European Club Forum EURO 2008 Qualifiers Celebration Match In
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
5.07 European Club Forum 03 EURO 2008 qualifiers 06 Celebration match in Manchester 12 Huge run on tickets for EURO 2008 15 No 58 – Février 2007 61 May Message Photos: UEFA-pjwoods.ch of the president Zero tolerance of violence Violence may not be inherent in football, but it does, unfortunately, tend to stick to it like a parasite that it cannot get rid of. At both European and national level, numerous steps have been taken to eradicate this scourge from the stadiums, especially since the Heysel tragedy. However, when the measures taken leave the troublemakers with nowhere to vent their aggression inside the stadium confines, the violence spills out into the neigh- bouring streets. The lower divisions, and even youth football, are not immune either. To counter these acts of violence, in whatever form they take, football’s leaders absolutely need the help of the public authorities, which is why we are doing everything we can to ensure effective cooperation with and between police forces throughout Europe. Even if it cannot overcome violence single-handed, football does have full responsibility for its own area of activity. In this respect, as far as the behaviour IN THIS ISSUE of players, coaches and club officials goes, there is no excuse whatsoever for seeing European Club Forum players fighting on the field, club officials tolerating racism in their stadiums, or meets in Nyon 03 coaches creating a climate of hatred by making inflammatory statements. Football Review of the EURO 2008 is not war, nor is it a battle. It is not a matter of life or death. There are no qualifiers 06 “groups of death” in the competitions, and stadiums should not be “hellholes”. UEFA Champions League Any act of violence, cheating and contempt must be punished with the utmost replicas 08 severity. There is no room for tolerance of such behaviour. Celebration match in Manchester 12 Respecting the principles of the opponent, accepting that losing is part Amendments to the statutes of the game, and creating a festive atmosphere in the stadiums will certainly not be on the agenda of the 10th enough to dissuade the hardcore troublemakers who use football as a pretext extraordinary UEFA Congress 13 for their antisocial behaviour. Huge run on tickets But for everyone involved in our game, impeccable behaviour is more than for EURO 2008 15 a need: it is a duty. News from the member associations 16 COVER Germany (Christoph Metzelder, Michel Platini in white) took an important step UEFA President towards a place at EURO 2008 by beating one of their toughest opponents, the Czech Republic (Milan Baros) in March. Photo: Klamar/AFP/Getty Images 02 uefadirect 5.07 European Club Forum TheThe clubclub competitionscompetitions underunder thethe spotlightspotlight UEFA-pjwoods.ch THE FIRST MEETING THIS YEAR OF THE EUROPEAN CLUB FORUM, WHICH entitled to four representatives, making HAD BEEN POSTPONED FROM THE BEGINNING OF FEBRUARY, TOOK PLACE ON up a body of 16 members, chaired by the first vice-president of UEFA. Social 19 AND 20 MARCH AT UEFA HEADQUARTERS IN NYON. THE MEETING, dialogue, problems surrounding the CHAIRED BY KARL-HEINZ RUMMENIGGE, BROUGHT TOGETHER REPRESENTATIVES football calendar and any other subject FROM FOUR-FIFTHS OF THE 102 MEMBERS OF THE ADVISORY BODY, linked to professional football in Europe WHICH IS MADE UP OF THE CLUBS INVOLVED IN THE UEFA COMPETITIONS. would pass before this body in an at- tempt to reach a consensus before the “The football family has for tives of the national associations will matter was submitted to the Executive too long been torn apart by internal be invited to incorporate into the UEFA Committee, which would obviously squabbles, and these rifts have allowed statutes at the confederation’s tenth consider the recommendations and outsiders to ‘move the goalposts’. This extraordinary congress in Zurich in May. proposals of the council closely during has simply got to stop,” stressed the This body is intended to be an expanded its decision-making process. president of UEFA, Michel Platini, in his version of the European Professional welcome address. He therefore called Football Strategy Forum, which met in Club competitions 2009-2012 for unity, which builds strength and is January, bolstered by the addition of The structure of the UEFA club achieved by respect: “If we respect each players’ representatives and representa- competitions for the period 2009-2012 other, then football will be respected,” tives of the players’ union, FIFPro; the was one of the major topics on the he assured the delegates, before going original forum comprised the UEFA vice- agenda of the meeting. The participants on to present the Professional Football presidents and club and league repre- heard the thoughts of a working group Strategy Council, which the representa- sentatives. Each delegation would be composed of representatives of national 03 Karl-Heinz The Rummenigge