Official Football Thread

TheSeventhSonRoberto said:
I hate Bilbao because they don't let players outside the basque region of Spain play for them. It has a fascist feel to me.
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It's fascist to only play homegrown players?
 
Players from outside the Basque region can play for Athletic Bilbao but they need to have Basque ancestry. I find it slightly pretentious but not fascist.
 
There are foreign player restrictions in just about any league, right? I know members of European Union are much more free in that regard but they do have Non-EU restrictions.
 
CriedWhenBrucieLeft said:
Is there? There doesn't appear to be in England.
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I've done a little research and seems like most of European leagues have restrictions and some don't.

There are no restrictions in:

Germany, Austria, Belgium, Wales, Netherlands, England, Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Poland, Portugal and Serbia.

There are restrictions in:

Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Croatia, Spain, Israel, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Iceland, Hungary, Norway, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine and Greece.

The degree of restrictions, of course, vary but seems like the harshest ones are in Romania, Israel and Belarus with only 5 foreigners and Turkey with only 10 foreigners.
 
I think any restrictions imposed by leagues or football associations could be challenged in court as restrictions of trade or as violations of EU employment law.
 
Black Wizard said:
I think any restrictions imposed by leagues or football associations could be challenged in court as restrictions of trade or as violations of EU employment law.
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You're absolutely right. Even though Turkey is not a member of EU, Galatasaray's players with European passports applied to court saying the restriction of foreigners is a violation of EU employment law this year. Still hasn't resulted but if it results in a non-restriction of EU players in Turkey, it'd be wonderful for Turkish clubs.

FYI, Turkish players in Spain play as EU players, not foreigners. Galatasaray argues that it should establish a precedent.
 
You mentioned non-EU though. People from non-EU countries cannot, for example, jusy come & work in the UK; footballers or not. They need to have played a certain percentage of international matches & such like. I'm just saying: these aren't football restrictions (although clearly they apply some sort of football criteria in determing whether a work permit will be granted), I think this is just to do with visas etc. Yes/no? Not that it matters.
 
CriedWhenBrucieLeft said:
You mentioned non-EU though. People from non-EU countries cannot, for example, jusy come & work in the UK; footballers or not. They need to have played a certain percentage of international matches & such like. I'm just saying: these aren't football restrictions (although clearly they apply some sort of football criteria in determing whether a work permit will be granted), I think this is just to do with visas etc. Yes/no?
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Like I said, that thing only applies in the UK. These are football restrictions. A non-EU footballer, no matter how many international matches he played, can go & work in all of the mentioned countries except the UK.
 
It might work for away European matches but EU law surely can't apply in Turkey, unless the government is pandering to the EU in its bid for membership (a different matter entirely of course). If so, that puts Turkish football at risk from being punished by FIFA/UEFA for government interference.
 
CriedWhenBrucieLeft said:
I'm trying to say: I don't think they are. I think these are UK employment restrictions.
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I wasn't talking about the UK in the first place, you brought it up. I'm talking about all leagues here, not UK. The mentioned countries who have foreigner restrictions have no restrictions in regards to players of EU members. As in, they're not considered foreigners. For example in France the restriction is 4 foreigners with the rule being French players and EU member state players are not considered foreigners. And there are no ruling about their work permits like UK. An 18 year old unknown Japanese footballer can come and play for a French club as one of their foreign players without any work permit process.

Black Wizard said:
It might work for away European matches but EU law surely can't apply in Turkey, unless the government is pandering to the EU in its bid for membership (a different matter entirely of course). If so, that puts Turkish football at risk from being punished by FIFA/UEFA for government interference.
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See:
The Flash said:
FYI, Turkish players in Spain play as EU players, not foreigners. Galatasaray argues that it should establish a precedent.
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No idea. Obviously it has something to do with the bid for membership. Using the EU criteria as a part of EU Harmonization Process, perhaps. But yeah, it is odd that Spain rules Turkish players to be considered part of the EU player criteria. It started with a court application by Nihat Kahveci, who was playing for Villarreal at the time. He was granted the EU criteria and it now acts as an example for Arda Turan who plays for Atletico.
 
the key word is only homegrown. what's so wrong about letting somebody from Portugal, Japan or anywhere play for Bilbao? Even 1 player outside that region will do. I remember Nihat at Villareal back when they were good did he play with the Argentine Riquelme in Villareal I seem to forget what years was that in ?
 
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Have you ever thought that it could just possibly be the other way round? Maybe Bilbao wanted to give their own aspiring football players a chance because other Spanish clubs would not be overly happy to have them.
 
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