By David Gold at the President Wilson Hotel in Geneva
September 6 – Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said today that clubs could no longer continue to release players for “nonsense” internationals after the European Club Association (ECA) called for a reduction in the number of international fixtures at their annual congress here.
Manchester United chief executive David Gill confirmed that the ECA want to reduce the number of international dates during the season to 12 over two year periods, which would mean either the abolition of international friendlies, or a reduction in the number of teams who compete in each qualifying group for major international tournaments.
Rummenigge also took the opportunity to defend FIFA President Sepp Blatter, and insisted that he had confidence that the 75-year-old could reform the embattled organisation, but it was the issue of a congested football calendar with a multitude of international matches that most irked the Bayern and ECA chief.
“We have a Memorandum of Understanding until 2014,” said Rummenigge, the former German international who is now the chief executive of Bayern Munich.
“We believe this has to be rediscussed.
“I have had two meetings [with Blatter and UEFA President Michel Platini].
“We received clear signs not to be pessimistic.
“UEFA is very interested in particular to renew the Memorandum of Understanding.
“I received clear signs that they recognise our request.
“FIFA and UEFA are coming towards our position.”
He insisted though that clubs had to be included more in the decision making progress, and the football calendar rebalanced away from international fixtures, and said that the position of the ECA held significant weight.
“We are the most important stakeholder – without our players you can’t have the competition,” he said.
“We have to come back in favour of quality not quantity.
“When I played in the European Championships in the 1980s there were eight teams, now it is 16 and in 2016 it will be 24.
“The World Cup is similar, from 16 teams to 32 now.
“Everything in the international calendar is balanced in favour of national teams.
“[Qualifying groups for international tournaments] used to have groups of four, now it is six or seven.
“It has to be stopped that we release players for nonsense dates.”
He added that even international coaches were in support of the ECA’s stance.
“We have a feeling national team coaches are not happy,” said Rummenigge, who was capped 95 times by Germany.
“When you look at the June dates, players wait three weeks after the end of the season for a double header.
“It’s hard to keep them fit.”
There had been a suggestion as well that the ECA could lead a breakaway from FIFA, UEFA and their competitions, with a Memorandum of Understanding expiring in 2014 which would mean that clubs do not legally have to release their players for international matches.
Rummenigge poured cold water on any notion of a breakaway competition, and in response to a question from insideworldfootball he insisted that clubs would not threaten to prevent players playing for their countries if a renewed agreement can’t be reached by 2014.
“Our goal is not to break away but to find good solutions, not just for clubs, but for football,” he said.
The ECA chief also took the opportunity to go back on comments made about Blatter when he compared the FIFA President to former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, who was overthrown in a popular revolution earlier this year.
Rummenigge had told Swiss magazine Bilanz that Blatter needed to reform “before his successor does it or before a revolution comes from outside…Mubarak never imagined a year ago that he would be hounded from office.”
Today though, he said: “I had a call with Blatter and I would like to clarify the meaning, I didn’t want to use this aggressive tone.
“It was not fair to him.”
When asked whether he took back the comments, Rummenigge simply responded “yes, why not?”
He also backed Blatter’s plans to reform FIFA during his final term as President of the organisation after being re-elected unopposed in June, but warned that the organisation must become transparent.
“I believe it is good that Blatter announced he is ready for reforms,” he said.
“I believe transparency is very important.
“We don’t know how things are decided, so transparency has to be tackled.”
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