Friday, September 7, 2007

The Invite Only G-14 (Sorry Chelsea)

The G-14 is an independent group of the Europe’s best clubs that was formed in September 2000 and they are not affiliated to FIFA or UEFA in any way. It is headed by Olympique Lyonnais Jean-Michel Aulas. The group’s main aim is to join together as a unified voice in negotiations with FIFA and UEFA. It’s called the G-14 but in fact there are 18 teams and they plan to invite another 16 teams while broadening oversees.


Members
Ajax, Arsenal, FC Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich,
Borussia Dortmund, PSV Eindhoven, Internazionale, Juventus,
Liverpool, Manchester United, AC Milan, Lyon Marseille,
Paris Saint-Germain, FC Porto, Real Madrid, Valencia

They are taking FIFA to court over paying players for internationals after the Belgian club Charleroi lost Abdelmajid Oulmers in November for eight months when he was injured playing for Morocco. This isn’t a bad thing considering that they supply 22% of the players in the world up. If a player like Rooney gets injured in a World Cup and United loose momentum because of that and finish second in the league 1 point behind the winner it will cost the Club millions. FIFA need to come to the table with solution but the G-14 needs to be reasonable as well.

Also the G-14 has an idea of a European Super league. I think that this is a fantastic idea. Imagine 16 teams (winners of various leagues) playing each other home and away for an entire season that means there will be 32 games. Take that and the 38 games that are played in the FAPL and you get 70 games. Yes it’s a lot of games but teams must choose if they want to play League cup and FA cup. What this will do for major clubs is increase revenue and build bigger squads to compete in all competitions.

1 comment:

Neil Webster said...

The G14 represents all that is wrong with Modern Football. All of the rich clubs pushing their own agendas, while lining their already heavy pockets with more millions. They should be working to secure the long term future of the game from grassroots level up to lower tier domestic football.

All of those clubs will have a large supporter base for a long time to come and will generate millions from their continual entry into the Champions League, as well getting the lions share of their domestic tv deals. They should be working in tandem with UEFA, not continually holding a gun to their heads with this super league crap.

Also, the day the FA Cup becomes selective for clubs, is the day the spirit of football dies. United were idoiots to do it in 2000 and think realised their mistake very soon afterwards...rant over