Euro crackdown on tapping

Football's most powerful leagues want to introduce new Europe-wide rules to stamp out the tapping-up of players.

With Ashley Cole preparing to challenge the Premier League's regulations that stop players talking to clubs while under contract, a new group of European leagues want to bring in a standard law against the practice.

Earlier this month, the association of European Professional Leagues met in London to discuss plans for the future of the game across the continent.

The issue of tapping-up was high on the agenda and officials are now working on a proposal for a standard law that would apply in every member country.

At the moment the rules vary greatly, with Italian regulations far more lenient than those in England.

But with the rules now facing a major challenge the game's rulers want to send out a strong message to players, who argue that European employment law should give them the right to talk to clubs about a move whenever they like.

The Premier League fined Chelsea £300,000, Jose Mourinho £200,000 and Cole £100,000 for meeting to discuss a move to Chelsea from Arsenal in January.

Although the practice is believed to be widespread, that case brought the way clubs, players and agents conduct their business sharply into focus.

Recently Arsene Wenger blamed Chelsea for the breakdown in moral values in transfer dealing. The Arsenal manager said: "Fighting Chelsea is like fighting a club which has no rules. This thing with Cole is not right."

Earlier this week Sepp Blatter, president of world governing body FIFA, accused Chelsea of lacking "discipline and respect" for football's regulations.

Meanwhile, Chelsea will today file an appeal to the Premier League against their guilty verdict and the punishment in the Cole tapping-up case.

The club will argue that the record fines are disproportionate to their offence, pointing out that Cole was fined only £100,000 despite the fact that the league ruled that he had instigated the meeting.