Legality of Uefa plan is doubted

Feature: Clubs v Uefa will kick off Legal threat to Uefa's ruling Uefa sets foreign player limits

Sports lawyer Mike Townley believes it is unlikely Uefa will be able to implement its plans to limit the number of foreign players in teams.

He told BBC Sport: "These restrictions have not typically withstood the challenge legislation throws at it.

"It will be tough to enforce. Where sport constitutes an economic activity it's subject to laws in the same way as banking or insurance services are.

"And the free movement of labour laws must not be infringed upon."

He added: "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."

"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."