By Andrew Warshaw
February 25 – Bundesliga boss Christian Seifert has branded Michel Platini as “somewhat arrogant” after the UEFA president criticised Germany for objecting to the expansion of the European Championship finals.
Ahead of last Sunday’s draw for the qualifying competition, Platini cited Germany and England as among a minority of countries who had complained about extending the finals from 16 to 24 teams because it would reduce the quality.
Platini made a tongue-in-cheek suggestion that if they felt as they did, maybe they shouldn’t bother even participating.
But the Germans appear to have taken exception, with league chief executive Christian Seifert telling Sky: “I find it somewhat arrogant, maybe we should simply not play after all. Then we’d see what the European Championship is still worth.”
Like most countries, Germany will play 10 qualifiers in the space of a year. “A lot of leagues don’t like what UEFA is doing,” said Seifert, sarcastically referring to the qualifier against Gibraltar as a “firecracker” after UEFA’s newest member was drawn in Germany’s qualifying group.
“Twenty-four teams out of 54 will qualify, so you don’t need to have such a long qualifying tournament. The clubs are the employers, they pay the players and UEFA is not on the right path when they don’t look at the interests of the national leagues.”
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