Blatter argues 'all-English' final proves need for foreign quotas

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has sparked controversy after claiming that the dominance of English clubs in the Champions League shows the need for quotas to limit the number of foreign players.

For the last two seasons there have been three English clubs in the last four of Europe's elite club competition and Blatter fears a monopolisation of football.

However, Uefa insist their flagship competition merely reflects cycles of dominance between different countries.

Blatter, who believes the richest clubs will buy up the best players from all over the world and ignore domestic talent, is to seek a mandate from the Fifa Congress later this month to begin talks with the European Union and football's authorities over implementing a 'six-plus-five' rule where a maximum of five players in a starting XI can be foreign.

Fifa will also look to extend the residency period to five years before a player can represent another country – in some countries the period is currently as short as two years.

Blatter said yesterday: "Shall we let the rich become richer and say nothing?

"The big money is coming out of the Champions League – it's the biggest league in the world and practically 80 per cent of the income goes directly to the 32 participating clubs.

"This season there were four English teams in the last eight, three in the semi-finals and two in the final.

"The Champions League has been very successful financially but it has also favoured national inequality. That's why, being in charge of football, I have to bring this item to the attention of the Congress.

"This is the sporting situation but let us start with our idea of the six-plus-five rule and then we will see what the difference will be in the future. This rule will be fighting against the monopolies of clubs and leagues.

"We are not fighting the problem of money but for the identity of national teams."

In last week's 'all-English' Champions League semi-final second leg between Chelsea and Liverpool, only seven of 28 players who took the field at Stamford Bridge were English. The previous night, Manchester United fielded just five Englishmen against Barcelona, plus a Scot – Darren Fletcher – and Welshman Ryan Giggs.

Uefa communications director William Gaillard said European football's governing body has yet to take a position on Blatter's proposal. Gaillard said: "He's entitled to his opinion. We've had this situation before. We had three Spanish clubs in the semi-finals, with two in the final. We had an all-Italian final in Manchester at Old Trafford in 2003.

"These things are bound to happen. It's football. There are foreign players in almost all the European leagues. Whether more or less is not really an issue. There's always been cycles of dominance by countries or by clubs. In the 50s it was Real Madrid and the French clubs. Then the Italians came and there was Ajax, and then Bayern Munich. That's life."

Blatter claimed his plan for the six-plus-five rule would not contravene EU labour law because it did not limit the number of foreign players a club could take on – just the number that start a match.

The EU and Uefa dispute that however, with Michel Platini, the Uefa president, saying the six-plus-five idea is a "wonderful philosophy" but unworkable under European employment laws.

The Fifa president said he would aim to have a minimum of four domestic players by 2010, five by 2011 and up to six in 2012.

In terms of the residency period, Blatter has become alarmed by the number of players – especially from Brazil – taking on foreign citizenship and then appearing for their new countries. Arsenal striker Eduardo, who plays for Croatia, is one example.

Blatter added: "After only a two-year period a player can receive nationality from another country and there is a danger that in 2014 half the players in the World Cup could come from Brazil.

"That's why the executive committee will propose to the Congress that only after five years being resident that a player can become a 'football citizen'."