CHELSEA have been accused of wrecking European football with greed
and selfishness.
Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge fears the Champions
League will become a farce if football's financial gulf gets much
wider.
The German legend believes the limitless spending power of Blues
supremo Roman Abramovich typifies the problem. Rumenigge said: "I
doubt whether in the next 10 years there will be a German club in
the final of a European competition.
"Given what Abramovich does every summer in the transfer market,
how can German clubs stay competitive? "If Bremen get past
Barcelona in the Champions League, that would be the eighth wonder
of the world.
"Bremen earn 23 million euros (£15.6m) from television rights and
Barcelona get 143m (£97m). "I just hope the European Union puts a
stop to these excesses of Abramovich and foreign television."
Bayern lost star midfielder Michael Ballack to Chelsea in the
summer. And Rummenigge told Kicker magazine that the German
champions might even pull out of the G14 - a group of elite
European clubs including Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United,
but not yet Chelsea.
He said: "Everybody in the G14 thinks only about themselves. "I
will say it absolutely clearly - Ramon Calderon (Real Madrid
president) and his colleagues only fight for themselves.
"So do the Italians and the English. In football it is pure
selfishness that rules. There is little common ground among the
clubs. "The way it is at the moment, we would have to think if it
is still worth staying in G14.
"I am very unsatisfied with the way it is developing. There is no
communication with FIFA, none with UEFA and there are too few
common projects."