Why does Sepp Blatter think national team talent has to be ‘homegrown’? Jamie Trecker has an excellent commentary on the FIFA president’s latest comments and why restrictions on foreign players will hurt more than they help. He summarizes Blatter’s position like this:

Blatter argues that for national teams to succeed, clubs must be forced to save places on their clubs for ‘homegrown’ talent. Without this move, claims Blatter, national teams will wither and die.

How is that even close to realistic? Just because a player plays in a foreign country for a foreign club, doesn’t mean they check their nationalism at the door. While not ALL players wish to represent their country on national teams, you find a heck of a lot that do, regardless of where they play. Do we really think Beckham flew to England and back in, what, 96 hours because of anything other than a desire to play for his country? While it may present some travel challenges, playing for a foreign club seems unlikely to limit most player’s desire to represent their country.

So I see Jamie’s point – on the surface Blatter’s arguments don’t make sense, so there’s got to be another motive. And as usual, it’s probably $$$$.

Unfortunate.