Is Blatter fit to run football? asks head of European Club Association

By Andrew Warshaw

August 4 – The war of words between club and country continued today when the head of the European Club Association (ECA), Karl Heinze Rummenigge (pictured), suggested Sepp Blatter was no longer fit to run FIFA.

Rummenigge, director of Bayern Munich, said the international calendar – approved by Blatter – was unfair on clubs but denied there are plans afoot to form a breakaway league.

Rummenigge and Blatter have been trading tit-for-tat remarks in recent days as clubs become increasingly frustrated at Blatter’s apparent intransigence over clubs’ demands for a greater say over their players’ participation in international fixtures.

“The President of FIFA has to be a fair, a serious and a very democratic gentleman,” Rummenigge told Sky Sports News.

“Mr Blatter is now re-elected for the next four years and I’m very curious: is he fit for all these requests?

“I am not convinced that is true.

“There is no sign.

“He has been running in this position since 1998 – so 13 years in a row – and I would say it’s normal that you’re not convinced by his last period as president, that he is fit for all these requests.”

Blatter was the only candidate to stand for the Presidency in June after Mohammed Bin Hamman withdrew after being suspended for his role in the recent bribery scandal for which he has now been banned for life.

Rummenigge said national football federations supported Blatter simply because they had “everything done in their favour” and repeated calls for the ECA and its members to be given a greater say in how the game is governed.

“First of all my request is not just focussed alone on clubs and it is not just to get more power,” he said.

“My request is not getting more power, it’s about having more democracy and more governance and I believe it’s a quite normal request.

“I would like to request that not just clubs, but leagues, referees and women players have to be included in the decision-making.

“If Mr Blatter and his colleagues are ready to do that, then fine. If not, we will have to see what we can do to convince him.”

Rumennigge though, does not believe that would involve a breakaway league that would see Europe’s top clubs quit to form an independent competition.

Firstly too many clubs would be involved and secondly those abandoning their leagues would almost certainly lead to them being banned by UEFA and FIFA.

“In the past when we had the G14 there was a clear plan on the table to have our own league guided by ourselves,” Rummenigge said, implying the idea was no longer as viable.

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