Fifa's controversial six-plus-five plans do not break EU rules, according to an independent report.
Football's world governing body are keen to impose regulations which restrict the number of foreign players that can take part in domestic fixtures.
The idea has been overwhelmingly approved by 155 of Fifa's member nations, but has come in criticism from the European commission and most EU governments.
There are fears that the plans amount to discrimination at work and restrict freedom of movement for workers.
However, a report commissioned by Fifa and carried out by the Institute for European Affairs (INEA) claims the idea does not fall foul of EU regulations.
"There is no conflict with Europe law," INEA chairman Professor Jurgen Gramke told a press conference in Brussels.
He insisted the report, although commissioned by Fifa, was entirely independent: "We took no instructions from Fifa. INEA accepted this commission on condition that our requirements of complete independence were met".
The report says that, under EU law, the "regulatory autonomy" of sporting associations is recognised and supported: "The key aim of the six-plus-five rule in the view of the experts is the creation and assurance of sporting competition.
"The six-plus-five rule does not impinge on the core area of the right to freedom of movement. The rule is merely a rule of the game declared in the general interest of sport in order to improve the sporting balance between clubs and associations".
Fifa are hoping to have the six-plus-five rule, which states clubs must field six players eligible for their country's national side in their starting XI in any one game, by the start of the 2012/13 season.
INEA see no reason why the proposal should not be pushed through by then, as they feel no direct discrimination is taking place.
"It is not directly based on the nationality of professional players," read the report.
Instead it "merely considers entitlement to play for the national team concerned, and any possible indirect discrimination can be defended on the basis of compelling reasons of general interest".
Quotas are currently barred from club football as a result of a European Court ruling in 1995 in the Bosman Case.
It declared that systems in operation throughout many national leagues and Uefa competitions, which only allowed three foreign players in a team, were illegal.
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