Football exclusive Fifa ready to thwart latest European breakaway plan
Fifa has moved to kill off the latest attempt at a breakaway European super league by threatening any player who takes part with a ban from the World Cup finals.
The proposed 20-club competition, to take the place of Uefa’s Champions League, would include up to 16 permanent places for sides considered historically significant. The plan, believed to be worth £3.1 billion and outlined in an 18-page document, would also yield participating clubs a cash windfall of up to £310million each.
The drive is being led by Real Madrid and Juventus, but the big six Premier League clubs would all potentially be involved.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino and Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin, along with the presidents of the other five regional confederations, have put on a rare show of unity to thwart the plans of clubs in what looked like a pact to protect their own most lucrative properties.
For Uefa that is the Champions League and its less glamorous sibling, the Europa League. For Fifa, it is an expanded Club World Cup, which will be a critical part of its future income.
The organisation of the world game, who controls it and how its wealth is shared, is set for a major reset post-2024, when current broadcast deals expire – and Uefa is about to reveal major plans for the Champions League next month.
Fifa, with the backing of its six regional confederations, said yesterday that any such new competition would need its approval and, in a hardline position message, warned that any player who participated in an unsanctioned league would be blocked from playing at its own World Cup finals. Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has led the way in pushing for the new European league and approaching financial backers, with reported interest from both Spanish investment company Key Capital and American investment bank JP Morgan.
The European Club Association, lead by the hawkish Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli, represent the clubs who want expanded European competitions, guaranteed participation for certain clubs, and less revenue distributed down through the football pyramid.