What would the top European club sides would look like if the old three foreigner rule was in force?

[Physiocrat]

What do you think the top European club sides would look like if the old three foreigner rule was in force? They had that back in the late 80s in Italy - Milan had Rijkaard, Gullit and van Basten. For English sides Irish, Scottish and Welsh players don't count as foreign in this sense as they were always allowed to play in post War English football without restriction*

Which side would be best suited to be managed by Pep? Could he even play the way he likes with a such a restriction

Edit:

*Everything I have read indicates there was no restriction of Irish players prior to the opening of the English league to foreigners in 1978. For instance, Liam Brady played with Arsenal in the early 70s with no issues at all.

Also:

Another thing that needs to be considered is the fact that Scottish, Welsh and Irish footballers regularly ran out for English club sides in the early days of the game (and ever since). Of course none of them are ‘foreign’ as they were all members of the United Kingdom, but they weren’t English. Some of the English game’s most famous faces, from Bill Shankly through to Alex Ferguson via Kenny Dalglish and George Graham, have come from North of the Border.

https://www.football-stadiums.co.uk/articles/foreign-players-in-football/

However in European competition in the early 90s, UEFA counted Irish as foreign for English teams.

 

[Spaghetti]

What do you think the top European club sides would look like if the old three foreigner rule was in force? They had that back in the late 80s in Italy - Milan had Rijkaard, Gullit and van Basten. For English sides Irish, Scottish and Welsh players don't count as foreign in this sense as they were always allowed to play in post War English football without restriction.

Which side would be best suited to be managed by Pep? Could he even play the way he likes with a such a restriction

Are you sure about that?

 

[Physiocrat]

Are you sure about that?

Yes. Everything I have read indicates there was no restriction of Irish players prior to the opening of the English league to foreigners in 1978. For instance, Liam Brady played with Arsenal in the early 70s with no issues at all.

Also:

Another thing that needs to be considered is the fact that Scottish, Welsh and Irish footballers regularly ran out for English club sides in the early days of the game (and ever since). Of course none of them are ‘foreign’ as they were all members of the United Kingdom, but they weren’t English. Some of the English game’s most famous faces, from Bill Shankly through to Alex Ferguson via Kenny Dalglish and George Graham, have come from North of the Border.

https://www.football-stadiums.co.uk/articles/foreign-players-in-football/

 

[andy0]

I think this was different for the league here and for Europe

 

[Slevs]

Think Irish players were classified as foreign when playing in Europe.

 

[Spaghetti]

Yes. Everything I have read indicates there was no restriction of Irish players prior to the opening of the English league to foreigners in 1978. For instance, Liam Brady played with Arsenal in the early 70s with no issues at all.

Also:



https://www.football-stadiums.co.uk/articles/foreign-players-in-football/

Pretty sure Irish were “foreign” and by the end I think Scots and Welsh were too, which is why we had to play Gary Walsh in goal against Barça.

 

[bosnian_red]

PSG/Marseille, given how dominant french players have been in the football world the past few years.

 

[FrankFoot]

Probably 2 portuguese(Benfica and Porto) and 2 french clubs (PSG and Marseille) would be between the best, based on depth.

Not sure how the likes of AC Milan,Juventus, and Internationazionale would look considering the current quality of italian players is mediocre, so I'd assume not good, the same goes for Ajax, PSV, and Feyenoord in Netherlands.

Barca would have a chance to be top, but Madrid would be in the mud, given their best players are all foreigners, at least Barca has Gavi and Pedro's.

Bayern would look good with Musiala and Gnabry, Germany has a decent depth, maybe Dortmund could get some german quality but not sure about.

Hard to choose team in England, i don't think England has the depth to have more than 2 top teams. Not sure who's most likely to attract national top talent, so I'd go with United and City.

 

[SER19]

Butland, AWB, Maguire, Martinez, Shaw, Casemiro, McTominay, Mainoo, Fernandes, Sancho, Rashford

Obviously Greenwood would be a starter but leaving him out of discussion.

We wouldn't be terrible with our current squad, but would likely look to invest in a new english centre back, midfielder and striker.

 

[LInkash]

Butland, AWB, Maguire, Martinez, Shaw, Casemiro, McTominay, Mainoo, Fernandes, Sancho, Rashford

Obviously Greenwood would be a starter but leaving him out of discussion.

