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UEFA TO GET TOUGH

Last updated : 21 March 2006 By Editor
Michal Listkiewicz, a member of Uefa's club competitions committee and president of the Polish football federation has insisted that UEFA needs to act now to fight back against G14 and the 'threat to football' that was leaked to the Guardian last week. From the Guardian:

"Fifa and Uefa have to strike back in the war with G14," Listkiewicz said in the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza. "I'm going to present two ideas to our committee. First, all players who will participate in any G14 super league should get a life ban from all Uefa and Fifa competitions. It will work. I'm sure that at least 80% of players, especially the young ones, will not want to lose the chance to play at the World Cup or European Championship. Second, the same ban will apply to all the Fifa and Uefa referees. Money is not everything."

Money does, however, appear to be the main motivator of the G14 group of clubs. Their designs call for the "introduction of more reliable criteria for such competitions, allowing [clubs] to effectively plan their sporting and business activity".

The internal policy document obtained by the Guardian last week revealed the discussions that lay behind the G14's submission to a review of European football currently being conducted, in which the opinions of several of football's key stakeholders are being canvassed. The document provoked the alarm of the UK's sports minister Richard Caborn yesterday, whose office was the prime mover in the institution of the review. "What this identifies is a clear need to look at the governance of the game in Europe," he said. "The independent review offers a unique opportunity to do that, with governments and football working together."

Yesterday saw G14's first attempt to lever influence from football's governors. It is seeking to "separate the regulatory function from the commercial function" of Fifa and Uefa, ensuring that the governing bodies have no control over club competitions. To that end the group is a co-signatory to a case being brought by Charleroi at a Belgian court. Charleroi are seeking £426,000 compensation after their Moroccan player Abdelmajid Oulmers returned from international duty with a serious injury. The club have alleged that the governing bodies exerted undue pressure to force them to drop the case. Fifa denied the allegation yesterday.