Adelaide United chairman Greg Griffin has slammed Football Federation Australia (FFA) over its intention to make Asian players a compulsory feature of the A-League’s foreign contingent.
A fuming Griffin claimed clubs are stridently opposed to FFA’s decision to introduce a four plus one quota rule from the 2018-19 season, and accused the governing body of acting on political motivations.
The pending change, confirmed by FFA chief executive David Gallop and subject to final review at the end of 2017-18, will not impact clubs’ current quota of five foreigners but means one of those players must come from an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) members federation.
It will move Australia’s top tier in line with other AFC competitions and force A-League clubs to scour the continent for talent.
“There is strident objection from the clubs to any change to the existing visa rules,” Griffin told AAP.
“That objection will remain; we see absolutely no point in going 4+1 and compromising the product we provide in some attempt to curry favour with the AFC.
“It’s ultimately a fruitless exercise because the problems between FFA and the AFC run far deeper than the composition of our visa players.”
The concept has long caused friction.
FFA is keen to align with Asian football, where the Asian Champions League operates on a 3+1 rule, while attracting more interest from overseas TV markets.
But only two clubs – Western Sydney and Newcastle – currently have an Asian player on their books and there’s concern the move would dilute the league’s growing quality, with the continent’s ever-inflating wages rendering it tough to afford top Asian stars.
“That is in no small way due to the completely insufficient distribution of revenues that have flowed to the clubs under the FFA administration which is now the subject of review,” Griffin said.
It’s understood FFA discussed the issue at length with chairmen last October, before telling CEOs at a meeting in Melbourne the following month.
There was a mixed response but strong enough collective opposition that FFA promised to “prudently review the implementation” at the end of the 2017-18 season before making a final decision.
Griffin said that “unsatisfactory” compromise would not be accepted and foreshadowed a response from the Australian Professional Football Clubs Association, which represents all 10 clubs and of which he is chair.
Sydney FC chief executive Tony Pignata called for more dialogue on the issue.
“It has been suggested but nothing formal has come from FFA advising clubs that it is being introduced,” Pignata said.
“We as clubs would still like the opportunity to discuss this proposal with FFA.”
The news comes amid reports the Chinese Football Association is set to reduce to three the number of foreign players Chinese Super League teams are allowed to field in each match.
The pending rule change has already delayed James Holland’s transfer from the Reds to Liaoning Whowin and could threaten the careers of other Australian players in China.
vin
Guest
Well then why did we join asia and happy to take asian champions league places, its give and take Greg! can't just take take take, go back to Oceania confederation if thats how you feel.
northerner
Guest
How is it less "European" to call the game "soccer" than to call it "football?" The nickname "soccer" was entirely an English invention, slang for the full name of Association Football. So, you're just choosing one European name over another.
northerner
Guest
That's a very poor analogy. A Cambodian wouldn't pick up the differences, but if I took an average Sydneysider and plopped him in Toronto, he wouldn't for one minute imagine he was in Sydney. There'd be similarities, but they have much more to do with the Americanization of the world than the Europeanization of it. And interestingly, my own experience would be that Australians are culturally closer to Americans than they are to Canadians, never mind Europeans. But I go back to my initial point: I know a lot of Canadians from all sorts of different heritages, and while most of them have a soft spot for the ancestral home, I don't know of any who were born in Canada who still think of themselves in terms of being English or French or Ukrainian or Dutch, or who think that Canada is European. Canadians most definitely are not Europeans and don't think of themselves that way. Neither do Americans. And the Latin Americans I know don't, either.
anon
Guest
If you took a rural Cambodian and transported him to Sydney, and then transported them to Toronto, what do you think his impression would be? He would think Australia and Canada are almost culturally identical (apart from the weather and sporting obsessions). That's despite being on the other side of the planet. Many Australians identify their ethnicity as being European despite being born in Australia, and their family having been in Australia for several generations. Australia is also culturally similar to Britain despite being on the other side of the planet. Somewhere like Goa wouldn't be considered culturally similar to Portugal because that culture was abandoned long ago despite some aspects of culture still remaining. That takes me to South America. If you took a rural Cambodian and plucked him in Buenos Aires, and then for instance plucked him somewhere in Southern Europe, sure he would be identify differences (more differences than Australia v Canada), but culturally Buenos Aires is more similar to southern European countries than it is dissimilar. It's not like you're comparing Buenos Aires to Tokyo. Culturally there's no similarity between the two. Different worlds completely.
