25.02.2010
FIFA to discuss English clubs' debt


Football governing body FIFA said Thursday the debt problems of English Premier League clubs would be discussed at the body's next executive committee meeting in mid-March.
"We have an executive committee meeting on March 18. That's definitely something that will be discussed, also potentially that will be discussed before with (UEFA boss) Michel Platini," FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said.
"I am sure that in his fight for financial fair play that he has on the European market, it's something that is important to him, what is happening in the Premier League," Valcke said.
"We have not sat with Michel Platini since we got this info about Portsmouth and what is happening in the English Premier League."
Premier League strugglers Portsmouth are on the verge of administration, and a UEFA report on Thursday indicated that English Premier League clubs' debts exceed those of the rest of Europe's top divisions put together.
The report calculated the combined debts of 18 Premier League clubs at just under 3.5 billion pounds (four billion euros), around four times the figure for the next most indebted top flight, Spain's La Liga.
The report did not include the debts of Portsmouth and West Ham because they had not been granted UEFA licences that year due to their financial problems.
Platini has put forward a plan to compel clubs to spend only what they earn but the France great's proposal has come under fire in England where, for example, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has bankrolled Chelsea out of his own vast personal fortune.
Source: © 2010 AFP -
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