Portugal's Arnaut to oversee EU soccer review

Former Portuguese deputy prime minister Jose Luis Arnaut has been appointed to oversee a review of how soccer is run across the 25-member European Union.

"We have appointed Arnaut to do the job as we feel he has the best qualities," a spokeswoman for British sports minister Richard Caborn said.

"The main thing now is that the review gets underway as soon as possible."

The enquiry, to be completed by the end of May, is sponsored by the EU and UEFA.

It will focus on how football authorities, the EU institutions and member states can best implement the Nice Declaration on the specific characteristics of sport at European and national level.

Caborn, representing the 25 EU sports ministers, announced last week following a meeting with UEFA chief executive Lars-Christer Olsson that someone from outside the world's most popular game would lead the review.

"We will also be appointing three other high profile people to oversee the three sub-committees of the review - political, financial and legal," Caborn said.

The appointment of Arnaut comes two months after Caborn, under the British presidency of the EU, launched the independent review in Leipzig at a meeting attended by Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA.

The homegrown player rule and the so-called "Charleroi case" will also be examined in the review.

Last April UEFA's Congress agreed on new regulations setting a minimum quota of locally trained players, which would rise on a sliding scale starting from the 2006-07 season.

From next season, clubs entering UEFA competitions will have to have four 'locally trained' players, defined as players who have been registered for three seasons or years with the club between the ages of 15 and 21.

A question mark remains, however, over whether the rule is in breach of EU competition law.