Clubs drop lawsuits but oppose quotas plan

The long-running legal war between soccer's governing bodies and Europe's leading clubs was formally declared over yesterday though the new association representing the clubs said there were still some key issues to be resolved.

European Club Association (ECA) acting chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge told reporters at a briefing in Geneva that all legal cases supported by the former G14 group of clubs had now been officially retracted.

But he said the ECA would continue to tackle world body FIFA outside the courtroom over areas of concern including the international calendar and FIFA's controversial proposals on quotas for foreign players.

The most significant of the dropped court cases involved Belgian club Charleroi who were suing FIFA over compensation for a player who was out for eight months after being injured playing for his country.

"The famous Charleroi case was closed last week and all the other similar cases have been closed in the meantime," Rummenigge said.

"We have had a very positive outcome in our talks with the sport's governing body since the founding of the ECA six months ago and I would say that the closure of these cases is a sign that the football family is on a very good path."

The ECA was founded in January when the 18 clubs in G14 agreed to disband and join a more inclusive organisation made up of clubs from all 53 national members of European body UEFA.

The association comprises 103 clubs, who are selected based purely on recent sporting achievements, with a greater number from countries like England, Spain and Italy.

The decision to drop the Charleroi case was taken after UEFA and FIFA agreed to make compensation payments to clubs whose players are called up to international tournaments.

The current Euro 2008 tournament is the first to be part of the new agreement, with clubs receiving around €4,000 ($6,222) for every day one of their players is involved.

Rummenigge said there were still issues of concern, however, particularly over FIFA president Sepp Blatter's controversial '6+5' proposal to introduce quotas on the number of foreign players available to clubs.

"As everybody can see at the ongoing Euro tournament, national team football is played at a very high level... so there is clearly no necessity for a 6+5 rule," Rummenigge said last week.

He said yesterday the clubs would also press for further changes to the international calendar including a rescheduling of the African Nations Cup which clashes with most European league seasons.