FA wants review of 5-6 rule

FERWAFA will propose in their next General Assembly the revision of the 5-6 rule regarding foreign players in the top flight clubs starting line-ups.According to Chief Executive Officer, Michel Gasingwa, the National Football governing body wants to reduce it to 4-7 next year and eventually 3-8 the year after.Under the current 5-6 rule, clubs are allowed to field five foreign players in their starting line-ups, but the Ministry of Sports and Culture (MINISPOC) recently said they were concerned that the rule was not sufficient to give local players enough playing time. “Ferwafa has a proposal that we will submit to the General Assembly [next month] for review or possible approval. We believe that scrapping the existing rule (5-6) and permit just three players would cause problems, which is why we want to do it gradually,” Gasingwa told Times Sport recently.He added, “Teams have contracts with players, so if we say that clubs can only field three foreign players, what would happen to those players and teams in contract?” “That would be catastrophic, we considered all these factors and decided to propose the progressive change,” added the former FIFA and CAF referee.Ferwafa’s proposal follows suggestion by the Minister of Sports and Culture Protais Mitali to reduce the number of foreign players in the national league as a way of promoting Rwandan players in the best interest of the national team.If the proposal is approved, the 2013/2014 season will see top flight clubs fielding on match day at most 39 foreign players in their starting lineups from possible 143 players, which will be a big boost for locals to play for big teams like APR, Rayon Sport, Kiyovu and Police.Under the current rule, teams field five foreign players who are only allowed to be replaced by local players, and the new rule if approved, would put pressure on clubs to sign players that make a difference.“We can’t limit the number of non-nationals for clubs to include in their 30-man squads, but we believe teams will be under pressure to buy foreign players they need,” explained Gasingwa.The Ferwafa official should be accurate in his calculations as APR coach Ernie Brandts has been regretting all season with selection problems caused by having a squad composed by more foreigners than locals. For instance during the last season, new signings Habib Kavuma, Alex Davilla, Diego Alvez and Douglas Lopez barely played a handful of league matches.And it appears as though teams are already starting to prepare for life after the new rule, with the league and Peace Cup winners APR signaling to some of their senior foreign players, who are out of contract, that they won’t get new deals.