American owners of football clubs such as Manchester United and Liverpool have no interest in the game and only want to make money, the president of Uefa has said.
Michel Platini, the French head of European football's governing body, claims that the US tycoons will even try to change the rules to bring in more cash by halting matches for advertisement breaks.
Platini, who has held his position since January, has accused businessmen George Gillett and Tom Hicks, who own Liverpool, and Manchester United's Malcolm Glazer of trying to "control football" despite knowing nothing about the sport.
In an interview on last night's Newsnight, he said: "Why don't they invest in football in America? You don't think they came here for the football. They don't know what football is.
"The popularity of football is now so high that investors are coming over and they consider football to be a product. They just want to make money."
Platini, a former captain of France, also warned that matches could soon be halted at regular intervals to allow for adverts in the same way that American football matches in the NFL are paused every 15 minutes.
He said: "Perhaps there will soon be advertising during the game so they can make even more money. I would like to hope that this will not be the case and that I will be proved wrong.
"I hope that Mr Glazer and the president of Liverpool will shortly philosophise and I will have to apologise to them. But at the moment I am not clear that this is the case."