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Last updated : 04 July 2004 By Editor

Here is what they say:

Uefa are trying to stem the growing influx of foreign footballers by forcing clubs across Europe to have up to eight homegrown players on their books and a new maximum squad size of 25.

The Uefa leadership have finally brought forward detailed proposals to counter what they regard as serious problems - fans no longer relating to their local team and clubs going heavily into debt in the pursuit of success - that have long-term harmful effects for the game.

If implemented, they would revolutionise the game by compelling clubs to survive with far fewer personnel and to use players qualified to represent the club in question's host country.

However, Europe's leading clubs, including the powerful G14 group including Manchester United and Arsenal, may well try to block the measures. Many of the continent's top teams maintain large squads, especially in England and Italy, and they will have to reduce their numbers drastically if Uefa get their way.

United have 43 players in their first-team squad, for example, while Chelsea have 41, Arsenal 39 and Liverpool 35. Teams have assembled bigger and bigger squads in recent years to cope with competing in Europe and domestically.

The proposals are Uefa's attempt to get round European Union labour laws, which bar discrimination on grounds of nationality, and avoid the possibility of a Bosman-style court challenge. The young players could be from any country within the EU, but there would still be quotas imposed on players from elsewhere.

Uefa hope to have the new rules in place by the start of the 2006-07 season, although there would be a transition period to allow clubs to adapt their squads to the new regulations.

Per Ravn Omdal, Uefa's vice-president, unveiled the plans yesterday at a meeting in Lisbon of the leaders of Uefa's 51 member football associations. 'We foresee a system where it is required that a club has to have trained seven or eight players from the first-team squad itself, or some trained within the national association,' he said.

'A possible solution would be to have four trained by the club and four within the national association, or three and three, but we are not talking about nationality.'