'Friendlies' competition mooted

UEFA are looking at ways of introducing a major new international competition, it was announced on the final day of the organisation's congress in Prague yesterday. Though the aim is to provide competitive fixtures on days currently used for friendly games and so increase revenues for member associations it is unclear whether more highly ranked nations like Ireland would benefit from the proposals which will be discussed in April of next year.

Making the announcement yesterday Lars Crister Olsson, UEFA's director of professional football and marketing said three possible formats for the new competition are being considered and it is hoped whatever structure is adopted might be put in place so games can start during 2004 with, in the event one is required, a finals tournament in 2007.

The main alternatives involve either a competition involving groups that produce eight qualifiers who are then joined by Europe's eight leading teams for a cup competition which is played on a home and away basis, or a league competition which might involve nations initially being grouped according to their ranking after which there would be promotion and relegation at set intervals.

Both Olsson and UEFA's chief executive, Gerhard Aigner, admitted there is a great deal of work to be done before any firm decision can be taken on whether to proceed. But they said the organisation had come under pressure from smaller and medium sized associations to come up with a way of enhancing the status of friendly games and had, as a result, devised these competitions as a way of having "competitive friendlies".

The impetus for change comes from associations who find it hard to get friendly games against leading international sides either because none are available or because those that are charge too much money. Wales, for instance, last year marked the opening of their Millennium Stadium in Cardiff by inviting Brazil to play there but the Welsh association made little or no money on the game despite an attendance of 72,500 because the South Americans had to be paid £440,000 sterling.

There was a predictable welcome for UEFA's proposals yesterday from Northern Ireland's Jim Boyce who noted, "It is getting harder and harder for smaller associations to play prestige friendlies against the bigger countries. So you end up playing a friendly against another small or middle-ranking team and the public are not interested, they do not want to watch these matches any more. I think this is a step most smaller associations would welcome."

Delegates like Germany's Horst Schmidt and England's David Davies were less enthusiastic, however, with the pair questioning whether the competitions would actually achieve what is intended and whether there is actually any room for them in an increasingly congested calendar.

The FAI is likely to watch the debate with interest. Last night the association's general secretary, Brendan Menton, said: "The idea of having some more competitive friendlies is probably a good one and a graded tournament in which we would be playing the likes of Italy and Germany is certainly attractive but we only want another couple of competitive games while retaining the freedom to organise our own matches. There's a lot of work to be done on the issue yet."

With Ireland steadily climbing the rankings over the past couple of years to where it is presently rated 14th in Europe and 21st in the world, the association has been finding it increasingly easy to set up friendlies against other highly ranked countries.

The recent offer by the Italian association of a game in September which had to be turned down is an indication of Ireland's greatly enhanced standing on the international stage.

With these sort of issues in mind UEFA appears to be attempting to strike a formula that would be aimed at the weaker countries with the more highly ranked nations becoming involved in the latter stages.

"One idea is for the smaller associations to play more friendlies, but for the bigger ones to play less," said Olsson. "The bigger nations would also be free to fix their own friendlies bilaterally and would play less matches in the new competition - but would still be able to qualify for the finals of the competition.

"There is still," he concluded, "a lot of planning and discussion to be done and there are many advantages and disadvantages to weigh up."

UEFA, meanwhile, has confirmed the draw for the qualifying stages of Portugal 2004 will take place in Porto on January 25th. Ten groups of five teams will be drawn with the winners joining the hosts automatically and the runners up playing off for the remaining five places at the tournament finals. The first round of qualifying games will be played on September 7th-8th next.