Platini open to Balkan league idea

Source: Agencies | March 5, 2009, Thursday |

Print Edition

A REGIONAL soccer league in the Balkans whose teams would be granted access to European competition is possible in the foreseeable future, UEFA president Michel Platini said on Tuesday.

"I am not at all opposed to the idea," Platini told a news conference in Belgrade after a meeting with Serbian Football Federation (FSS) chief Tomislav Karadzic and government officials.

"But not being opposed to something doesn't mean I am automatically for it. At the moment, the UEFA statute does not allow such an option. It requires a joint soccer and political project by several countries in the region and their unified ambition to compete in a single league.

"If there are enough interested parties and the project turns out to be feasible, the UEFA executive committee would be prepared to look at it and make a decision.

"It is an interesting initiative and such a league would give teams from this part of Europe a chance to compete on a higher level with their wealthier Western rivals."

Soccer officials from the former Yugoslav republics, mainly Serbia and Croatia, have made attempts over in the past few years to form a joint league to improve the poor quality of football in the region.

But the idea also has its opponents, who argue that matches between teams which once competed in a single league in the former Yugoslavia would rekindle ethnic tensions that tore the country apart in a series of bloody conflicts. Soccer encounters in the Balkans, especially local derbies, have a history of crowd trouble and Platini told the FSS that eradicating violence was a basic condition to move forward.

The Serbian FA paid a heavy fine after their fans racially abused England's black players at the U-21 European Championship in the Netherlands in 2007. Serbian champion Partizan Belgrade was kicked out of the UEFA Cup after its fans rioted at Bosnian rival Zrinjski Mostar.

Soccer

About Us
|
Terms of Use
|
RSS
|
Privacy Policy
|
Contact Us
|
Shanghai Call Center: 962288
|
Tip-off hotline: 52920043

沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
|
互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
|
网络视听许可证：0909346
|
广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
|
增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012

Platini open to Balkan league idea

Email this to your friend