If Uefa gets its way, from 2006 clubs will have to include four 'homegrown players' in their 25-man squads in order to compete in the Champions League and Uefa Cup competitions.
The governing body defines a 'homegrown player' as one who has been registered with the club for a minimum of three seasons between the ages of 15 and 21.
Clubs would have to include two such players who had progressed through their own academy and a further two players trained in the home country of the club.
The quota of players would rise to eight by 2008, with four players gleaned from each category.
But Uefa's proposals are highly likely to face objections and possibly a legal battle.
Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein has already stated on BBC Radio Five Live that he believes Uefa's plans are "misguided and will almost certainly now be challenged".
He claims it would restrict the free movement of workers and it appears that Dein's argument has weight.
Sports lawyer Mike Townley told BBC Sport: "These restrictions have not typically withstood the challenge that legislation throws at it.
Dein has already voiced his concerns about Uefa's plans
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"It doesn't sound - although I have not seen all of the details - as if it would be easily enforced.
"My initial feeling is that clubs would have a very good case to appeal."
Any challenge would probably centre on the fact that Uefa's plans appear to contravene European laws governing free movement and other economic harmonisation.
"If what is being proposed is an attempt to deal at club level with the national make-up of the teams, I can not see the justification for it," added Townley.
"Where sport constitutes an economic activity, it is subject to laws in much the same way as banking or insurance services are.
"Professional clubs operate on a profit-or-loss basis and many are publicly quoted companies.
"As such, they are treated no differently to banking services, which could not restrict the number of Italian workers they had in their marketing department, for instance."
However, a Uefa spokesman claimed on Thursday: "We think the proposal is legal, because it is a sporting rule, not as a restriction, to develop and promote young players."
Although there are, what can sometimes be referred to as, sporting exemptions from the law, it remains to be seen whether this is one of them.
Townley is unconvinced. He said: "There is a principle of European law that preserves and protects representation of national teams.
"But we are talking about club competition in Europe, not national teams.
"And professional club teams are no more representative of Manchester, for example, than of Britain or anywhere else."
According to Dein, the Premier League had unanimously opposed the Uefa ruling at a January hearing.
That is the response Townley expects, especially in England.
"There would have to be an objection, because the development of the game is attributed in some measure and in many quarters to the import of the best players in the world into the perhaps the best league in the world, " he said.
"Nobody has objected to that. Indeed they have viewed it as a positive thing.
"The movement of labour within the European Union has never been an issue because there has not been an attempt to restrict it. Until now, apparently.
"Football has, as have rugby and cricket, already accepted the free movement of players.
"It would seem very odd if the clock was to be turned back."
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Football has already accepted the free movement of players - it would seem very odd if the clock was to be turned back