Saving our domestic league...

Ivo Belet and Dirk Claes, both Belgian politicians for CD&V (= Flemish political party), have a few ideas to ensure the future of the Belgian football. They explained everything on a press conference today.



First of all, they want to increase the wage limit for players coming from countries outside the EU from 61.632 to 154.080 euro. By doing so, it won't be that attractive anymore to invest in foreign players.
At the moment, foreigners have to pay less taxes than Belgians. So a second idea is to cancel all this. This would make them more expensive for the clubs too.
Both guidelines should stimulate the clubs to invest in their own young players.

That would be a good thing, because the UEFA is also concerned about the youth. They are thinking of creating a new rule: at least 6 players from the A-team (18 players) has to be trained in the country to which the club belongs. At least 3 with the club itself, and at least 3 with another club from that same country."

Further, both politicians have a few smaller plans like cancelling the fancard, building a federal structure inside the National Football Organisation and starting up a group of experts for extra advise.

Also Jean-Marie Philips, chairman of the Profleague, has a proposal. He wants to make more money out of the TV-rights. Therefore he created 5 packages of football games. That way, every game can be broadcasted live. At least 6 games will remain on pay-tv.