We wouldn't be terrible with our current squad, but would likely look to invest in a new english centre back, midfielder and striker.

The three foreigner rule also allows an additional two players who have been in the country for 5+ years so you could also put Elanga in there if you wanted to.

 

[SER19]

The three foreigner rule also allows an additional two players who have been in the country for 5+ years so you could also put Elanga in there if you wanted to.

even better then. I think we'd still be reasonably competitive

 

[Neil_Buchanan]

The recent trend of young English players going to Germany for first team football wouldn’t have happened. Sancho would be at city, Bellingham likely at United, the likes of Smalling and Lingard could still be here making up the squad. Henderson might be first choice or even Pickford ffs. Could be grim but I think we would probably have won more domestic trophies over the past ten years.

 

[Physiocrat]

The three foreigner rule also allows an additional two players who have been in the country for 5+ years so you could also put Elanga in there if you wanted to.

That was only introduced in the early 90s I think. Also thinking about it just covering a strict three I think would make the discussion a bit more interesting IMO as it is more different from today's sides.

 

[Physiocrat]

Butland, AWB, Maguire, Martinez, Shaw, Casemiro, McTominay, Mainoo, Fernandes, Sancho, Rashford

Obviously Greenwood would be a starter but leaving him out of discussion.

We wouldn't be terrible with our current squad, but would likely look to invest in a new english centre back, midfielder and striker.

That's a decent shout. What do you reckon City would look like?

The recent trend of young English players going to Germany for first team football wouldn’t have happened. Sancho would be at city, Bellingham likely at United, the likes of Smalling and Lingard could still be here making up the squad. Henderson might be first choice or even Pickford ffs. Could be grim but I think we would probably have won more domestic trophies over the past ten years.

Yeah, Bellingham etc would almost certainly be playing in the EPL. Only English players at their peak would be playing abroad in this case.

 

[SER19]

That's a decent shout. What do you reckon City would look like?



Yeah, Bellingham etc would almost certainly be playing in the EPL. Only English players at their peak would be playing abroad in this case.

Using three only, maybe something like 352,

Carson, Stones, Dias, Lewis - Walker, Phillips, De Bruyne, Grealish, ? - Palmer, Haaland, Foden

 

[Grylte]

Using three only, maybe something like 352,

Carson, Stones, Dias, Lewis - Walker, Phillips, De Bruyne, Grealish, ? - Palmer, Haaland, Foden

Pretty sure Haaland is born in Leeds.

 

[RoyH1]

Problem with the 3 foreigner rule is how to enforce it. Lots of Latin Americans have double citizenship in Spain, Portugal or Italy.

If we were strict about it, and only 8 players eligible to play for your country had to be on the field, then France could be the top league in Europe right now. And few players from rich clubs would go overseas.

 

[Rnd898]

Kepa, Chilwell, Colwill, Chalobah, James, Loftus-Cheek, Enzo, Mount, Sterling, Madueke, Havertz

Something like this for Chelsea currently, I guess.

 

[WeePat]

Kepa, Chilwell, Colwill, Chalobah, James, Loftus-Cheek, Enzo, Mount, Sterling, Madueke, Havertz

Something like this for Chelsea currently, I guess.

Not bad at all. Could even bin Havertz and use Broja then insert Kante next to Enzo. Then you'd have Gallagher, Loftus-Cheek, Hudson-Odoi, Chukwumueka, Omari and Lewis Hall on the bench.
English players would be at a premium though, even more than it is now. All the top 4-5 clubs would queue up to sign Declan Rice, Toney, Eze etc.

 

[Siorac]

Pretty sure Haaland is born in Leeds.

Does he have UK citizenship though? Would he have been eligible to play for England? If not, he would have counted as a foreigner per UEFA rules.

 

[Bwuk]

Does he have UK citizenship though? Would he have been eligible to play for England? If not, he would have counted as a foreigner per UEFA rules.

Yes he does.

 

[elmo]

The three foreigner rule also allows an additional two players who have been in the country for 5+ years so you could also put Elanga in there if you wanted to.

Which means De Gea would qualify as well

 

[WeePat]

Which means De Gea would qualify as well

A lot of players would qualify. Kante, Kepa, Azpi even Kovacic would squeeze in with his 1 year loan stay prior to signing. For you guys, De Gea, Lindelof, Martial, Fred and Eriksen.

