Is Limiting Squad Sizes to 25 a Good Idea?

By: Daryl | March 25th, 2009

Something big is about to change in the football world. I’m not sure exactly what it is yet, but something’s about to happen. Might be 6+5, might be the homegrown players rule, might be the proposal to link club spending to club income.

Two more ideas have been discussed by UEFA and the European Club Association recently. First was the luxury tax. Just like in Major League Baseball (or so I’m told) this is basically a salary cap, with one important difference. Clubs can spend beyond the cap, provided they pay a luxury tax which is then shared among the less wealthy clubs.

So theoretically, if Man Utd have to spend above the agreed salary cap to pay Cristiano Ronaldo’s wages, they’ll also have to pay a percentage of what they spend into a fund, which will be distributed to teams lower down the totem pole (Fulham? Charlton? Shrewsbury? Halesowen Town? Your pub team? I’m not sure how low it would go.)

According to UEFA special adviser William Gaillard, this went down like a lead baloon at the conference. “People are less favourable to this idea,” he said. The plan “is not top of the agenda”.

Similarly, the idea about linking club spending to income (which I still like) has hit a bump in the road:

Gaillard said Platini’s plans to limit clubs to spending around 50 to 60 percent on wages and buying players “was still on the table, but has become more difficult”.

“Salary caps is still there, but what form will it take? Europe is a complex place for soccer. We have promotion, relegation, European competitions. It is very difficult to find a one size fits all solution,” he said.

Hmm. I take that to mean the ECA have gone cold on the idea.

The solution Gaillard sounds most upbeat about is limiting squad sizes to 25. Yes, this already happens in the Champions League and UEFA Cup, but the new idea is to limit squad sizes for domestic campaigns too.

Gaillard said a move to curb squads would help reduce massive wage bills at clubs and provide “a more level playing field”.

“It would stop the hoarding of players by the richer and more powerful clubs. Players would be signed to play rather than to possibly prevent opponents from signing the player,” Gaillard said.

I can see where hes coming from here. Yes, Man Utd would likely have a better 25 than West Brom, so that’s not going to change. But now that Man Utd can’t accommodate players #26 and #27, those guys will need to look for a new team, which might make them available to the Baggies.

One problem is that maybe chances would be limited for young players, but if the squad rules follow the Champions League format, then players under 21 could be exempt. Allowing clubs to have a 25 man squad plus freedom to play youth team players could definitely work. Wage bills go down, younger players have more opportunities and European Union labour laws remain unbroken.

So maybe this is the future?

As I mentioned last week, I’m ready for change. And if this is it… then so be it. But which of these proposed law changes would you prefer: