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February 08, 2008
AUSTRALIA could host Barclays Premier League football games under a plan to play regular-season fixtures overseas each year from 2011.
The 20 Premier League clubs unanimously agreed today to further investigate the possibility of playing a round of 10 competitive matches over one weekend in January starting in the 2010-11 season.
The move would mean each club playing 39 matches over the season with a draw deciding which teams would face each other in the 10 matches held outside England.
Richard Scudamore, the league's chief executive, said: “We are proud the Premier League is viewed as the strongest domestic football competition in the world by fans at home and abroad, and we are committed to maintaining this tradition.
“The International Round is an exciting and innovative proposal that needs careful consideration before being introduced.''
Scudamore, said two games would be allocated to each of the chosen venues and take place on the same weekends.
“We are looking at five cities, one game on the Saturday and one on the Sunday and creating some sort of festival weekend,'' Scudamore said.
Clubs will have no say on where their matches are held and the idea will be to spread the fixtures around. Scudamore added. “There is no point all these matches taking place in Asia.''
Australia, the United States and Asia were reportedly among the potential venues for the additional games.
The proposal will be controversial because of the risk of imbalances in the fixtures. For example, Manchester United could be drawn to face a struggling club like Derby while a title-chasing rival such as Arsenal could be given a much tougher assignment against, say, a club like Everton.
Seedings could be used, however, to ensure all the top clubs played clubs from the bottom half of the table.
The overseas matches would help consolidate the popularity of English football around the globe, and boost club revenues by increasing the value of broadcasting/new media rights and attracting new sponsors from the markets concerned.
The sale of overseas broadcasting rights is already the fastest-growing source of revenue for the league.
Malcolm Clarke, the head of the Football Supporters Federation, warned of a backlash from home-based fans.
“I'm fairly confident in predicting that the overwhelming majority of football supporters will be totally opposed,'' Clarke said.
“This is yet another case of the PL threatening the tradition of our game simply to follow money.''
The plan could also prove controversial with football's world ruling body FIFA, which regards the popularity of the Premier League in regions like Asia as a barrier to the development of their own leagues and national sides.
That issue was highlighted last year when Manchester United were criticised for playing a pre-season friendly in Malaysia at the same time as the country was jointly hosting the Asian Cup.
The Premier League's proposal to go global follows similar moves by the National Football League (NFL) in the United States, which organised a regular season match between the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants at London's Wembley stadium in October.
The event was so successful - a scramble for tickets resulting in the 90,000-capacity venue being sold out - that the NFL is planning a second match later this year.
Agence France-Presse
EPL outlines global plans - Football - Fox Sports
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