UEFA moves closer to EU backing on homegrown players rule

European soccer'sruling body UEFA said it had moved a step closer to
agreement with the EU over sport's status in EU law.
UEFA said it had hosted a meeting with the French and Dutch
ministers for European affairs resulting in a joint declaration
that sporting federations should have autonomy "in the
organisation, regulation and promotion of their various sports."
UEFA president Michel Platini has been pressing the EU to
formally recognise the social importance of sport and grant
legal exemptions, particularly in the area of labour law.
Although stopping short of any concrete agreements,
Thursday's declaration for the first time gave provisional
approval to UEFA's "homegrown players" proposal under which
clubs would have to retain a fixed number of players trained
within the countries of the clubs in question.
"It is necessary to underline the importance...of
encouraging the training of young sportspeople, for example by
introducing rules which foresee a minimum number of locally
trained ('homegrown') players in teams," the declaration noted.
World soccer's governing body FIFA has put forward a
controversial rival plan to introduce quotas based on the
nationality of players but Platini has argued that the proposals
have no chance of gaining EU approval.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter has said he will put the issue
to a vote during FIFA's Congress in Sydney next month.
This declaration was also signed by representatives
from the world governing bodies for rugby and ice hockey and the
European governors of basketball, volleyball and handball.
It concluded with the government representatives asking the
sports bodies to present concrete proposals in the second half
of this year, when France will hold the EU's rotating presidency.