Elite Euro clubs to form new body

The European leagues are to set up a new body in Brussels next month with the intention of exerting more influence on UEFA and FIFA.

After growing increasingly unhappy at the failure of the main governing bodies to negotiate and liaise with them individually over major issues, it has been agreed to construct a formal constitution for the European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL), which has been in existence since 1998.

While UEFA and FIFA are likely to receive assurances that the new body will not attempt to strip them of their powers, there is no doubt the organisation will be looking for increased input into the running of the game.

“The leagues should be the defining voice of professional football in Europe,” one source close to the new body told the Press Association.

Apart from the ongoing battle for reimbursement for players on international duty, a matter which is currently before the Swiss courts, clubs are also unhappy at the lack of negotiation over a suggestion that they will be forced to field a set number of players in their first-team squad who have been developed through their own academies.

They fear this is the start of UEFA and FIFA, through Sepp Blatter in particular, adopting a more autocratic stance, which they do not believe to be in the best interests of the game.

In addition, the European Commission, who have bombarded soccer with questions over issues such as doping control and broadcast rights in rcent times, are also looking for a central point of contact with the leagues.

A EPFL meeting in Dublin last week concluded the organisation should be placed on a more formal basis and a general manager is now being sought to take charge of the operation.

While the body is bound to be viewed merely as a way of the influential G14 clubs getting round the refusal of UEFA and FIFA to officially recognise their organisation, middle-ranking clubs feel there will be definite spin-offs from the association.

Their feeling is that if the new structure can provide G14 with solutions to some of their problems, particularly the international compensation issue, others, such as individual TV rights and the spectre of a European Super League, may eventually fade.

“We can learn a lot from others,” said Declan O’Luanaigh, chairman of the Eircom League in Ireland, one of 15 countries represented at the talks.

“We all have the same problems. Knock six noughts off the end and it’s the same for us as it is for the bigger leagues.”

Once the new body is fully operational, one of the first issues it is likely to address is the complicated international fixture calendar, which was supposed to bring harmony to the game but instead has only led to increased frustration, particularly in the case of Manchester United, who signed Gabriel Heinze at the beginning of July but didn’t have the Argentine full-back available for selection until the middle of September because of international commitments covering the Copa America, Olympics and World Cup.