By Andrew Warshaw in Monaco
August 26 – UEFA President Michel Platini today launched his most hard-hitting rebuke for months on the state of European football, saying “red lights were flashing” throughout the continent and that he feared for the game’s very future.
Using a press briefing as part of the annual European Super Cup Gala here to express some forthright views, Platini said there were a whole host of issues that needed to be addressed among the clubs, national associations, leagues and players – especially given the advent of financial fair play.
“I can see lots of red lights flashing and I am afraid for the future of football which is going pear-shaped in some areas,” said Platini, seriously concerned about the amount of money flooding into the game at the top and the viability of clubs lower down the scale.
“Perhaps I am being alarmist, but we have to face up to match fixing, corruption, illegal betting, violence on the pitch, racism and hooliganism.
“Of course there are many good qualities and values about football, but we ignore the problems at our peril.”
“I am very worried when players are going on strike in Spain and Italy because they are not being paid properly by their clubs.”
Speaking 48 hours after Turkish champions Fenerbahçe were kicked out of the Champions League because of match fixing, Platini said his role as UEFA President was anything but glamorous.
“When I was a player, they loved me in Fenerbahçe, but if I went back there now they would hang me,” he said.
“But if you have match fixing and the result of the game is known before it is played, what is the point of going to the match?”
A summit meeting of all 53 UEFA member nations has been called for Cyprus next month to come up with badly needed reforms.
“There are lots of red lights flashing and we have to act before it’s too late.” Platini warned.
In what seemed like the equivalent of a political state of the union address, Platini was typically candid but unusually serious as he outlined the need for change.
“I will be sending out an alarmist message,” he said.
“It’s not possible to go on with all these bankruptcies and debts without serious consequences.”
He used the platform to reiterate the importance of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play Regulations, designed to curb reckless spending.
“We will not be forced to take a step back on this,” he said of the regulations, which will be phased in over several seasons, with clubs facing the ultimate sanction of being barred from UEFA’s Champions League and Europa League if they fail to breakeven.
Platini also revealed that UEFA were considering new guidelines to stop the constant influx of foreign players and create a more level playing field.
The original six-plus-five concept favoured by FIFA never got off the ground because of strict European rules over freedom of movement.
“Six-plus-five is and was a good idea but it’s not possible according to the European Commission,” Platini said.
“That’s why I can’t defend that idea.
“We understand the Commission’s position but still want to try to protect the local identity of clubs.
“We have studied this more carefully and have now come up with the idea of nine-plus-nine.
“But before we propose this to the Commission, we have to make sure the whole football family support it.”
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