Top soccer clubs want Convention to take sport seriously

Date: 24/04/03

By Martin Banks

EUROPE'S wealthiest football clubs are expected to call next week for the constitutional treaty being drawn up by the Convention on Europe's future to include a specific article on sport.

So far, sport barely gets a mention in the draft text being prepared by former French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, but several member states have said they want a specific reference to it by the time the body completes its work on 20 June.

Chairmen from the 'G-14', the group of Europe's most powerful soccer clubs, will discuss the matter when they meet in Brussels on 29 April.

A spokeswoman for the Brussels-based G-14 said organisations representing other sports, including rugby and basketball, had already expressed support for the idea.

Genevieve Berti said: "There is a feeling that, as sport plays such an important part in the lives of so many people throughout Europe, there should be a place for it in any treaty on Europe's future.

"We have been told the Convention is prepared to find some space in the treaty for an article, or chapter, on sport. The club chairman will be asked to adopt a position on this when they meet next week."

Sport is mentioned in a general article in the draft treaty. A spokesman for the forum explained: "It's not as a competence of the EU, but [an expression of] where the Community can make supportive measures."

Meanwhile, the G-14 chiefs are also expected to continue talks on imposing salary caps in the European game.

It is 40 years since the maximum wage was abolished and top players have been able to command massive salaries due in part to the money that poured into the sport for television rights.

That source has been increasingly drying up and the G-14 fears that many clubs will go bankrupt unless caps are imposed.

Last November, G-14 chairmen decided to cap the salaries of both playing and non-playing staff to a ceiling of 70 of each club's turnover from the 2005-2006 season.

That will not be a problem for a club like Manchester United who pay less than half of their turnover to the players.

For others, though, such as Real Madrid, which has huge debts, it could be very different. This, and the fact that G-14 has no formal powers similar to the sport's governing bodies FIFA and UEFA, means that the salary cap will, for now, remain self-regulatory.

The G-14 group was created in 1998, with 14 members: Real Madrid, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Ajax, Juventus, Internazionale, Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, Marseilles, PSV Eindhoven, Paris St Germain, Porto and Manchester United.

Last year, it took in four new members: Arsenal, Bayer Leverkusen, Olympic Lyonnais and Valencia.

It was set up primarily to gain a greater share of the annual revenue from Champions League TV rights.

Europe's wealthiest football clubs are expected to call for the constitutional treaty being drawn up by the Convention on Europe's future to include a specific article on sport.