MADRID — The president of the Spanish league Javier Tebas believes FIFA needs a complete clear out of senior personnel if the disgraced organization is to regain the trust of the football community.
A corruption scandal engulfing world football’s governing body has seen outgoing president Sepp Blatter, secretary general Jerome Valcke and UEFA president Michel Platini suspended for 90 days.
FIFA also confirmed investigations are ongoing into eight other officials on Wednesday, including German legend Franz Beckenbauer and FIFA vice president and head of the Spanish football federation Miguel Angel Villar Llona.
Platini and president of the Asian Football Confederation, Bahrain’s Shaikh Salman, are among those to have put their names forward to replace Blatter when a new president is elected on Feb. 26.
“If there is to be a cultural change it can’t be carried out by people that have held roles within this system,” Tebas said Thursday.
“I think there are people within football that can change this, but the president of the Asian confederation or Platini, who have been in this system can’t change it to one of transparency.”
Tebas has had a long-running battle with Villar Llona for control of Spanish football and repeated his jibe that the latter would have to have been “very crafty or very stupid” to not know what been going on at FIFA.
“Both options make him not the right man to lead Spanish or world football,” he added.
Barca announces record turnover, profits fall
European champion Barcelona announced Thursday a record turnover of 608 million euros ($690 million, £447 million) for its treble-winning 2014-15 season, but saw profits fall due to player bonuses and transfer fees.
“The club made a profit, (the financial situation) is solid,” said Barca vice president Susana Monje.
“We are on course to reach the target we have set of reaching a turnover of one billion euros.”
A second treble of Champions League, La Liga and Copa del Rey in six years saw Barca’s income grow 15 percent from 530 million euros the previous season.
However, profits fell 36.5 percent from 41 million euros to just 15 million.
The fall in profits was due to higher player bonuses as a result of such a successful season on the field and a busier than normal transfer window during 2014 due to a one-year ban on registering new players this year.
Knowing it wouldn’t be able to register new players between August 2014 and January 2016, Barca spent over 150 million euros on the likes of Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic, Claudio Bravo and Marc-Andre ter Stegen in the summer of 2014.
“Due to the FIFA ban we had to sign double what we are used to,” added Monje.
Debt also increased from 287 million euros to 328 million with Monje warning that the board will therefore be forced to show “economic prudence next season.”
However, Monje insisted that the club will be able to add to its short and injury-stricken squad should coach Luis Enrique request more reinforcements to go with Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal, who were signed in the summer from Atletico Madrid and Sevilla respectively, but won’t be registered to play until January.
Monje also claimed Barca “will be able to increase the salary of players” in reference to ongoing contract negotiations with Brazilian star Neymar.
The club estimate that the current 2015/16 season will produce a 20 million euro profit with turnover increasing to 633 million euros thanks to new marketing deals signed with Asian and Latin American sponsors in recent years.
In September, Barca’s La Liga rivals Real Madrid announced a turnover of 660.6 million euros with an after-tax profit of 42 million.
Cruyff diagnosed with cancer
Dutch football great Johan Cruyff, regarded as one of the world’s greatest ever players has been diagnosed with lung cancer, his management team said Thursday.
“In the last few weeks Johan Cruyff has undergone medical tests at a Barcelona hospital. He has been diagnosed with lung cancer,” Carol Thate said a statement.
“To respect Johan and his family’s privacy and because tests have not been finalised no further information will be given at this stage,” Thate added in the statement, issued to the ANP news agency.
Cruyff, 68, who captained the Netherlands to the World Cup final in 1974 and who was one of the proponents of the “total football” philosophy has been in-and-out of hospital over the last few weeks with health complaints.
During his career as a Dutch international Cruyff scored 33 goals before retiring from football in 1977. — Agencies
