By Andrew Warshaw, Chief Correspondent
January 21 – The idea of a creating a new Soviet-style league consisting of clubs from Russia and its neighbouring states has been dismissed out of hand by FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
“It’s impossible,” Blatter said on a visit to St Petersburg, pointing out it was against FIFA statutes for clubs to organise competitions that cross national borders.
“It goes against the principles of FIFA, therefore FIFA would never support such idea,” he said. “It’s the policy of FIFA and the whole world football family. We will never reconsider the boundaries of national leagues.”
The ambitious breakaway plan was mooted last month by Gazprom, sponsors of defending champions Zenit St Petersburg. CSKA Moscow and big-spending Anzhi Makhachkala are reported to be also keen to set up a regional 16-club Super League that would call for seven Russian clubs to be joined by four or five from Ukraine, notably Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kiev, plus a couple of others from Belarus, Armenia or Azerbaijan.
“We all know how strong the old Soviet league was. It was one of the strongest in Europe,” CSKA president Yevgeny Giner, one of the main proponents of what would be called the CIS league, said last month.
“The attendances would increase several times and clubs could make much more money from television.”
Such a plan, however, is also bound to incur the wrath of UEFA who have made it clear in the past that it is against any cross-border league that would jeopardise its own competitions.
New Russian Football Union president Nikolai Tolstykh assured Blatter that his country would not support a breakaway Soviet-style league.
“We’ve not received any details on how this new league plans to operate, but in any case, we would never go against the wishes of FIFA,” said Tolstykh.
Whilst in St Petersburg Blatter also re-iterated FIFA’s stance on racism warning that punishments could in future include points deduction or even relegation.
“Football is part of the world’s society. We unite more than 300 million people around the world and should set an example,” he said. “Without serious sanctions nothing will ever change.”
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