FOOTBALL: 'HOMEGROWN' PLAYERS

This is something quite shocking. UEFA's plan to have this new ruling on homegrown players in the Champions League and UEFA Cup is a step or move to me to suppress the mighty rich clubs.

The new ball game is to insist on eight players in a 25-man squad being homegrown - four trained within a club's academy and four within the same national association - as part of an effort to limit the influence of foreigners. This decision will definitely receive alot of attention to those who hate to see teams like Chelsea buy players like buying sweets.

Of the 32 sides in last season's Champions League, five clubs would have not had enough home-grown players to meet the requirement of eight: Arsenal, Chelsea, Celtic, Rangers and Ajax.
European football's ruling body will also press ahead with plans for the measure to be adopted in domestic competitions - though that has yet to be agreed by the national associations. I am sure the rich clubs will try their very best to do something about it. The G15, i fear, will voice their discontentment yet again.

If this ruling goes ahead, I think those rich clubs in the future will have to evaluate and make many decisions before they decide on buying a foreign player. This ruling will also make the foreign players cost alot. It will also mean that they will have a harder chance to penetrate into European big clubs now with this limitation.

Clubs will start recruiting players at a younger age to satisfy regulations. Actually many clubs are doing it right now. Arsenal and Manchester United have both been hunting young kids nowadays. The new rule for European competitions will be introduced from the 2006-07 season with clubs needing to include a minimum of four home-grown players - two from within the club and two from the same association - in a squad. That number will be increased to six the following season and eight in 2008-09.

UEFA define a club-trained player as one who has been registered for a minimum of three seasons with the club between the age of 15 and 21. The nationality of the players will not matter in order to avoid any Bosman-style challenge in the European courts.

What will the future hold? Although this ruling is good in a way that will prevent rich clubs to buy only the best and make competition in Europe unfair with economic advantage, it will also mean every club will have more chance to make it big. This is good for competition but it will neutralize the power in Europe. You won't have big chances to see all-star line ups and the beautiful game of football may suffer. I don't know what will happen in a long term, but this is what I guess in the short term. What do you guys have to say about this?