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Europe's top clubs call for fewer games and speedier FFP cases

Europe's top clubs have called for "mandatory rest periods" for players and faster investigations of teams that may have breached financial fair play rules, the European Club Association (ECA) has announced.

The global fixtures calendar and European football's financial rules were the main points of debate at the ECA's 20th general assembly in Rome on Tuesday. 

The organisation, which was created from the ashes of the G-14 group of Europe's richest clubs, represents 230 teams from across the continent.

Redraft the calendar

Chairman Andrea Agnelli said the ECA is football's "entrepreneurial body that invests in the game, running risks on a daily basis," and as a result, the clubs have the right to help "redraft" the game's calendar from 2024 onward.

"We to find a balance between games that are relevant and unpredictable, while defining the competitive balance and keeping the dream alive," said Agnelli, who is also the chairman of Juventus.

"But this means preserving the status of the main actors, the players, by reducing the number of games, introducing mandatory rest periods, finding a viable international calendar and re-calibrating the confederations' championships.

That last point is a reference to the fact the African Cup of Nations and CONCACAF Gold Cup are held every two years, while Asian, European and now South American football, too, hold their championships every four years.

The ECA wouldn't even discuss FIFA's proposal for an expanded Club World Cup in June FIFA president Gianni Infantino would like to expand the competition to include 24 clubs and move it to June as a quadrennial event similar to the World Cup.

"It is not about adding competition in this moment," Agnelli said. "To us the priorities are addressing the calendar post-2024."

The issue of reducing the overall number of games in the calendar has been discussed throughout the game for years but persuading clubs, leagues, member associations, confederations and FIFA to actually give up fixtures has been the stumbling block.

Agnelli said the ECA wants to ensure players and coaches have more time to rest and train, and has asked Infantino, who attended the general assembly, to add to the only mandatory rest period currently on the calendar: one week, every four years, before a World Cup.

"They're playing week in, week out, two or three games a week, be it at club level or a national team level," Agnelli added. "So when we think about the calendar going forward we must also take into consideration weeks when players can actually rest and/or train. So reducing the overall number of games."

Financial fair play

Also in Rome this week was Infantino's UEFA counterpart, Aleksander Ceferin, and he was given much to think about with the ECA's suggestions for "FFP 2.0", an update on the financial rules that have governed European club football since 2010.

With many ECA members, most notably Barcelona, still smarting at Paris Saint-Germain's £350 million summer spree on Brazilian star Neymar and French teenager Kylian Mbappe, the clubs want UEFA to be able to launch FFP investigations far quicker than the current rules allow.

As the spending limits are based on club revenues, UEFA must wait for a club to publish its annual accounts before starting an inquiry. This typically means a delay of more than 18 months, as is likely to be the case for PSG.

ECA executive board member and Anderlecht director Michael Verschueren explained that the clubs want "to shorten the gap" by establishing two "early indicators" that would trigger an expedited investigation.

He said these would be a "sustainable debt ratio" based on a club's net debt and earnings, and a maximum annual net transfer spend of €100m (£88m).

Verschueren also said the ECA wants UEFA to improve transparency by publishing more club data, including the amount paid to agents, and ensure that every club is using the same accounting methods.

Video assistant referees

Already approved for this year's World Cup in Russia, the video assistant referee (VAR) won't be used in the Champions League until next season -- at the earliest.

"It's too soon for the Champions League to start this season. We are not ready, referees are not ready, fans are not ready," Ceferin said. "It's not the competition to have a trial. We will start training the referees and educating the fans and if everything goes fine it might happen next season."

Agnelli, however, suggested VAR might not be included in the Champions League until the 2019-20 season.

Infantino, meanwhile, promoted the VAR amid controversies in domestic competitions where it has already been introduced.

"For the World Cup the referees will be trained, the VARs will be trained," Infantino said. "We are looking very much forward to a World Cup which, thanks to the VAR, will be a little bit more transparent and just or fair."

During this season's trials in other cup competitions, a number of wrong decisions, delays and a lack of communication have left many critics wondering whether the VAR is worth it. But Infantino said that testing has shown the VAR increases the accuracy of referees' decisions from 93 to 99 percent.

"It's not 100 percent so there is still work for all those who want to complain and maybe before if it was the fault of the referee it will [now] be the fault of the VAR,'' he added.

2026 World Cup bids

A day after bid dossiers were released from the North American and Morocco candidates, UEFA's Ceferin reserved judgment on whether Morocco can spend $15.8 billion for construction work on new stadiums and training grounds.

"I don't think that this task force group has finished their work yet," Ceferin said, referring to FIFA's April 17-19 visit to the North African nation.

Stadium infrastructure accounts for 35 percent of the evaluation score from the task force. By contrast, the bid book for the joint candidacy by the United States, Mexico and Canada says it is the low-risk proposition since no infrastructure will be built for the first World Cup after the jump from 32 to 48 finalists.

While the dossiers were submitted to FIFA two weeks ago, Infantino claimed he hasn't read them yet.

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