anon
Guest
"There simply aren’t any good players in Asia for A League clubs to recruit even though they’d obviously love to." There's 4.5 billion people in soccer-mad Asia. There's 22 million people in Australia. In addition, soccer is competing for athletes with 3 other more popular football codes -- meaning Australian soccer doesn't get the cream of the crop in Australia. The A-League is full of Australian players, yet has next to no Asian players. There are almost certainly better players available in Asia that are better than many of the Australian players running around in the A-League. Australia still hold this Anglocentric/Eurocentric view of the world, and especially so in regards to soccer. Just look at this obsession with trying to rewrite Australian history by giving soccer sole domain over the word "football" -- as if Australian Football didn't exist for 150 years before soccer became mainstream and relevant. This obsession with Australian soccer trying to claim sole domain over the word "football" is derived from this Eurocentric view of the world. Despite Australian having 4 football codes, despite Australia being the most competitive football landscape on Earth with 4 football codes, despite the other 3 football codes are more popular than soccer, Australian soccer seems to have this entitlement mentality to the word "football". All because Europeans call soccer "football".
Nemesis
Guest
Hey Beni ALeague fans want more Asian footballers in our competition. The opinions of people who don't watch Aleague are meaningless. Stick to recruiting players who've never played your sport; that's sounds like a comical recruiting strategy for a competition that claims to be World Class, which is why your sport is treated as a joke.
Beni Iniesta
Guest
That's rubbish. There simply aren't any good players in Asia for A League clubs to recruit even though they'd obviously love to. How many Asian Players have won a World Cup? A Champions League title? An FA Cup? An EPL title? A La Liga? A Serie A? I can tell you - only a bloody handful!
Beni Iniesta
Guest
They play in Asia because they are not good enough to go and play in Europe. Simple as that. It's a much lower standard, so as much as they'd love to play in Europe - no one wants them!
Freddie
Guest
Does no-one remember players like Song jin-hyung or Shengqing Qu? Good players who fitted in under the cap. Clubs here are just too lazy to look. Easier to find Europeans & South Americans because of their contacts. The plus one is well overdue.
northerner
Guest
I think the whole of Latin America is a case study in what governments shouldn't do. With all the resources they have, all the human capital, they should be the match of North America and Europe.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
An interesting aspect about Argentina, at the turn of the previous century, Australia and Argentina had the two highest GDP per capita in the World. Argentina is a great case study for all economic historians about what Governments should not do in running an economy.
Nemesis
Guest
You like your kids sitting next to adult males who want to expose their genitals? Wow. That's pretty odd behaviour for most parents.
northerner
Guest
Lots of places are "very European." Ever been to Quebec City or to Goa? Full of 300 and 400 year old buildings constructed by Europeans, religions that came from Europe, cuisines influenced by Europe. I can absolutely guarantee that the Quebecois don't think they're French, and the Goans don't think they're Portuguese. Europe has a very Eurocentric view of the world, which some Australians have bought into: Americans (both continents) see things just a bit differently.
Nemesis
Guest
Having travelled to Argentina & Brazil I can vouch for the fact that certain parts of the country are very European - Italian, Spanish, Portuguese influence in the architecture, food, culture.
northerner
Guest
yeah, there are lots of jokes - but one of the things I've learned over many, many years of travel and living abroad, is that all the memes about people from the rest of the world thinking they are, or wanting to be, European, come from Europeans. I guess it's the last gasp of colonialism.
lesterlike
Guest
Sokkah sokkah sokkah.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Although there is an old amusing saying about Argentinians: a bunch of Italians, who speak Spanish, who act as if they're English and wish they were French.
northerner
Guest
Argentinians think they're European? You're kidding, right. Like Canadians think they're English? You don't have a clue. At all.
Waz
Guest
Personally I could live with a 3+1 system with all four outside of the cap. Let others have a 4+1 but only two outside the cap.
SVB
Guest
You really need to get laid. Seriously dude.