Christian Seifert, Chief Executive of the Bundesliga, has come out publicly in support of UEFA focusing in more on the debt clubs have attained during the course of trying to build super clubs and what has been seen by some as destabilizing the future of the game.
Via DailyMail
Seifert said: ‘There is a lot of quality in English football, but does it makes sense that Manchester United has debts of 650million euros and Chelsea 700m euros? In the most recent Champions League semi-final, there were three teams standing on the pitch with debts exceeding 1.5bn euros. What if that were only half a million instead?’
‘I cannot see this going on much longer as it is now,’ he said. ‘European professional football is heading in the wrong direction. We don’t live on an island. It has to be exciting on the pitch but also has to have some rational financial criteria. I don’t understand why this is so hard to do.
‘The Premier League earns 1bn euros more than Serie A or the Bundesliga. English clubs haven’t succeeded in balancing their spending and income and this concerns
me. Is it OK that a club incurs hundreds of millions in losses year after year and can never pay back this money?
‘Tickets in Germany cost about 20 euros. There’s a 50 per cent discount on season tickets. The Premier League is making about 400million euros in matchday income alone.’
Earlier this month, UEFA president Michel Platini spelled out his plans for financial reform which, in theory, would stop rich investors funding transfer spending sprees.
Platini wants to restrict clubs to spending what they earn, with the ultimate sanction of expulsion from European competition.
Seifert said: ‘It’s good that UEFA wants to regulate in favour of financial fair play. What’s happening is just wrong because it encourages others to build more and more expensive teams. The Champions League is effectively UEFA’s nightclub and
they can decide the dress code.’
Unlike in England, no single shareholder can earn more than 51 per cent of a Bundesliga club, ruling out any Roman Abramovich-type takeovers. But Seifert insists his comments, made during a seminar in Switzerland, are not born out of frustration or jealousy.
‘UEFA has known something is wrong for the last five years,’ he said. ‘As long as the Champions League is exciting, people will stay in stadiums and be in front of TV screens. But if not … I completely understand what UEFA are doing. They created a wonderful brand and want to maintain its value.
‘The belief in the strength of European competition comes under pressure if you just have a competition of one country. It was healthy that Barcelona won the Champions League last time. In my opinion, it was a victory for football.’Image via Bundesliga
