Blatter Wants Fewer Teams In The EPL

By Matt Jones
March 2 2006

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has stated his desire to implement a radical proposal - that would limit Europe's domestic leagues to a maximum of 16 teams. The English Premier League currently has 20 teams, so that would mean booking out FOUR.

The 69-year-old was speaking in an interview with German newspaper, Bild and went on to say that he would be pushing for restrictions on foreign players in these leagues at next year's FIFA Congress.

Blatter: "Ideally, each national league would have 16 teams. At our congress in 2007 we will discuss this, as the market and the players cannot cope with so much football."

It is of Blatter's opinion that many clubs are getting tired of playing so many games.

"FIFA can stipulate it and it is the wish of many clubs, but the FIFA need to order it otherwise it will never happen."

On foreign players, Blatter added:  "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."

The Bundesliga currently has 18 teams, while the top leagues in Spain, England, Italy and France have 20.


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