The former Bayern boss Karl-Heinz Rummenigge is calling for a “correction of course” for European club football, which has got into financial difficulties.
In a column in the World on sunday The former national player, who was Chairman of the Board of Directors of FC Bayern Munich until the summer, is strongly in favor of “a rationalization of football” and a “Financial Fair Play 3.0”.
“With the corona effect – but not only through it – dimensions have been reached that are still mildly described as ‘worrying’: a number of clubs are facing economic collapse,” writes Rummenigge (66).
It seems to him “socially acceptable that debts in the billions are no longer only counted in politics, but also in football.”
Rummenigge sees the European association UEFA facing a “mammoth task” of making new guidelines “legally weatherproof”. He advocates fixed expenses for player salaries and penalties for violations “up to and including exclusion from the Champions League”.
According to Rummenigge, the ball is now “with the European Club Association”, the representation of interests of the European football clubs, which he chaired for a long time: “It has to make sustainable proposals to UEFA.”
Rummenigge calls for reform of financial fair play
The current financial fair play “does not do justice to the great challenges”, says Rummenigge.
It is currently largely suspended anyway due to the effects of the Corona crisis, so capital injections by investors, which were limited to 30 million euros, were fully released again, “this is the only way” the Italian record champions Juventus Turin could “absorb the losses”, writes Rummenigge.
Most recently, a kind of luxury tax for violations of financial fair play was discussed. This will “not improve the situation on its own,” says Rummenigge. He doubts that this tax will actually penalize investor-controlled clubs like Manchester City or Paris St. Germain, “where money – let’s say – is more of a relative issue”.
