Football's world governing body today voted in favour of the 'six-plus-five rule', which would put a limit on the number of foreign players each team could field.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter has said he hopes the controversial rule will be in place by the 2012/13 season.

His vision appears to be a step closer following the overwhelming backing at Fifa's annual congress in Sydney, Australia.

The rule would limit every team to only five foreign players in their starting XI.

The Fifa boss has pointed to the Premier League's dominance in this season's Champions League as an example of why his organisation must implement the idea, despite legal concerns from the European Union.

Stressing Fifa would proceed "within the limits of the law", Blatter said this week: "It's to make sure that there is better balance in the competitions and not only three or four teams in a league of 18 or 20 are fighting to be the champion and all the others are just there to not be relegated.

"As (Newcastle manager) Kevin Keegan recently said: 'I can only start my season to fight to be fifth or sixth or seventh. It is impossible for me to go into the final four'.

"At the end of the Champions League in Europe you have in the quarter-finals four teams of the same association; in the semi-finals three of these teams.

"Then in the final you are surprised that you have two teams of the same association? We want to bring some remedies and this is the six-plus-five rule's objective."

Despite Fifa backing the plan, the European Union has already indicated it would contravene European laws. "We are giving the red card to the 6-plus-5 rule," Europe's commissioner for equal opportunities, Vladimir Spidla, said on Wednesday.

The Premier League has also expressed its reservations over the move this morning. In a statement it insisted that while is is desirable to feature as many English players as possible, it must remain a meritocracy.

"EU official spokespeople have repeatedly said that a nationality-based player quota system would be unlawful within the European Union," the statement said. "They have also stated that any form of gentleman's agreement to achieve this objective would be instantly challengeable.

"We want to see the greatest possible number of England-qualified players coming through in the Premier League, but this has to be based on merit and quality, and there is no doubting that foreign talent has aided the technical development of the English game."