Blatter aims to reduce leagues and foreign player numbers

FIFA President Sepp Blatter wants to limit the number of teams in Europe’s top leagues to 16, a reduction of up to four teams in many leagues. Talking to Germany’s Bild newspaper, Blatter said he would push for the team reduction at next year’s FIFA congress.

“The market and the players cannot cope with so much football,” he said. Germany’s Bundesliga has 18 teams, with the top leagues in England, Italy, Spain and Ireland comprised of 20 teams. Blatter is worried that teams struggle playing so many league games, and said the resolution would force federations to cut down on the number of teams. It is not the first time Blatter has proposed a reduction in teams. In 2003, however, his demand to put a limit on teams was roundly rejected by national federations.

Blatter also said that he was looking at limiting the number of foreign players on each team’s starting roster. “We have to return to a point where, in the Bundesliga for example, there are at least six German players in each team. Six plus five is the formula for the future,” he said.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.