ECA seeks to ease burden on players by reducing international calendar

By David Gold in Geneva

September 6 – The European Club Association (ECA) is today set to propose changes to the congested international football calendar as they seek to reduce the burden on players, at the conclusion of their annual congress here.

One of the main suggestions that could be put forward is the creation of smaller qualifying groups for European Championships and World Cups, with a proposal that groups consist of four countries rather than five or six.

Some qualification programmes in the past have even included seven or eight teams, which has led to complaints that the international programme is too cumbersome.

With the current understanding between FIFA and the ECA expiring in 2014, the latter is hoping to use the unpopularity of world football’s governing body to drive a hard bargain in return for an extension of the agreement.

When it expires, clubs will have no obligation to release players for international matches.

ECA chairman Karl Heinz-Rummenigge has said that they want wholesale changes from FIFA in the coming years.

“The clubs are unhappy,” he said last week.

“FIFA and UEFA need the clubs for a World Cup or European Championship.

“But the clubs don’t need them.

“Theoretically we could play Bundesliga and Champions League without the associations.”

The buildup to the congress has been given added intrigue by a deal completed last week by UK private equity firm Bridgepoint to purchase Infront Sports and Media, who hold the valuable World Cup rights, among other media services.

The deal sees 100 per cent of the organisation’s shares bought by Bridgepoint, but what is intriguing is that the chief executive of Infront is none other than Sepp Blatter’s nephew, Phillipe Blatter.

If Rummenigge and the ECA go through with their threat in 2014 to stop releasing players for internationals and decide to set up rival competitions, then the value of the rights owned by Infront would be set to tumble rapidly.

The deal is all the more interesting as Dow Jones report that the deal was worth in excess of €550 million (£481 million/$775 million), even though the company posted revenue of €600 million (£525 million/$845 million) last year.

The timing and nature of the deal could be a coincidence, but it adds a new level of intrigue to an already complicated political mixture that could be set to come to the boil when the ECA announce their proposals later today.

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