Fifa seeks to dictate the way leagues work; the leagues fight back « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade
By Tony Attwood
It didn’t make much of an impact in the news when he said it, but S Blatter, head of the discredited Fifa, has demanded a reduction of the number of teams playing in the top leagues in some countries including England.
The man who has presided over the massive growth in meaningless international matches announced that, “Domestic championships are too long because there are too many teams and too many matches.” He added that this is “so players arrive fitter and fresher for events such as the World Cup.”
He has also said that Michel Platini agrees although I haven’t seen a separate comment from the head of Uefa.
The chances of getting such a change through in England is slight, since there needs to be 14 out of 20 teams agreeing to the change to bring down the number to 16 clubs, which is what Fifa want.
But…
There is a story circulating that a number of clubs at the top would like to have more big games of the forthcoming Arsenal/Barca-Bankrupt affair, since these are where the money is. And we should not at any time forget that for virtually every game Barca fails to sell out its ground. Which is not good news when it is quite possible that summer 2011 will see a repeat of summer 2010 and another failure to pay the players.
What the top clubs therefore might be looking for are smaller leagues (16 is again the number that is quoted,) but more European league games (rather than more silly internationals). The way this could be organised is through the application of none too subtle pressure. If the offer of more Champs League games is on the table but only for leagues that have 16 teams, the top clubs would vote for it. If blocked, they would then offer to withdraw totally and set up a new league. The EPL would do anything to keep the top five or six clubs within its remit.
But this then entails the opposite of what Fifa want with international matches. Fifa always wants more – more competitions, more matches, more money. The clubs universally want less of Fifa’s product and more of their own.
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, chair of the European Club Association, took the debate in what seemed to me the right direction when he said that clubs pay the wages of players who are left “completely empty” by the insane demands of Fifa. For me Bendtner is a perfect example here. Had he been able to rest through the summer I doubt that he would have had further injury problems which have kept him on the sidelines either injured or out of form until now. Nasri shows the other side. No summer excursion to South Africa, and look at him now.
The clubs in the 197-member Euro Club Assn will meet shortly to formulate a strategy for influencing Fifa’s international schedule, which currently runs until 2014. They will also consider current Fifa rules that say that clubs must release players who are required.
This year the Fifa timetable includes not only the group matches but also and insanely three friendly matches (February, June and August). Then there is the Asian Cup (Qatar) the Concacaf Gold Cup (USA) the Copa America (July) and (I seem to remember) a plan to play the Africa Cup of Nations two years running.
I suspect it is this upcoming fight that has forced Fifa to back off its idea of moving the 2022 world cup to the winter; Fifa is trying to win one battle at a time.
Personally I would love a smaller EPL plus a bigger Champs League. It is the size of the EPL that leads to all the ultra negative games. For every Blackpool who will play attacking football no matter what, there are two teams that will just defend and defend.
Meanwhile on another issue, I am so glad that the BBC’s insane instructions to its presenters to mention continuously Arsenal’s five years without a trophy, while failing to mention other nice facts like the length of time since other teams have won a trophy. On one commentary the BBC did the years since a trophy thing about 10 times in 90 minutes. (It was as if they had listened to Ian Wright and took it as a way to do journalism rather than a dire warning about how to get people to switch off).
I’m told one blog did actually list the length of time since all the other EPL clubs have won something – sadly I didn’t write down which blog that was, but if you know, do tell. I seem to remember that for Tottenham it is 50 years since winning the league, and for Liverpool it is 21.
I still seem to be floating after a nice feeling on Tuesday night – but am working on a special piece of Herbert Chapman at Huddersfield for the Arsenal History site. It will appear shortly.