 

[Red in STL]

Kepa, Chilwell, Colwill, Chalobah, James, Loftus-Cheek, Enzo, Mount, Sterling, Madueke, Havertz

Something like this for Chelsea currently, I guess.

Sterling would depend on how the rule works, if it depends on where you are born as opposed to which country you play for

 

[Red in STL]

A lot of players would qualify. Kante, Kepa, Azpi even Kovacic would squeeze in with his 1 year loan stay prior to signing. For you guys, De Gea, Lindelof, Martial, Fred and Eriksen.

Not sure that's the way it works, Martial maybe but the others had already played international football, the 5 year thing was more to do with being elsgible for the country you were playing in

 

[WeePat]

Sterling would depend on how the rule works, if it depends on where you are born as opposed to which country you play for

Then Chalobah too as he was born in Sierra Leone, but I think a rule like this would be based on the country you play for. It would be wild to be an English NT player but not count as English for the foreign players rule.

 

[WeePat]

Not sure that's the way it works, Martial maybe but the others had already played international football, the 5 year thing was more to do with being elsgible for the country you were playing in

Well the OP didn’t specify and I guess we’re talking about the rule if it was imposed on the league right now. If it’s to do with being eligible for England, then yeah scrap that entire post.

 

[Red in STL]

Then Chalobah too as he was born in Sierra Leone, but I think a rule like this would be based on the country you play for. It would be wild to be an English NT player but not count as English for the foreign players rule.

Yeah it would, but football administrators can't be relied upon to make sensible rules!

 

[Red in STL]

Well the OP didn’t specify and I guess we’re talking about the rule if it was imposed on the league right now. If it’s to do with being eligible for England, then yeah scrap that entire post.

Fair enough - the Norwegian Yeti would be an interesting one, quite clearly a Norwegian international but born a sheep shagger in Leeds

 

[Andycoleno9]

All non English players were labelled as foreigners. Giggs, Keane, Hughes were foreigners when United played in Europe.

 

[711]

What do you think the top European club sides would look like if the old three foreigner rule was in force? They had that back in the late 80s in Italy - Milan had Rijkaard, Gullit and van Basten. For English sides Irish, Scottish and Welsh players don't count as foreign in this sense as they were always allowed to play in post War English football without restriction*

Which side would be best suited to be managed by Pep? Could he even play the way he likes with a such a restriction

Edit:

*Everything I have read indicates there was no restriction of Irish players prior to the opening of the English league to foreigners in 1978. For instance, Liam Brady played with Arsenal in the early 70s with no issues at all.

Also:


https://www.football-stadiums.co.uk/articles/foreign-players-in-football/

However in European competition in the early 90s, UEFA counted Irish as foreign for English teams.

The three foreigner rule came in 1991 and was, despite the usual spin, intended to render English teams, particularly Liverpool, from dominating the European cup. It very much counted Scottish, Welsh and Irish as foreign, and indeed they were the real targets, bearing in mind they traditionally provided many of the English team's top players.

Fergie has often claimed he would have won another European cup or two if it were not for the three foreigner rule, from the Spanish and Italian point of view it worked.

 

[Physiocrat]

The three foreigner rule came in 1991 and was, despite the usual spin, intended to render English teams, particularly Liverpool, from dominating the European cup. It very much counted Scottish, Welsh and Irish as foreign, and indeed they were the real targets, bearing in mind they traditionally provided many of the English team's top players.

Fergie has often claimed he would have won another European cup or two if it were not for the three foreigner rule, from the Spanish and Italian point of view it worked.

It could well have been but Serie A imposed their own domestic foreigner rule prior to this. In the early 80s it was two. Brady had to leave Juventus to make way for Platini - the other foreigner at the time was Boniek.

 

[duffer]

All non English players were labelled as foreigners. Giggs, Keane, Hughes were foreigners when United played in Europe.

Quite right. Coming over here, taking our jobs. Outrageous.

 

[Andycoleno9]

Quite right. Coming over here, taking our jobs. Outrageous.

 

[Rnd898]

Then Chalobah too as he was born in Sierra Leone, but I think a rule like this would be based on the country you play for. It would be wild to be an English NT player but not count as English for the foreign players rule.

So kind of like Eric Dier who's not eligible for the current HG rules but plays for England?