Associations To Lobby Politicians

EUROPE'S football chiefs are set to increase pressure on politicians in a bid to find a compromise in the European Union's strict employment rules. UEFA and FIFA are worried about grass roots football and the quality of player development in the post-Bosman era.

The free movement of European players between countries has led to club sides packed with foreign players, limiting chances of homegrown youngsters, and revolutionising football cultures across the continent.

Chelsea have fielded teams including no English players, in the Premiership this season, sparking fresh calls for limits to the number of foreigners in each team. Europe's football associations, who met in Amsterdam yesterday, will stress their concerns to EU politicians during three meetings over the next six weeks.

Twenty national associations were at the top-level meeting in Amsterdam, chaired by FIFA president Sepp Blatter and UEFA president Lennart Johansson. Chairman Geoff Thompson, chief executive Adam Crozier, and executive director David Davies made the trip from Lancaster Gate on behalf of the Football Association.

An FA spokesman said: "Everybody here wants to give homegrown talent the best possible chance, but as things stand at the moment football is tied to the same employment laws as every other industry in Europe. The borders are open and we have to deal with that.

"Our policy is that top-class foreigners do enhance our game but the overall concern is about the lesser quality players who are making up the numbers in squads to the detriment of homegrown youngsters. But we have to accept the laws that exist at the moment mean there can't be any restriction on players from Europe."