participants (centre), showed chairman of the their interest European by their Club Forum, active in conversation involvement. with club representatives. was some disagreement on the pro- and an increase in the number of posed format of the qualifying system national champions taking part in this for this competition. competition were issues that divided The proposal to include the the forum, depending on whether third qualifying round of the Champi- they were in a high coefficient group ons League in the central marketing or not. The same was true of issues system met with general disapproval. linked to the distribution of revenue, associations, leagues and clubs, and However, the idea of reserving four where some participants were firmly assisted by specialist agencies commis- dates instead of two for the first knock- in support of the current regulations sioned to research and study the three out round was better received, even while others wanted to see solidarity areas of the working group: the compe- though this plan could be bad news payments scaled up in proportion to tition formats, marketing and revenue for the UEFA Cup. the rate at which the overall revenue distribution. The group considered several The proposal to centralise is increasing. variants and options before formulating the television rights from the group The timeline for the proce- a set of recommendations which were stage of the latter competition was dure which will lead to the adoption discussed by the European Club Forum generally well received. Full centralisa- of the format for 2009-2012 having in four groups set up according to UEFA’s tion would not occur until the direct been extended, the consultation national association coefficients. knockout rounds. period will now last until August, with The proposal to keep the UEFA the Executive Committee not taking Champions’ League in its current format Access reserved for cup winners a decision until September, by which met with unanimous approval, but there alone time the European Club Forum will were some differences of opinion on the On the subject of access to have met again. issue of whether the current qualifying the competitions, the participants system should be kept or replaced by largely supported the principle that just New format for draws a different format. There was also wide- the winner of the national cup should Turning to the immediate spread support from the club delegates be entitled to take part in the UEFA future, some proposed amendments for a UEFA Cup that included a group Cup, and under no circumstances the to the regulations for the 2007/08 phase consisting of 48 teams divided into losing finalist. The number of clubs per competitions – which still have to be 12 groups of four. But once again, there association in the Champions League approved by the Executive Committee The views of the working groups did not always concur. Photos: UEFA-pjwoods.ch 04 uefadirect 5.07 Animated roundtable discussion Before chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge could begin to draw conclusions from the forum’s two half-day sessions, the results of a round- table really set the meeting alight, provoking numerous contributions from club delegates. “Cost control and salary caps” was the topic, presented first by Egon Franck, a professor from the University of Zurich, who then took on the role of chair of the roundtable and, when necessary, ‘devil’s advocate’. A general overview was presented of the situation – were presented to the club represen- in other sports, most notably in the United tatives. Among them, a new format for States, and some clarifications were neces- sary, such as to explain that it was not the quarter-final draw of the Champions the capping of individual players’ salaries League, under which teams would be which was involved, but of the total salary seeded according to the results of budget of the clubs, before the debate matches in the same campaign – from Prof. Egon Franck opened with a somewhat provocative the group phase and the first knockout question: Why, when so many clubs are in financial difficulty, does football round. A victory in any of these matches continue as the exception and not introduce such measures? would be worth two points and a draw Those who debated the issue concluded that the most obvious reason one point, with the four highest-scoring was the diversity of Europe itself – the large number of member states and teams according to this principle becom- the differences between them that mean that a euro is not quite worth the ing the four seeds. The format for the same in every country because taxes and charges vary from one place to the semi-finals would also be arranged to next. Between the more liberal supporters of a system in which the clubs make it impossible for the best two regulate themselves and those who could happily countenance a ceiling pro- teams of the season to meet each other portional to sporting revenue, it is also necessary to remember those clubs before the final.