If the EU is intended to be a sort of new über-country, getting rid of all that horrid provincial national feeling in favour of a new Euro-togetherness, it makes sense for the European Commission to take little interest in the fate of national soccer teams even if others do.

Hence a firm Commission stand against any attempts by national football jurisdictions to lay down rules which limit the number of ‘foreigners’ who might play at club level so as to encourage ‘local’ talent.

One such attempt is the 6+5 rule as proposed by FIFA: for international club competitions each club should have to play six players ‘eligible’ for the national team in which the club is based.

An interesting one. Would any such quota done for good reasons accepted at the international level be in breach of EU law, which requires all EU citizen-players to be treated equally (ie how could an English club lawfully ‘discriminate’ against the non-English players in its ranks to field a 6+5 team?)?

Not that international cricket is without its problems as well.

Let’s just stay at home.