The European Football Union, UEFA, has agreed to rules changes that would increase the number of locally trained players in club competitions.
Current UEFA rules require that clubs field a starting roster of 25 players, with at least two players coming from the team's own academy. Two more players must come through the club system in the team's home country.
The rule change would increase the level to four home-trained and four domestic players. The measure is an attempt to reverse the effects of a 10-year-old ruling outlawing limits on non-domestic players from within the European Union.
Meanwhile, delegates at the governing body's annual conference in Tallinn, Estonia, have extended the UEFA Executive Committee's terms of office by one year. The move means that UEFA's 75-year-old President Lennart Johansson will now step down in 2007 instead of next year.
The change was made to coincide with the election of the new International Football Federation president in 2007.
Some information for this report provided by AFP and AP.
