Blatter calls for football labour exceptions
Saturday, 6 October 2007
PARIS, Oct 5 (AFP): FIFA president Sepp Blatter has called on the European Union (EU) to recognise the autonomy of sport when it comes to matters regarding labour laws.
Blatter wants football to be exempt from freedom of movement laws, which would allow sports authorities to limit the number of foreign players allowed to play at clubs.
"Workers in Europe can circulate freely but footballers are not workers," he said. "You cannot consider a footballer like any normal worker because you need 11 to play a match - and they are more artists than workers."
Blatter said he supports the International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge, who wrote a letter to state heads of all the EU countries on the subject of sporting exemptions.
Blatter wants football to be exempt from freedom of movement laws, which would allow sports authorities to limit the number of foreign players allowed to play at clubs.
"Workers in Europe can circulate freely but footballers are not workers," he said. "You cannot consider a footballer like any normal worker because you need 11 to play a match - and they are more artists than workers."
Blatter said he supports the International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge, who wrote a letter to state heads of all the EU countries on the subject of sporting exemptions.