Posted January 26, 200718 yr Former France captain Michel Platini has been elected as Uefa's new president, ahead of rival Lennart Johansson after a vote in Dusseldorf. Johansson, 77, has held the post for the last 16 years. Platini wants to limit the number of Champions League places to three per country, rather than the current four. "This is just the beginning of an adventure. I'm happy to be able to represent European football. I'm very moved and very happy," Platini said. "When I was a footballer, when you won a great victory you received a cup and went on a lap of honour. "This is a great victory for me but I'm not going to do a lap of honour because now the work starts." Platini revealed he would push on with his plans to re-shape the Champions League, with his sights set on the new format starting in 2009. PLATINI'S TARGETS Gaining recognition of football's special status in European law Developing all Uefa competitions, including Intertoto Cup, youth and women's championships Combating racism, xenophobia and fraud Correcting inequalities and establishing equal opportunities Reducing the maximum number of teams per country in the Champions League to three In creasing co-operation with Fifa A hands-on presidency and more decision-making by Uefa executive He said: "I talked about finding a better equilibrium for the number of clubs and that's for 2009-10. "The final decision will be by Uefa's executive committee in April so we have a few months still to see which way we will go, but I would like a better equilibrium, it is very close to my heart. "If you are just talking about one club in England, that doesn't convince me that it's not the right thing to do." BBC sports editor Mihir Bose said: "He's a populist - within minutes of his election he showed glimpses of a populism that wouldn't have disgraced Tony Blair. "It won't be easy, but he certainly has a plan. "He's already proposed that the four Champions League places currently granted to clubs from England, Italy and Spain should be cut down to three. "He's also going to push for cost control - possibly a limit on players' salaries in proportion to clubs' turnover." Platini said he was proposing salaries be no more than "something like 50-60% of turnover" but insisted what he envisaged was "not a salary cap". The election result was close - had Platini won two fewer votes he would not have achieved an absolute majority of the 50 valid votes and a second ballot would have been held. The 52 members who now comprise the European confederation, the richest and most influential in world football, decided on the outcome in a secret ballot. Platini immediately invited Johansson to become an honorary president of Uefa. The 51-year-old former France star said: "This is a great victory but I have huge admiration for Lennart and I would ask for Lennart Johansson to become an honorary president of Uefa." Johansson was given a standing ovation by the delegates at the invitation of Platini. The Swede was openly against Platini's proposed changes to the Champions League. Johansson said: "I don't want to be impolite to a colleague on the executive committee. I've already asked him why he wants to introduce changes to this success story. "The Champions League is covered by numerous television stations around the world and there are a lot of sports that are trying to copy it. "The future is his but he has to learn and gain in experience." Sports minister Richard Caborn congratulated the new president and paid tribute to his predecessor. "Uefa have now made their decision and I want to thank Lennart Johannson for leading Uefa into a constructive dialogue on the European governance of football," he said. "I congratulate Michel Platini on his election, look forward to meeting him and continuing the constructive dialogue that we started a few weeks ago."
January 26, 200718 yr Mixed views on it "He's also going to push for cost control - possibly a limit on players' salaries in proportion to clubs' turnover." Platini said he was proposing salaries be no more than "something like 50-60% of turnover" but insisted what he envisaged was "not a salary cap". That is wrong I think, it is up to individual clubs to run their businesses as they see fit, Also the champions league should be cut to just the league CHAMPIONS of each country, it devalues it totally allowing teams who are 3rd and 4th to be in it, they are not champions, there should be a European super league tournament of the 16 or whatever champions of the countries and they all play each other or whatever during the season
January 26, 200718 yr Ferguson warns new chief Platini BBC Sport Ferguson believes the Champions League format must stay in place Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has warned newly elected Uefa president Michel Platini not to revamp the Champions League format. Platini wants to cut each country's maximum number of Champions League places from four to three. But Ferguson said: "The tournament really starts in February, but I think it is OK the way it is at the moment. "The appeal of the Champions League is when the giants of Spain or Italy or England come up against each other." Platini won an election in Dusseldorf to replace 77-year-old Swede Lennart Johansson as European football's most powerful figure. One of Platini's main proposals was the change to Champions League qualification. Ferguson said: "The Champions League has been good. If you go back a few years, there were maybe too many games with two qualifying groups because you had to play about 17 games to win it. "If you take away the fourth-place teams, the only way to address that is by reducing the competition or by giving other countries two places." Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger welcomed Platini's appointment, but was not sure about his plans for the Champions League. "It is the first time that a player is in charge," he said. "We in football complain always that the players have no say, so at least we cannot complain anymore. "What is happening today is that two go directly in and two have to qualify against the teams in the smaller countries. "What will happen when the smaller teams go one round further and go out early in a group stage? The competition will lose interest, that is all that will happen. "I believe that the competition should be organised with the best teams playing each other. "What people want to see is the best teams on television, to see Real Madrid against Arsenal, or Milan against Bayern Munich, that will not change." Bolton manager Sam Allardyce said he felt his team could be one of the victims of Platini's proposals. "In one way it is nice to see a football man in charge," he said. "But on the other hand if he wants to take a Champions League place away from us that is to the detriment of the Premiership. "If he can get away with that it is going to bring a lot of heartache to our league. It would be a big blow. "It gives us virtually no chance whatsoever of qualifying for the Champions League." Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate, meanwhile, claims Platini's hope of establishing a salary cap in football is desirable but unworkable. He said: "A salary cap generally or teams having a salary cap would, there is no question, make it a better and tighter league. "But we have to be realistic and in the modern world, people would always find a way around it. "Unfortunately, I suspect that would be a bit of a non-starter." Personally I think Platini is onto a loser cutting one Champions League place for Italian, Spanish & English teams. In my opinion the only argument to justify it would be to cut it back to just the National League Champions, just like the old European Cup.
