the fact that the EPL is awash in foreign players is the main reason England are incapable of fielding a decent national team. maybe Blatter has a point. Beckenbauer has been for years trying to persuade the futbol environment in Germany to do the same, limit the number of foreigners, that is.

Seriously? Look at the players England has. Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard, Terry. If you look at the stats of a Fifa game (not the best source, but it's got some ground), England is a 5 star? 4 1/2 maybe? Regardless. It's a damn good team.

And what about the French team? How many of the French stars/starters play in France?
Abidal Thuram and Henry are at Barcelona (Spain, not France.)
Evra Gallas Malouda Makelele Anelka are all on English teams. Trezeguet and Viera are in Italy. Ribery plays in Germany.
With all these players on foreign soil I just can't figure out how France possibly made it.

Examples could be made of other countries if you want.

England didn't make the Euros cause I guess they just didn't want it badly enough.

first, the fact that youre giving me fifa computer game stats to validate your argument about whether England has a good team shows your knowledge of the game or lack of it in this case. England failed to qualify because they are a second rate European team and couldn't get past Russia and Croatia. second, the reason all these french players play abroad is because France is a great evaluator of young talent, which helps them replenish their clubs with? yes, thats right, young talented players. something England has failed miserably to do for decades now domestically.

The idea may have some merit, but it just will not work. EU will NOT change their labor law. And to apply one law to EU citizens and another to non-EU... that does not strike me as a good idea. Football is changing (like everything else) and I'm not sure Sepp B can stop it. And while I think winning the World Cup trumps 10 leagues and 6 Euro Cups etc... most don't think so.

I agree with the first part of your argument completely. The law cannot apply to sport, or futbol in this case, alone. But I dont agree with you on your final statement. There's a reason Brazilian players are the most sought after, the most marketable, the most expensive and so on...and its not because of them winning champions' leagues.

The problem I see with this rule, is that the only league they talk about is the English league. No mention of Spain, France, Germany, Italy, etc. In my opinion, this is a matter for the FA, not FIFA.

Danie, what I meant by "most don't think so" is the fact that many fans consider club results to be much more important then international games. Just lokk at some of the best blogs written by the brightest, most educated and fanatic fans - no one cares about european championship and not because england did not qualify... no... it's just a noncompetition for most. And players too... remember Ronaldinho at world cup? Horrible... Seedorf "pulling out" of the the Euro. Kaka not playing in Copa... SAF arriving in Germany to protect his treasure Rooney from getting injured at "that world cup" game?
Remember Trevor Brooking and his bloody bandages? Sick Rummenige leading his tired German team against France at 1:3?
Those days are gone. And not coming back. Too bad.

Sorry for all the typos. My keyboard is possessed...:)

ello. ive done a blog on this in more detail, but essentially it's racist. you decide who plays based on where they're from. these are private organisations. it's like telling a private company to hire englishmen, just so the englishmen do well 8-9 times a year for another company that not only may injure the same people but will in fact whine about you. its bizarre. in a club, you should be able to use who you want and how you want because at the end of the day the england team isnt paying for any contracts..! its a half hearted attempt at fixing a problem caused by a free market which mind you the EU stands for. england failed for many reasons. arsenal not playing english is not one of them.

and to mr morales. if france is such a great evaluator, perhaps england ought to be too. the point is, france's brilliant team is because they have players who have a will to fight and their nation doesn't molly coddle them. in england a sub standard player like bent, because he's english and has played in the premier league, can get sold for 16 million. is he as good as thierry henry?! not a chance in hell. fifa stats are perfectly valid because they are based on a firm grounding of statistics and performances. they are not IT, but neither is sepp bloody blatter. england didnt get through because they had a shit coach who was ex middlesborough. their media tormented and harangued the other coach into a) not doing his job on his own, and then b) finally quitting. barwick paid sven millions after he left. lampard was played in left mid. parker played against croatia.

Yes arsenl, I got what you meant the first time. Thats why I made my point about Brazilian players. Bottom line is thirty years from now almost nobody outside the Ukraine will remember Shevchenko. But they'll remember Fabio Grosso, and we know he's half the player Shevchenko is. But why? Cause thirty years from now, they'll still be showing his goal against Germany and the final penalty kick against France everytime a World Cup rolls around. I disagree with you on this.

rooney is played as a lone striker. they never have training camps. mclaren was run by the media. and the academy system is shit. it really is. so to say that foreigners coming in, giving players actual cause to compete, and actually instilling a greater work ethic and style of play, is the reason england didnt qualify for euro 2008 is PREPOSTEROUS! it is bizarre and close minded and a perfect excuse for the media. please do not give in to it and explain how martin petrov playing left flank for man city, means stewart downing suffers...!! it is a baseless pointless and lazy notion.

@ Harendra... I dont mean to defend or go against any of the arguments presented. I see and agree with some of your points of view and so with some of Sepp Blatter's. One side will always lose either way. If the teams are forced to play country-born players I truly believe the Leagues (national and continental) will lose a lot of its brilliance. And look that I mentioned not only the EPL but also the Italian Serie A, The French League and that would happen also in Germany where Bayern basically controls the league. On the other hand the National Teams (and there we can focus on England) will definitely be able to select better because the players will be more active. If they keep things the way they are right now we will continue to see amazing international squads forming the richest teams giving us amazing football in the Leagues. So, it's just a matter of what we, the fans, prefer.

