Post by Rustin Cohle on Nov 8, 2018 9:41:35 GMT
My God, he really believes this...
www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/deal-struck-with-city-saved-european-football-infantino-tcpmvkfwg
www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/deal-struck-with-city-saved-european-football-infantino-tcpmvkfwg
Deal struck with Manchester City saved European football, says Fifa president Gianni Infantino
The Fifa president Gianni Infantino has defended his role in Manchester City’s financial fair play settlement and warned that players who take part in any breakaway Super League will face a World Cup ban.
Leaked emails published by German magazine Der Spiegel revealed that, in his previous job at Uefa, Infantino did a secret deal over FFP sanctions with City’s Abu Dhabi owners and the Paris Saint-Germain’s Qatari owners. Both clubs escaped with €20 million (about £17.5 million) fines and avoided a Champions League ban.
New information provided in the leaks shows City appeared to have concealed spending and income worth tens of millions of pounds from Uefa.
In a wide-ranging interview, Infantino told a group of reporters, including The Times, that part of his role as Uefa’s general secretary was to agree settlements with clubs.
He said: “We were doing our job and saved the system and we saved European club football. We worked with the information we had at the time, if new information has come out I’m sure Uefa will look at it.”
The leaks also revealed that Real Madrid have been in talks with a consultant about setting up a breakaway 16-team Super League, including the five top teams in the Premier League.
Infantino said players would not be able to play in such a competition and still be picked for their national teams, and claimed that his proposal for an expanded Club World Cup — 24 teams with 12 from Europe, played every four years — would see more income going to the top sides.
“You are either in or you are out,” he added. “If there are players who don’t play organised football then that encompasses everything — national leagues, confederation competitions, the Euros and the World Cup.”
“We have seen for many years these attempts to break away outside of the structures, going back to the 1990s. It is up to us to protect football and come up with solutions that benefit clubs and also the world football community.
“The Club World Cup is the answer to any attempt to break away from the leagues. It is a competition that remains within the football structures and generates much more revenues for the clubs but also much more revenues for solidarity.
“If clubs organise a breakaway Super League, who benefits? The clubs. If Fifa organises a Club World Cup, Uefa continues to organise the Champions League and the Premier League continues to organise the Premier League then the clubs benefit but also 211 member associations.
“If the price to pay is to give proper revenues to a club participating in a Club World Cup but this allows us to put 25 per cent of the revenues into solidarity, and give $1 million to Haiti who has nothing or to Mongolia who has three time zones but only two football pitches, well then we should be, I think, doing that.”
A decision on the Club World Cup will be made in March, and a task force will look into the proposal. Infantino said he would not chair the task force and that “technical people” would be appointed to the body — making it unlikely that Richard Scudamore, the outgoing Premier League executive chairman, would be on it.
The Fifa president Gianni Infantino has defended his role in Manchester City’s financial fair play settlement and warned that players who take part in any breakaway Super League will face a World Cup ban.
Leaked emails published by German magazine Der Spiegel revealed that, in his previous job at Uefa, Infantino did a secret deal over FFP sanctions with City’s Abu Dhabi owners and the Paris Saint-Germain’s Qatari owners. Both clubs escaped with €20 million (about £17.5 million) fines and avoided a Champions League ban.
New information provided in the leaks shows City appeared to have concealed spending and income worth tens of millions of pounds from Uefa.
In a wide-ranging interview, Infantino told a group of reporters, including The Times, that part of his role as Uefa’s general secretary was to agree settlements with clubs.
He said: “We were doing our job and saved the system and we saved European club football. We worked with the information we had at the time, if new information has come out I’m sure Uefa will look at it.”
The leaks also revealed that Real Madrid have been in talks with a consultant about setting up a breakaway 16-team Super League, including the five top teams in the Premier League.
Infantino said players would not be able to play in such a competition and still be picked for their national teams, and claimed that his proposal for an expanded Club World Cup — 24 teams with 12 from Europe, played every four years — would see more income going to the top sides.
“You are either in or you are out,” he added. “If there are players who don’t play organised football then that encompasses everything — national leagues, confederation competitions, the Euros and the World Cup.”
“We have seen for many years these attempts to break away outside of the structures, going back to the 1990s. It is up to us to protect football and come up with solutions that benefit clubs and also the world football community.
“The Club World Cup is the answer to any attempt to break away from the leagues. It is a competition that remains within the football structures and generates much more revenues for the clubs but also much more revenues for solidarity.
“If clubs organise a breakaway Super League, who benefits? The clubs. If Fifa organises a Club World Cup, Uefa continues to organise the Champions League and the Premier League continues to organise the Premier League then the clubs benefit but also 211 member associations.
“If the price to pay is to give proper revenues to a club participating in a Club World Cup but this allows us to put 25 per cent of the revenues into solidarity, and give $1 million to Haiti who has nothing or to Mongolia who has three time zones but only two football pitches, well then we should be, I think, doing that.”
A decision on the Club World Cup will be made in March, and a task force will look into the proposal. Infantino said he would not chair the task force and that “technical people” would be appointed to the body — making it unlikely that Richard Scudamore, the outgoing Premier League executive chairman, would be on it.
