Basketball faces up to Bosman future

Spanish basketball has come under the magnifying glass of the European Union for not respecting the free circulation of workers within the continental sphere.

The European commissioner for employment, social affairs and inclusion, László Andor, sent a strongly worded missive to the Foreign Affairs Ministry on the matter: "I would like to direct your government's attention to the application of determined nationality quotas in official basketball competitions [...] The introduction of these quotas limits the participation of professional EU players in contravention of article 45 of the EU treaty, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of nationality. The kingdom of Spain has not fulfilled the obligations that are incumbent upon it."

In the Spanish professional ACB basketball league, there is a minimum quota of four Spanish players on each roster. That number increases to five if the squad numbers 12 players. In the Liga Española de Baloncesto (LEB) Gold League each team has a minimum of six places reserved for Spanish players, eight in the LEB Silver League and four in the female division. The quotas are laid out in the collective agreement signed in 2008 and in force until it expires in 2012.

The LEB and ACB have until March 11 to offer their "observations" in response to the letter, and the ministry has two months from the date of receipt, January 28, to reply to Brussels.

Spain is not the only country and basketball not the only sport to apply quotas. If the commission has fixed its gaze on Spanish basketball, "it is because someone has complained about it," say sources close to the matter. The government's CJD sports council believes it will be necessary to make the change and neither the LEB nor the ACB hold out much hope that it can be stopped.

"It's like that film with Eliot Ness," said Spanish Basketball Federation president José Luis Sáez. "I don't know if the law is good or not, but our system has produced results, making us the second world reference in the sport. It is a shame we have to give it up. We will follow the regulations in force but at the same time we will seek other ways to ensure that Spaniards keep playing. Other countries use the quota system but the Commission has focused its attention on us." Spain won the 2006 world champions and was Olympic silver medalist in Beijing.

"The root of the question is to guarantee that young players can make the step up to become professionals and also to ensure the future of the national teams as well as youth teams, principles acknowledged in numerous EU documents. In any case, we will not go against the directives of the commission," argues José Luis Llorente, president of the Association of Basketball Professionals.

If Spain, and other countries with quota systems, bow to EU pressure on the subject, basketball will be open to significant changes such as those that took place in soccer following the Bosman Case. Premier League side Chelsea was the first team in England to field a side entirely made up of foreign players in 1999. In 2006, Arsenal went one better by naming a squad of 16 foreign players for a match.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter, with the support of many clubs, has long mooted introducing a quota system of "six plus five" in soccer. Fifa has backed Blatter's proposal but the European Union is against it, arguing it is illegal and discriminatory.