By Andrew Warshaw
February 27 – One of the leading officials driving the campaign by Europe’s top clubs to have a greater say in the way the game is run, Umberto Gandini (pictured), has added his voice to the breakdown in talks with FIFA.
As the 200-strong European Club Association (ECA) began its two-day general assembly in Warsaw today, vice chairman Gandini painted a grim picture of the troubled relationship with world football’s governing body.
FIFA has invited world football stakeholders to a meeting on March 5 in Zurich to discuss the calendar from 2015 onwards.
But ECA chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and general secretary Michele Centenaro have declined the invitation.
The ECA argues the schedule is top-heavy with international matches, and that FIFA has not made sufficient strides in providing adequate insurance when players are injured on national duty.
The clubs want the calendar to be six double-header dates for international matches in a two-year tournament qualification cycle, particularly abolishing single match dates for friendlies in February and August.
It is understood the clubs might be prepared to give some ground on this but only if FIFA, which believes the clubs wield too much power, agree to cut the schedule which, so far, they have been reluctant to do because of the revenues that such fixtures provide.
“Progress has been made with UEFA but none has been made with FIFA,” Gandini, operations director at AC Milan, told insideworldfootball ahead of the ECA summit.
“There has been no satisfactory answer to our demands.”
Although the ECA has stopped short of breaking away from FIFA, the worry is that strained relations could affect the release of players for the London 2012 Olympic tournament which is not part of the FIFA calendar and coincides with pre-season training and Champions League qualifying.
The calendar is not the only point of debate between FIFA and the clubs, who are increasingly angry at not playing a significant role in President Sepp Blatter’s reform process.
“We are not properly represented on the new reform bodies,” said Gandini.
“Plus FIFA have significantly cut down the European representation on their Committee for Club Football – with no prior explanation.
“It’s not a good start.”
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