G14 has repeatedly insisted it has no desire to break away from the Champions League to form its own elite European club competition. Presumably, then, the organisation has had no input into the proposal made to the European Parliament by the Netherlands' Liberal MEP Toine Manders last month.
Among the European politicians who take a keen interest in football Manders is widely believed to have adopted the cause of the G14 and with that in mind it is fascinating to read his document "On the economics and consumer aspects of professional sports in the internal market".
Among the issues the document raises is its belief "that the existing pyramid structure of professional football in
It goes on to draw "attention to the fact that breakaway leagues are forbidden by Uefa and Fifa and players in such leagues would not be allowed to play for their national team any more", and "recalls however that under EU competition and internal market law clubs have the freedom to form cross-boundary leagues themselves if they think this is appropriate".
A spokesman for G14, which reported having read an "executive summary" of the document, said it would be "ludicrous" to present this as evidence of a desire among the 18-club group to form a secessionist league. He said instead that the G14 supported many of the other issues in the document, such as its demand for reform of the governing bodies. Manders was unavailable for comment last night.