EU should tackle English football dominance, France saysFrance's sports minister, Bernard Laporte, warned on Thursday (27 November) that English football pre-eminence was getting out of hand and that Brussels needs to referee the situation. "We see European competitions between participants of two or three nations," he told a two-day summit of EU sports ministers. "Where is the uncertainty in such a sporting contest?" The dominance of English clubs is "out of hand" says France English clubs have won the UEFA Champions League the last four years, and were runners up for the last three as well. Critics in France and in UEFA complain that lax financial rules in the UK allow teams to borrow heavily to attract more top players and to regularly increase salaries to keep them, while stricter regulation in other European jurisdictions prevents similar action. The French EU presidency has complained this is unfair and that the EU - which has no mandate to legislate around sport - should step in and regulate.
France's sports minister, Bernard Laporte, warned on Thursday (27 November) that English football pre-eminence was getting out of hand and that Brussels needs to referee the situation.
"We see European competitions between participants of two or three nations," he told a two-day summit of EU sports ministers. "Where is the uncertainty in such a sporting contest?"
The dominance of English clubs is "out of hand" says France
English clubs have won the UEFA Champions League the last four years, and were runners up for the last three as well. Critics in France and in UEFA complain that lax financial rules in the UK allow teams to borrow heavily to attract more top players and to regularly increase salaries to keep them, while stricter regulation in other European jurisdictions prevents similar action.
The French EU presidency has complained this is unfair and that the EU - which has no mandate to legislate around sport - should step in and regulate.
But the question of regulation of football clubs is still there. When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind
I think that even the English may be receptive to this line of argument, right now: given that we need government, let's let the countries that take government seriously in charge... In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
The UK turned out not to be so receptive to this, in fact their minister used it to score some points on his side, as the (rather typical) Times writeup shows.
Premier League claims victory, but fight goes on | Premier League - Times Online
It was not quite Agincourt, but 500 miles away across France in Biarritz, Great Britain and her allies repulsed a French assault on the independence of the national game -- for now. The southwestern coastal town hosted an informal summit of EU sports ministers at which France, in the shape of Bernard Laporte, the Sports Minister, wanted to establish the principle of pan-European financial licensing for sports. A draft of the conclusions drawn up by the French, who hold the EU's rotating presidency, included support from the 27 ministers for "European control of club management". But after two days of wrangling, this phrase and an entire section referring to a possible European "self-regulatory system" were expunged from the final summit declaration. For the Premier League, which feared that the meeting could mark the beginning of a move towards a European super-regulator, the outcome will come as a relief and it was heralded as a triumph by Gerry Sutcliffe, the Sports Minister, who objected to Laporte's open hostility towards the success of English football clubs.
It was not quite Agincourt, but 500 miles away across France in Biarritz, Great Britain and her allies repulsed a French assault on the independence of the national game -- for now.
The southwestern coastal town hosted an informal summit of EU sports ministers at which France, in the shape of Bernard Laporte, the Sports Minister, wanted to establish the principle of pan-European financial licensing for sports.
A draft of the conclusions drawn up by the French, who hold the EU's rotating presidency, included support from the 27 ministers for "European control of club management". But after two days of wrangling, this phrase and an entire section referring to a possible European "self-regulatory system" were expunged from the final summit declaration.
For the Premier League, which feared that the meeting could mark the beginning of a move towards a European super-regulator, the outcome will come as a relief and it was heralded as a triumph by Gerry Sutcliffe, the Sports Minister, who objected to Laporte's open hostility towards the success of English football clubs.
