UEFA postponed home grown players’ decision

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The proposal on reducing the number of foreign players at clubs has been postponed by the European governing body to February. : "There is still some opposition, and we need more consultation with the leagues and the clubs so that we can finalise this in January, while a final decision will be made on February 3 for ratification at the UEFA Congress in April,” Lars-Christer Olsson, UEFA’s chief executive, commented to media. "It is not so much the top clubs, but it is those in the middle range who are importing cheap players instead of developing them,” he added, "In Austria, for example, even in the semiprofessional leagues they are importing players from Slovakia, Hungary and Nigeria. Olsson also explained that the committee remained undecided on when the plans would come into effect: "We also need to decide whether it should be brought in step-by-step from next season, or does it make sense to give the clubs longer to adjust and then bring in the whole lot from August 2006. It must be beneficial to clubs to invest in local youth talent rather than keep buying in foreign players.”