FIFA backs quotas

FIFA will press ahead with controversial proposals to limit the number of foreign players available to clubs, president Sepp Blatter said on Friday.
Under the so-called '6 plus 5' system, Blatter wants club sides to field a minimum of six players eligible to represent the team's home international side.
Blatter, who has the full support of his executive committee for the proposals, said the idea would strengthen the identity of clubs and promote investment in developing young players.
There are doubts, however, over whether the proposals contravene European laws forbidding restraint of trade on the grounds of nationality.
"The executive committee has unanimously stated that 6 plus 5 is indeed a positive solution but, of course, we do not want to clash directly with existing laws," Blatter told a news conference at FIFA's Zurich headquarters.
He believes an exception could be made for sport in line with an agreement in the European Union's new reform treaty.
The Lisbon treaty, adopted by EU members in October 2007, makes explicit reference to the specific nature of sport but the precise areas to which that applies are still to be negotiated.
Blatter said he would raise the issue again at a meeting with EU representatives in April.
The FIFA president said the executive committee was less enamoured with a proposal by the English Premier League to stage an additional round of its league fixtures overseas.
"There was a very strong response from the committee... that this idea does not work," Blatter said.
Premier League officials were due to hold talks with FIFA last month but instead decided on "further consultation" after strong domestic and international criticism.
Summing up the rest of Friday's executive committee meeting, Blatter called on clubs to "abide by the Olympic spirit" and release players over 23 who want to play at the Beijing Games.
Olympic soccer teams can use up to three 'overage' players although there is no obligation for clubs to release them.
FIFA also said its ban on high altitude internationals will be maintained after the issue was discussed following a request by the South American football confederation (CONMEBOL).
FIFA's ruling states no international matches should be played above 2,750 metres "without acclimatization".
Blatter declined to comment on court claims linking a senior member of his organisation to alleged bribery payments.
FIFA executive committee member Nicolas Leoz was on Tuesday named in a prosecution file listing payments from a secret bank account set up by FIFA's former marketing partners ISL.
"Let us wait and see what justice says and then we will have a look at that," Blatter told reporters. "It is a case in progress and it would be bad for me to intervene."
Leoz, who is also president of the South American football confederation (CSF), is not a defendant in the case and the confederation has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing on his part.
The 79-year-old Paraguayan was absent from Friday's FIFA executive committee meeting for medical reasons.