European clubs opposed to World Club Championship revival

The European Club Forum board have opposed proposals to revive the FIFA World Club Championship, European soccer's governing body UEFA said on Thursday.

The board, representing the 102 clubs in the Forum, met at UEFA's headquarters on Thursday and said they opposed FIFA president Sepp Blatter's hopes of bringing the tournament back.

"We do not believe that there is a need or a desire for this competition among European clubs, fans, players or commercial partners," the board said in a statement.

"We would oppose it being played in the future."

"At a time when European football has made the step of reducing the number of top-class competitive games by abolishing the second group stage of the UEFA Champions League, it doesn't make sense to try and introduce another international club competition. This would be a backward step."

"The challenge is to make the international calendar workable, not to add to it and increase the pressure on players. We hope that sense will prevail."

The board comprises representatives of eleven clubs, who themselves represent the 102 major European clubs, and was set up to improve communication between UEFA and Europe's sides.

They first met last July.

The much-maligned World Club Championship was first held in 2000 but the tournament has since been shelved until 2006 because of fixture congestion and sponsorship problems.

The 2001 competition, due to be played in Spain, was initially put back two years only for further problems to force FIFA to delay it until 2006.

Blatter had said at FIFA's Executive Committee in Madrid in December that the championship would return in 2005.

English side Manchester United received strong criticism after pulling out of the FA Cup to take part in the 2000 tournament.