Karl-Heinz Rummenigge with clear words on the ever growing greed for money in professional football. He also speaks out clearly against a change in the Champions League.
In front of Germany’s assembled sports business elite, Bayern Munich’s CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge took a surprisingly strong stand against greed in the football business.
At the industry congress SPOBIS in Düsseldorf, the head of the Bundesliga Croesus called for resistance to purely economically motivated excesses: “We have come to a stop at one point. Players and coaches must stand up and say that it’s enough.
Rummenigges considers the innovative drive of the world governing body FIFA and the European umbrella organisation UEFA to be counterproductive. “Football has become too political and too financial.
The biggest problem of international football is that the associations are constantly developing new competitions,” said the 64-year-old about the future World Cup format with 48 nations and plans for a Champions League reform: “You have to ask yourself whether this is still good for football or just for the purse.
The statements of the former national team captain are not commonplace in this clarity, given the efforts of his club to generate ever higher revenues. Last season, the Bavarians reported record sales of around 750 million euros.
Even more money could be earned through a change in the Champions League format that has been under discussion for many months. But Rummenigge categorically rejected the model favoured by many continental top clubs of four groups with eight teams in future instead of the current eight groups of four in Düsseldorf.
“Fix something that isn’t broken”
“No German club is dissatisfied with the current format and there is no need for change. Radicalism is now going too far. I also lack the sense: Something should be repaired that is not broken,” said the former head of the European Club Association ECA, explaining his scepticism: “There are no dates for the two finalists to play a total of 21 matches in this model, and in addition, many boring games would be created in groups of eight.
Because the players are now at the limit due to the enormous stress, the Bavarians would not participate in a summer break tournament with 16 European top teams in the USA under the working title “Champions League on tour”, which was last discussed, according to Rummenigge: “If we do that, players and coaches will jump in our backs.