ManUre want WC profits

Sir Tokyo Sexwale · April 6, 2006

Manchester United's chief executive David Gill has demanded that Fifa pay clubs a slice of its earnings from the World Cup. The comments, made at the Soccerex event in London yesterday, were the latest in G14's war of words with the world and European governing bodies that has emerged over recent weeks.

"We believe our players are the assets providing the income," said Gill. "This World Cup will be a fantastic event and produce huge, huge profits and the belief of the clubs is that the assets are being provided for free by the clubs.

At the moment we have to provide them for free at the request of the countries. Manchester United's view is not that there should be a pound-for-pound reimbursement but we believe there should be a slice of that income that should be distributed to the clubs of participating players on an equal basis."

Fifa generated £636m in profit from the last World Cup in South Korea and Japan, some of which was distributed to the national associations participating in the tournament with the balance used to finance its administrative and charitable activities over the following four years.

"I don't buy the argument that international appearances add value to a player - they come in and ask for more money," Gill said, emphasising that players that become internationals command higher wages, adding to the strain on club budgets.

"We are not a selling club and we seldom sell international players. We recognise that Uefa and Fifa are non-profit organisations but they do not have a monopoly on what's for the good of the game. We put resources and money into our community."

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Gomez · April 6, 2006

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