A proposed 6+5 rule on foreign players is rated illegal by the European Union, the president of Europe's governing football body UEFA, Michel Platini, said on Friday, according to dpa. Platini told a press conference on the eve of Euro 2008 that he and FIFA President Joseph Blatter were told this on Thursday on Brussels by the president of the European Parliament, Hans Gert Poettering. "We expressed our concerns since the Bosman ruling and the EU parliament president then told us that the European Parliament had ruled the 6+5 rule will be illegal," Platini said. The proposed 6+5 rule states that each club must field at least six home-grown players in the starting lineup and no more than five foreigners. But that violates earlier EU rulings, most famously the landmark Bosman ruling from 1995, in which all foreign player restrictions in football were outlawed. Football authorities are hoping that the proposed rule will help maintain the harmony and balance between national team football and club football. Platini said that the parties had agreed that further dialogue would take place on the matter. "Dialogue will start and we will try to make progress. We also explained to them the specicifity of football, which we have tried to establish some time ago." Earlier the FIFA Congress had adopted a resolution which, among others, requested the Presidents of FIFA and UEFA to explore all possible means within the limits of European law to ensure that the 6+5 objectives can be carried out accordingly and as laid down by the FIFA Congress. Blatter said he aimed to implement a 6+5 rule in three stages until 2012.
