Saudi money could force European football ‘in new direction,’ ECA claims

The growth of the Saudi Pro League and its extensive transfer spending in Europe this summer are “making a lot of people realise that football is becoming too much about money”, according to a senior figure in the European Club Association.

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The ECA is the largest club membership body in Europe and holds great influence within Uefa. Its critics attack the organisation as acting in the interests of the biggest clubs but the ECA vice-chair Dariusz Mioduski, of Legia Warsaw, says the Saudi football boom has changed the landscape.

“Perhaps in a way what has happened with Saudi investment into football is actually positive,” Mioduski said. “It’s making a lot of people realise that football is becoming too much about money.

“Those of us in smaller clubs, smaller leagues, we’ve been saying this for a while. This is a real issue in European football that there is such a concentration of money in a few leagues, particularly the Premier League, but not only there. In the past we could say easily that football was not about money. Today we can say that money is the primary factor, the primary component in success.”

Mioduski argues that current financial fair play measures are not enough to redress the imbalance between smaller leagues and those with substantial collective broadcast income. There is also concern over the funding available to clubs owned by sovereign wealth funds such as Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle. (Nasser al-Khelaifi, the president of PSG, is also the chair of the ECA.)

New Uefa rules will set a cap on spending for those in European competition relative to income, but Mioduski believes only substantial reform driven by changes in EU law can start to truly level the playing field. Talks around a European sports model between the EU and football’s regulators have begun, something which could provide a future platform for change.

“I would think that there are some concerns, especially among some of the bigger clubs, about competition from clubs owned by sovereign funds,” Mioduski said. “Perhaps the Saudi situation and the fact that the big clubs in the big leagues feel threatened will make everyone realise that football must go in a new direction.

“[It will require] new regulations under European competition law, how the football industry is perceived from a regulatory standpoint, to impose certain cost controls and various spending limits which will return football back to the communities … where money will not be the main driver but just one of the factors.”