The Congress of SA Trade Unions on Thursday backed Bafana Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira's call to reduce the number of foreign players in the Premier Soccer League.
Parreira, who was recently appointed to guide Bafana Bafana to the World Cup in 2010, called for the number of foreign players at clubs to be reduced to three per club.
Parreira's call was similar to the one made by the SA Football Players Union (SAFPU).
"We fully support SAFPU's demand that the current quotas for foreign players must be drastically reduced so that the clubs are forced to ... develop and nurture local talent," Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven said in a statement on Thursday.
He said the Cosatu Central Executive Committee (CEC) further called on the SA Football Association to convene a soccer indaba in the next three to four months.
Cosatu's call came just after top club owners Kaizer Motaung and Jomo Sono had called on Safa to convene the indaba.
On Thursday, Craven said: "The decline in our standards has been going on for a long time.
"There is a real danger that we may only be hosts and spectators in the 2010 World Cup instead of competing against the giants of the world who will assemble on our shores.
"Action is needed now. We demand that Safa publish a development plan to address the weaknesses and stop the decline in quality," Craven said.
He said to achieve this, Cosatu called on Safa to urgently set up a technical committee on aspects of soccer, including administration.
"The technical committees must be constituted by representatives of current and previous players, coaches and technical teams and administrators of all the soccer fraternity.
"These teams must report to a real soccer indaba convened in the next three to four months," Craven said.
"If no serious development plan is forthcoming, Cosatu will mobilise its members and the entire working class to attend all meetings of Safa," he said.
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