EU gives foreign-player limits the red card

In a strongly worded statement, the European Commission has forbidden the federation of international football associations (FIFA) from regulating the amount of foreign players on a single football team, saying it would violate the bloc's internal market rules.

EU social affairs commissioner Vladimir Spidla dismissed plans by FIFA president Sepp Blatter to force football clubs from 2012 to have at six home-grown players and limit the number of foreign players to five as "blatant discrim...