FIFA chief Sepp Blatter has condemned Premier League plans to play English Premier League games away from England and has warned of a negative impact for England’s 2018 World Cup bid if the plan goes forward. There have mixed reactions to the audacious plans by the Premier League to play an extra round of games every January in a foreign city starting from the year 2011. Many believe that the Premier League is after foreign revenue which could be immense if Premiership matches are played on neutral territories given the popularity English Premier League teams generate across the world. But what has rendered the plan worthless at the moment is the very fact that football’s governing body has all but rejected it terming the plan an abuse to the beautiful sport.
Although Premier League chiefs are confident of going ahead with their plans, it remains to be seen whether the Football Association(FA)sanctions it given that Mr.Sepp Blatter has already made it clear that England risk the chance of losing her 2018 World Cup bid if the Premier League goes against FIFA. In some harsh words, Sepp Blatter said,
The FIFA President’s criticism is on similar lines to that of UEFA’s chief Michel Platini and Asian federation counterpart Mohamed Bin Hammam. Michel Platini has described the Premier League plan as ‘comical’.This(the Premier League plan)is abuse. The rich Premier League is trying to get richer and expand the importance of that league. The Premier League is richer than the others, they have more responsibility and what they are trying to do is contrary to this responsibility. This will not have a positive impact on the bid from England for the World Cup in 2018.
With football’s governing heads going against the proposed overseas plan, it would be difficult for the Premier League to even find proper places to host the matches as no national association would dare to go against FIFA. Furthermore, the plan itself is at its infancy and although all 20 Premiership clubs have agreed to play an additional round of games away from England, the fans are not that happy. The traditionalists are arguing that any overseas Premiership game would destroy the charm of the traditional English Premiership and players would be made to suffer more in an already grueling season by travelling long distances away from home.
