European clubs set to take ...on FIFA

GENEVA (AP) ― Around 150 European football clubs began a two-day meeting Monday to agree their strategy for getting a better deal from FIFA.

The semiannual European Club Association gathering comes after its chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge publicly criticized Sepp Blatter, and questioned the newly re-elected FIFA president’s authority to lead world football.

Rummenigge, the Bayern Munich chief executive, has called for a democratic “revolution” in how football is run that gives clubs more influence.

Top of the agenda for Rummenigge’s members is cutting FIFA’s international fixture calendar, the document that demands when they must hand over players for national team duty.

One option likely to be discussed in Geneva is reducing the size of qualifying groups for future World Cups and UEFA-run European Championships.

ECA members could propose that European countries play in four-team groups to reach the 2018 World Cup.

Most of UEFA’s 53 members were drawn in six-team groups to allocate Europe’s 13 places at the 2014 tournament in Brazil, with only winners qualifying directly. The best group runners-up advance to a playoff round, adding up to 12 fixtures in a 15-month period.

A format of 13 four-team groups could send all first-placed nations directly to the 2018 tournament in Russia having played just six qualifying fixtures.

With the current FIFA calendar set through the 2014 World Cup, Europe’s clubs quickly want to establish their right to help negotiate the next one.

Clubs argue that playing fewer international matches, especially widely unpopular friendlies, will keep their employees fitter and fresher to represent them.

Blatter, who was voted back into office by national federations, has suggested players could play fewer matches by reducing the size of Europe’s leagues ― likely hitting clubs’ earning potential.