@ Jason (2nd comment) - I didn't want to mention the French players playing in other countries (or the Argentine, or the Brazilian, etc...) because it's a different situation: Check this out -> Brazilians, Argentinians, French, Italian players are signed by other countries' clubs and get to play on the first team there and gain A LOT of experience that they bring back when they play for their National Teams. The same DOES NOT happen to English players. They are not playing anywhere else. Imagine if Theo Walcott (or any other young English talent) played regularly for a team in Spain for example. Don't you guys think that this would elevate their capabilities? Well... Let's keep discussing... =)

@manogil- I think that is exactly it. English players do not go to other countries to play , unless they are established stars (Beckham). Most would rather try to make it in the PL by playing in the Championship instead of going to Spain, France, etc to get first team experience. The other problem with the English national team is the giant egos that it brings together. They didn't play as a team in the qualifiers, which led to them not making it.

I don't disagree at all. But I don't think you can blame English players not going elsewhere on the EPL being filled with foreigners. Unless someone could explain that connection?

No Jason, There is no connections. I mean, the money in the EPL is excellent so why would one leave Arsenal or ManU or Chelsea for example, even if they spend a lot of time on the bench, and go to a different country's big club and run the risk to also spend a lot of time on the bench? So, it's a deeper problem. Put aside the EPL Clubs for a little bit, I once wrote a post about England's failure to qualify for the Euro by saying that the Clubs Academies need to change the British style of play from being based on too much running and physical strength and long balls in the box into a more modern style giving more room to individual talent and skills (remember Walcott's goal against Liverpool?) ... England youth coaches need to change the way they teach the young players. It's just an opinion but it could work, right?

Exactly, evaluation of young talent. England lags behind in this department miserably, which is why they need to fill up with foreign players. Ergo, no European Championships.

Although one thing I really disagree with is seeing the idea of being a bench warmer as a risk. take sidwell. he's young and undoubtedly talented. chelsea offers him silly money and he goes. now i have no doubt hes trying but bloody hell look at who he's behind..! now for a player like him who under the right circumstances could seriously drive the national team, will he be willing to join another club, EPL or otherwise after Chelsea because there would be a natural pay cut. now on the other hand lassana diarra. an abominable cunt in my opinion but, some could point out the difference here. he felt he was being wasted and chelsea and then at arsenal. so he left and joint pompey. point is, 10 goals strikers like rooney and bent are pampered at 100k a week. they're ASKING for that much. danking was right about the ego bit. and id say THAT is why they bottled it.

thing is the french, et al, are not molly coddled as national heroes and the likes of Martin Samuel(The Times) dont go around trumpetting their 'lampards' as the bravest men on the planet on a daily basis. You think France is so horrible nobody wants to stay there?! Balls. The money in the EPL is insane. the pound is a bloody strong currency too. exchange wise, bloody hell why wouldnt foreigners come. but all of england has done what sidwell is doing. sitting back and enjoying it. owen, and beckham aside nobody(right, cookie coleman!ahaha) have bitten down and gone abroad. the RISK if at all, is trying to play as well as you can and NOT sitting on the bench. the kind of money these people are paid and the lifestyles they lead, bench warming is something very very acceptable for them. harry kewell cost liverpool 150k a game! lazy and egotistical. that is all.

sorry ive just done a 3rd again. but just wanted to ask.
at 16 million, darren bent must be pretty good right? or at 15 million david bentley must be pretty good too right?
Then how come other than spurs, nobody outside of England has made a public bid for them? Can't be because theyre expensive only for being english could it?
David Beckham at LA Galaxy? 1 dollar a minute. thats teh stat.

oh yeah, definitely, we can't forget that even the bench warmers cost a lot for the EPL teams and if they are to be sold it will certainly be to another EPL team for obvious financial reasons. The price tag is to high for other countries' clubs. You're absolutely right

to me i wonder why no foreign clubs are clamoring to buy,any young talented english players? is it because they're WAY overvalued? are they technically less gifted? football scouts are a talented group (usually) the cream will rise to the top in ANY league in the world. i just don't see the young english player that can do it. theo excepted of course!

ahahaha and that's only because of his french manager too!:)

i would suggest that arsenal has done immense good for the english game. the youth acadamy has/is producing lots of quality talent that often end up on loan with other english clubs. david bently is looking to be a cert. for the england first team... as much as we cringe at claiming him ashley tweedy is also a product from the arsenal... theo who's coming on stronger every day. how many of the firstEngland XI does the arse need to supply?!

now i'm just taking the piss, but you get my point.

the basic facts are:1) english players are overhyped in england 2) as a result they are overpriced, 3) they are content to warm the bench as long as they get paid 3) they refuse to venture to other leagues because they are lazy and 4) the academy system in england is rubbish, ruins whatever talent there is and does not yield a great number of players, lastly 5) arsenal is a club with enough principles to refuse to pay over the top for poor talent or way over the top for the best. if the manutds and chelseas were not so free with their money, there might still be some decent competition left in the league, what is happening is no fault of arsene's.

3 FOREIGN PLAYERS IS GOOD NUMBER FOR ANY LEAGUE.