January 26, 200718 yr Awful decision. Why get rid of possible winners such as Liverpool, Arsenal, Valencia, Roma, Milan who could miss out, and replace them with the equivelant to championship teams from eastern european countries that no one's ever heard of. :rolleyes:
January 26, 200718 yr But it will help them become better if they're allowed in. Currently, the money ONLY goes to the big clubs making them even bigger and making football more of a monopoly that it already is. If teams like Moscow, Helsingborg or Kiev have realistic chances of going far in Europe it will be good for European football as a whole as teams from more countries will be able to compete rather than the same few teams EVERY season. It will also make domestic leagues FAR more exciting. At the moment, the four English qualifiers are predictable and Arsenal and Liverpool don't really need to do that well. They can still finish 30 odd points off the pace and achieve what they want - to be in the Champions League the season after. If those four teams are only trying to go for TWO places it will make it FAR more competitive AND entertaining. It's a FANTASTIC move, the Champions League is just far too predictable, it's the same teams every year :zzz:
January 26, 200718 yr But it will help them become better if they're allowed in. Currently, the money ONLY goes to the big clubs making them even bigger and making football more of a monopoly that it already is. If teams like Moscow, Helsingborg or Kiev have realistic chances of going far in Europe it will be good for European football as a whole as teams from more countries will be able to compete rather than the same few teams EVERY season. It will also make domestic leagues FAR more exciting. At the moment, the four English qualifiers are predictable and Arsenal and Liverpool don't really need to do that well. They can still finish 30 odd points off the pace and achieve what they want - to be in the Champions League the season after. If those four teams are only trying to go for TWO places it will make it FAR more competitive AND entertaining. It's a FANTASTIC move, the Champions League is just far too predictable, it's the same teams every year :zzz: And you think by genorating money through the new CL format these teams will be able to compete with the big clubs? yeah right. It would take them years and years to do that, and I doubt they're gonna be buying top European players, as who'd want to go to their bog standard league? It's an awful move and I can only see this backfiring on him. Of course it's the same teams every year, do you think one year Barclona will be challenging for it and the next year Athletic Bilbao start competing? :lol: Also, how can you say it's predictable, it's far less predictable than the premiership, who would have guessed Liverpool and Porto would win it? All that would be happening to the competition would be losing quality.
January 26, 200718 yr Yes, it will take time. But the only way to stop the gap between the big 12/16 teams and the rest of Europe is to give the smaller teams/countries opportunities to do so. What to Bilbao have to do with anything, btw? :| It's like saying Charlton will compete with Chelsea next year, erm.. :| But the last 8/16 is predictable every season. This year 8 countries are represented. Last year the SAME 8 were represented. The year before there were just 7 as Scotland weren't. And Porto and Liverpool would be in it anyway, especially Porto - they win most seasons. It wouldn't lose quality. Before when the Champions League was exactly what it says (country's CHAMPIONS and its holders competed) the quality was as good as it is now even though teams from Sweden, Bulgaria or Belgium could make the last 8/16. The quality isn't any better now.
January 26, 200718 yr Yes, it will take time. But the only way to stop the gap between the big 12/16 teams and the rest of Europe is to give the smaller teams/countries opportunities to do so. What to Bilbao have to do with anything, btw? :| It's like saying Charlton will compete with Chelsea next year, erm.. :| But the last 8/16 is predictable every season. This year 8 countries are represented. Last year the SAME 8 were represented. The year before there were just 7 as Scotland weren't. And Porto and Liverpool would be in it anyway, especially Porto - they win most seasons. It wouldn't lose quality. Before when the Champions League was exactly what it says (country's CHAMPIONS and its holders competed) the quality was as good as it is now even though teams from Sweden, Bulgaria or Belgium could make the last 8/16. The quality isn't any better now. Thee were no Danish or Ukrainian teams last year, or Bulgarian. So you're saying you'd gladly see a bunch of substandard teams compete instead of some of the best teams in the world? :wacko:
January 26, 200718 yr Yes. Because it's the CHAMPIONS league. You know champions, where you WIN your domestic league, not finish fourth!! I'd much rather there was the opportunity for clubs from lesser countries to compete rather than the same clubs from the same 5 or 6 countries each year. If it doesn't work then fine, but atleast try!
January 26, 200718 yr Yes. Because it's the CHAMPIONS league. You know champions, where you WIN your domestic league, not finish fourth!! I'd much rather there was the opportunity for clubs from lesser countries to compete rather than the same clubs from the same 5 or 6 countries each year. If it doesn't work then fine, but atleast try! But that would be predictable! at least with more good clubs they can knock each other out. If there's a load of c**p clubs a long with the big clubs, it would just make it easier for the big clubs!
January 27, 200718 yr If so i believe they shouldn't allow CL rejects to drop into the UEFA Cup. Because that isn't fair on the teams that got into the UEFA Cup via the lower placed to 6 positions in the big leagues.
January 27, 200718 yr If so i believe they shouldn't allow CL rejects to drop into the UEFA Cup. Because that isn't fair on the teams that got into the UEFA Cup via the lower placed to 6 positions in the big leagues. I agree with that. They've been knocked out the CL why should they get a 2nd bite of the cherry
January 27, 200718 yr It's always a CL reject that wins UEFA Cup. Why should a team that has faught hard with what they have in terms of squad depth, money, players, etc. Have to play the CL-class teams?
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