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European clubs to ask UEFA for compensation
European clubs want compensation payments for releasing players for international duty.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 09:05 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
Barcelona:
European clubs want compensation payments for releasing players for international duty and are vehemently against a revival of the World Club Championship. The European Club Forum - comprising more than 100 clubs - finished a two- day meeting in Barcelona, Spain, yesterday. The forum's chairman, former German defender Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, said the meeting, also attended by UEFA representatives, had been in "total agreement" in two areas. "All the clubs are of the opinion that it is fair to ask confederations - including UEFA and FIFA - to compensate clubs for the release of players for international tournaments," Rummenigge said. "The clubs will continue to give full support to national team football but we hope that it will be possible to find a practical solution which is fair to all parties. "The second item we unanimously agreed is to reject, for a variety of issues, any proposal for a FIFA Club World Championship." A UEFA statement said the clubs were "vehement" in rejecting any international club tournament. "They had advocated a reduction of UEFA Champions League fixtures in order to lighten the workload and that it would be incoherent to support any additional tournament." Corinthians won the first Club World Championship in January 2000, beating fellow Brazilian club Vasco in Rio de Janeiro. The second edition was scheduled for Spain in 2001 but was cancelled following the collapse of FIFA's marketing partner, ISL and the tournament was shelved indefinitely. FIFA president Sepp Blatter said last month that up to 16 teams would play in the relaunch of the Club World Championship in late July 2005. The location and dates have yet to be decided. The forum also discussed player wages and dismissed the need for salary caps. "A strong consensus (was) expressing the view that UEFA's club licensing system will go a long way towards controlling and stabilising the situation without the need to impose ceiling figures," the statement said. The licensing system, set to start next season, will require national associations to ensure clubs meet five criteria, including financial, to compete in UEFA club competitions. The views of the European Club Forum will be presented to the next meeting of UEFA's executive committee in Dublin, Ireland on March 23-24. The forum began in the summer of 2002 and its 11-member board serves as a regular liaison body with UEFA. (AP)Topics mentioned in this article
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