Future of European football to be discussed at UEFA summit

By Andrew Warshaw

September 20 – The entire 53-nation membership of UEFA are meeting in Cyprus today and tomorrow for a rare brainstorming summit called by the organisation’s President Michel Platini to try to find solutions to a range of issues souring the game.

The behind-closed-doors session is being described by the governing body of football in Europe as a “strategy meeting” and comes just weeks after Platini told a media briefing that there were “red lights flashing” across European football and that he feared for the future of the sport.

Corruption, transparency and a divisive club-versus-country spat are all understood to be on an agenda that is being kept under wraps.

Member federations are under increasing pressure from Europe’s biggest clubs to scrap friendly internationals and cut the size of qualifying groups for the World Cup and European Championship.

The meeting, attended by federation Presidents and chief executives, comes just four weeks before FIFA President Sepp Blatter unveils his eagerly awaited anti-corruption package following a number of scandals that have snared some of the most powerful men in football administration.

“I wanted to have the opportunity to reflect and to discuss with all the 53 member associations on the core issues affecting the future of European football,” Platini said in a statement.

Also on the agenda is the thorny issue of UEFA taking centralised control of TV rights for national fixtures after 2014.

Historically all national associations were able to sell their television rights but now the rights for qualification games are being pooled.

Not all national associations see eye to eye on the change, with the larger countries worried about losing revenue, but the secretary of one smaller federation told insideworldfootball: “It’s a good thing but it has to work for everybody.”

The future of the Olympic soccer tournament is also believed to be on the agenda, specifically whether the over-23 rule for three players per country should be allowed to continue.

Platini is not scheduled to speak publicly about the summit, the first time since the UEFA Congress that all 53 nations have come together, until after the UEFA executive committee meeting Friday.

“There will be very full debate with the right decisions for the good of the majority,” said one federation boss.

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