Beckham, Woodgate and Owen to Real, and only Beckham came "good". I would say Owen was unfortunate, since it's obvious the establishment and the player cliques there ensured he would never fit in. There's also the counter-example of Hargreaves, who made it good at Bayern but suffered years of derision because he was Sven's convenient end-game card for everything.
 

ripley

Well-Known Member
Jan 7, 2005
640
285
There's also the counter-example of Hargreaves, who made it good at Bayern but suffered years of derision because he was Sven's convenient end-game card for everything.

Oh...you mean the Canadian that England couldn't nationalize fast enough? Kind of shows the level of talent available to the national team when England has to resort to importing Canadians and calling them their own. Will he coach the English National hockey team in his spare time? I heard he's recently adopted an English accent...i guess he must have picked it up in Munich.

:razz:
 

GenericID

Member
Nov 15, 2006
271
1
Oh...you mean the Canadian that England couldn't nationalize fast enough? Kind of shows the level of talent available to the national team when England has to resort to importing Canadians and calling them their own. Will he coach the English National hockey team in his spare time? I heard he's recently adopted an English accent...i guess he must have picked it up in Munich.

:razz:

Now, now, don't diss on Stevie G's accent.
 
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