In the light of the scope and the purpose of the Fund, it should not, in any event, support actions with respect to areas and centres for holding persons in third countries.

M. considers that the rules providing for the payment of fees for the transfer of professional players between clubs (transfer clauses) or limiting the number of professional players who are nationals of other Member States which those clubs may field in matches (rules on the composition of club teams), or fixing, without objective reasons concerning only the sport or justified by differences in the circumstances between players, different transfer deadlines for players coming from other Member States (clauses on transfer deadlines) fall within the scope of Article 39 et seq. of the Treaty and are subject to the prohibitions which they e ...[+++]nact,

7. Calls on Parliament and the Commission together with the stakeholders to propose guidelines which recognise the primary role of training centres and which allow for compensation ensuring a certain equality between trainer clubs and non-trainer clubs; proposes that the Member States grant tax incentives to clubs whose training centres are recognised by the ministry concerned according to precise objective criteria; recommends the adoption of the UEFA proposals concerning training of young players and supports the measures proposed by the UEFA to assure that the clubs employ a minimum number of local trained young players; calls for ...[+++]increased investment in youth training, education, and the expansion of non-commercial activities (local community work, women’s teams, etc.);

F. considers that the rules on the composition of national teams, or the rules relating to the selection by sports federations of those of their members who may participate in high-level international competitions are purely sporting rules which therefore, by their nature, fall outside the scope of Article 39 and Article 49 of the Treaty. Also among such rules are ‘the rules of the game’ in the strict sense, such as, for example, the rules fixing the length of matches or the number of players on the field, the organisation and conduct of sporting events and championships, given that sport can exist and be practised only in accordance wit ...[+++]h specific rules. That restriction on the scope of the above provisions of the Treaty must, however, remain limited to its proper objective. The same principles apply with regard to Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty,

I should therefore like to ask the Commission what its opinion is of possible quotas for native players or of investments in local training institutes and the training of players.

The categories are a category-one club of a top level, with a high quality training centre; category two: still professional but on a lower level – second division clubs in the UK; category three: all types of third-division clubs, as in the UK; category four: amateur players – Vauxhall Conference and other amateur footballers.