Football News » Editorial » Editorial August 2011
Editorial August 2011
Soccerphile Editorial - August 2011
European Breakaway League Looms as Complaints to UEFA Fall on Deaf Ears
The new European season brings with it renewed threats of a pan-European breakaway league. The threat has cast a pall over UEFA for years, but there's now a sense of urgency after president of the European Club Association, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, told reporters his members saw no reason to extend a current memorandum of understanding which expires in 2014.
The MOU obliges top European clubs to take part in UEFA-sanctioned tournaments, including the Champions League and its second-tier companion, the Europa League. Acting in his capacity as head of the European Club Association, which represents more than 190 European clubs, Rummenigge made it clear a breakaway league was on the cards unless drastic financial and scheduling changes were made.
"I will give them a chance but I'm ready for a revolution if that's the only way to come to a solution," Rummenigge told reporters as the third qualifying round for the Champions League kicked off. "Now is the moment to intervene, because knowing something is wrong is an obligation to change."
In his day job, Rummenigge is the Chief Executive Officer of the corporate arm of Bayern Munich, and what rankles the former German international is the lack of say clubs have in revenue agreements and scheduling. He's particularly concerned with mooted FIFA proposals to extend the international calendar, telling reporters there was already too much football.
"The clubs pay the players but are not part of the decision-making process," Rummenigge grumbled. "We are not treated respectfully." His complaints come at the worst possible time for FIFA - currently embroiled in corruption scandals and vote-rigging allegations over decisions to award World Cup hosting rights to Russia and Qatar respectively.
One of Rummenigge's chief complaints is the lack of say club sides have over scheduling. This season, qualifying rounds for the Champions League kicked off in June, although it wasn't until late July that some major European names found themselves in action. The likes of Benfica, Rangers and Standard Liege were all in action in the third qualifying round, hoping to progress to a 20-team "play-off round" for the right to enter the Champions League group stage.
Since its inception in 1992, the Champions League has become the premier club tournament in world football. Many claim it represents a far higher standard of football than the World Cup, with the top sides assembling cosmopolitan squads from all corners of the globe. Yet, critics claim the tournament has lost much of its lustre from its early days as a knock-out competition known as the European Cup, and the endless rounds of qualifying suggest financial concerns weigh heavily on those hoping to run out in the group stage.
For those who fall in the qualifying rounds, the potential lure of a stint in the second-tier Europa League holds little cachet. After being dumped out of the Champions League by Swedish club Malmo, Scottish giants Rangers soon found themselves paired with Slovenian side Maribor in a Europa League play-off. Goalkeeper Alan McGregor admits the demotion is hardly awe-inspiring.
"We would obviously prefer to be in the Champions League but it's not to be this season," McGregor told Scottish newspaper The Daily Record. "I know some games in the Europa League can struggle to create an atmosphere. It's probably not until you get to the latter stages that the crowds become half decent," he added.
The spectre of vacant stands doesn't just haunt the Europa League. In recent seasons clubs like Chelsea and Valencia have repeatedly run out against the backdrop of empty seats in the Champions League. With a global recession looming, fans are increasingly discerning about the football they pay to watch, and the seemingly interminable qualifying rounds and group stages of both the Champions League and Europa League mean half-empty stadia could soon become the norm in Europe's continental competitions.
That's unlikely to bother European Club Association members, who make most of their revenue through television and sponsorship deals. Yet, the congested fixture lists and potential clashes with FIFA's unwieldy international calendar are something a breakaway league could no doubt remedy. The threat of a "Super League" might be met with disdain by officials from UEFA, but it's that unwillingness to listen to the concerns of European club sides which make the threat of a breakaway league a very real prospect indeed.
| Football Editorials 2007 | Football Editorials 2008 | Football Editorials 2009 | Football Editorials 2010 | January 2011 Editorial | February 2011 Editorial | March 2011 Editorial | April 2011 Editorial | May 2011 Editorial | June 2011 Editorial | July 2011 Editorial
|
|
