Barcelona president Sandro Rosell's recent comments that some sort of pan-national European
Super League is being discussed ahead of the 2014 expiry of the ECA's agreement with UEFA comes as
the latest and boldest overture about an idea that has gone from far-off theory to potential
reality.
Rosell proposed a reduction of top-flight space in the major European leagues to 16 teams,
stating "We want a bigger Champions League and hope one day we could play perhaps Barcelona versus
Manchester United on Saturdays.
Barcelona president Sandro Rosell has joined the bandwagon of people who are calling for the
number of clubs playing in top flight Spanish, Italian and English leagues to be cut down to
16.
According to Rosell, La Liga is too big and needs to be cut down to 16 teams. Rosell who also
doubles up as the European Club Association Vice President, said that UEFA is in danger of
witnessing a mass walk out of some of its biggest club's if the association refused to consider the
demands made by the ECA.
Barcelona president Sandro Rosell was in a pretty combative mood Tuesday at a conference in Doha
as he took aim at both FIFA and UEFA.
Rosell was asked whether clubs would ask FIFA and UEFA to pay players during the World Cup or
European Championship and he replied:
"This is what we are discussing with both institutions.
Europe's leading clubs have demanded a drastic cut in the number of international fixtures and a
greater say in how the game is run.
The current calendar provides for 12 games a year but the European Club Association (ECA) wants a
50% cut.
"We would prefer six double dates over a two-year qualifying period," said ECA board member and
Manchester United chief executive David Gill.
If football disparity could be measured by economic indicators like the GINI co-efficient, then
La Liga would score a .8. Or should we call it despair-ity. The fact is that there is no chance any
club can compete with Barca and Real. The chasm has become a continental drift and every indication
is that it will get worse.
The chairman of Uefa's Financial Control Panel, Jean-Luc Dehaene says that he wants more details
on Manchester City's 10-year deal, £400m sponsorship deal with Etihad Airways. Etihad will now
sponsor both the club's shirt and the stadium. The deal has drawn criticism that it is an attempt
to circumvent European football's strict new financial rules due to the close ties between Etihad
(which is owned by the Abu Dhabi government) and Man City (Aby Dhabi's ruler is City owner Sheikh
Mansour's half-brother).
On the surface, the argument makes perfect sense football players, especially young football
players should not be asked to play competitive football 11 months out of 12. By asking UEFA to
mandate the national European FAs to only select players for one international tournament per
season, the European Club Association (ECA) feels that they well prevent burnout / injuries in
young prodigies, and thereby not only having them available at the start of each season but also
prolonging their careers.
The European Club Association, representing 197 clubs across Europe, is meeting today and
tomorrow and ECA is being very vocal in its opposition to some of the thigs that UEFA and FIFA are
doing.
Top of the list is the scheduling of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with the ECA opposed to playing
the tournament during the winter.
