Steve*
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The Premier League is bracing itself for a major battle with Michel Platini over a controversial plan by the UEFA president to overhaul the domestic league season so it runs from March to October – in what looks like a pre-emptive strike in FIFA’s drive to hold the 2022 Qatar World Cup in the winter.
The plans first emerged yesterday in a report in Germany’s Bild newspaper which claims to have leaked documents detailing radical proposals being drawn up by Platini, and believed to have the backing of FIFA president Sepp Blatter, to force major change on the European game.
Fifa and UEFA want the big European leagues to fall in line with a worldwide model which would see the domestic league season running from mid-March to the end of October. The plans propose playing World Cup or European Championship qualifying games from November to mid-December and using the time until mid-January for the players to rest.
The proposals have caused huge consternation among the big five European leagues – England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France. The president of the Bundesliga, Reinhard Rauball, has already said that there will be no chance of the German league changing its plans to adapt.
Rauball said: “There can be no such revolutionary change without the five major European leagues being part of the agreement. I can hardly imagine the British [sic] agreeing. I am personally against it. Fifa and Uefa need to take a serious look at these plans.”
Fifa and Uefa are expected to table a formal proposal after Blatter and Platini are re-elected to their respective offices in April and May. The fear for the Premier League is that the more radical proposals of a permanent change in the domestic season will be used as a bargaining chip, with Fifa and Uefa offering to pull back in return for concessions around the 2022 World Cup finals. (Independent)
Just when you thought that UEFA and FIFA could sink no lower they manage to plumb the depths once more. The old adage “if it’s not broken, why fix it” could never have been more appropriate yet UEFA chief Michel Platini, he of the hair brained schemes, wants to reshape the European game, ostensibly just so that the powers that be can justify their decision to move the 2022 World Cup from the summer, where it has happily taken place for more than 80 years, to the winter. A decision that many within FIFA itself have riled against.The plans first emerged yesterday in a report in Germany’s Bild newspaper which claims to have leaked documents detailing radical proposals being drawn up by Platini, and believed to have the backing of FIFA president Sepp Blatter, to force major change on the European game.
Fifa and UEFA want the big European leagues to fall in line with a worldwide model which would see the domestic league season running from mid-March to the end of October. The plans propose playing World Cup or European Championship qualifying games from November to mid-December and using the time until mid-January for the players to rest.
The proposals have caused huge consternation among the big five European leagues – England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France. The president of the Bundesliga, Reinhard Rauball, has already said that there will be no chance of the German league changing its plans to adapt.
Rauball said: “There can be no such revolutionary change without the five major European leagues being part of the agreement. I can hardly imagine the British [sic] agreeing. I am personally against it. Fifa and Uefa need to take a serious look at these plans.”
Fifa and Uefa are expected to table a formal proposal after Blatter and Platini are re-elected to their respective offices in April and May. The fear for the Premier League is that the more radical proposals of a permanent change in the domestic season will be used as a bargaining chip, with Fifa and Uefa offering to pull back in return for concessions around the 2022 World Cup finals. (Independent)
Quite what the **** Messrs Platini and his partner in crime FIFA President Sepp Blatter, are up to is beyond any sane and rational mind to deduce. It is like they are a pair of mad scientists intent on ruining the game they purportedly love.
Why would Europe want to change their footballing schedule? What could possibly be in in for the big five leagues? Luckily it seems highly unlikely that the Premier League, Serie A, Bundesliga, La Liga and Ligue 1 would ever sign up to this mindless scheme but knowing UEFA and FIFA they may well look to force such a decision anyway, just to confirm their complete disregard to due process.
One can only hope against hope that these truly mindless plans will helpfully work against Blatter and Platini as they look to win another term in charge of their respective bodies.
With any luck Asian football chief Mohamad bin Hammam will have a chance of ousting Blatter but in FIFA’s closed shop any realistic hope of a new leader of the world footballing governing body being appointed are slim to none, such is the corrupted state of FIFA and perhaps football itself.
Maybe it is time for member states to show their dissatisfaction with FIFA and UEFA by threatening a breakaway? Such actions have of course occurred in other sports so such a move is not beyond the realms of possibility and maybe such a threat will act as a wake up call to those in positions of power.
Source:
UEFA and FIFA Plan Outrageous European League Shift To a March to October Season | CaughtOffside