Joan Laporta wants stricter rules for state-owned clubs

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has urged UEFA to bring in stricter rules for state-owned clubs who he feels have become a “problem” for the world of football.

Laporta feels it’s “difficult to compete” with clubs such as Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain because of the enormous resources they have at their disposal.

Here’s what Laporta has had to say about the whole thing:

“The state clubs are a problem because they provoke an instability of our sport, of football in Europe,” he said. “I’m asking for rules that have to be more strict for these kinds of clubs because the resources they are using in football doesn’t come from the football industry.

“In our case, and most of the clubs in Europe, the resources that we are generating come from the industry of sports … and these state clubs are not using the same tools in order to compete. It is complicated to compete with these clubs that have a lot of big players spread around the world. And when you go to the market to buy players, it’s difficult to compete.

“I ask the regulators like Uefa and leagues of each country to be stricter, or at least harmonise all the rules. Because, for instance, in Spain we have rules much more strict than in France or the Premier League.”

Source | The Guardian

Laporta was speaking ahead of a big couple of days for the Catalan giants. Club members will vote on whether to authorize the sale of some major assets on Thursday which could bring in a huge cash injection and help ease Barca’s financial issues.

Barcelona have already announced debts of over €1 billion, while economic vice president Eduard Romeo has admitted this week that “we need €500m to save Barcelona.”