EPL Still Hopeful For Int'l Games After Canceling FIFA Meeting

Premiership Says Int'l Game Proposal Still Alive

The English Premier League (EPL) insisted that plans to add a round of int'l games are "still alive" despite the cancelling of a scheduled meeting tomorrow with FIFA President Sepp Blatter to discuss the proposal, according to Paul Kelso of the Manchester GUARDIAN. The EPL claimed that the "indefinite postponement of the meeting gave breathing room in which to refine the idea." However, FIFA believes the plans "in their current form are dead, and any future proposal to take competitive games abroad will have to be radically different from Game 39." The EPL also acknowledged that a "failure to consult more closely with FIFA and others before the plans were made public had been a mistake." The EPL said in a statement: "It is our considered view following these discussions that we need to conduct further internal studies and consultation before seeking the advice of the world governing body FIFA and the key confederations" (Manchester GUARDIAN, 2/27). FIFA last night issued a statement that states the organization "welcomes the Premier League's decision and initiative, which re-establishes the positive and constructive relations" between the FA, the EPL and FIFA. In London, Nick Harris writes it seems Blatter "will be willing to listen, at least, when the League has put flesh on the bones of its proposal" (London INDEPENDENT, 2/27).

REAX: In London, Matt Dickinson writes with tension between FA Chair Lord David Triesman and the EPL over Blatter's public disapproval of the expansion plans, the planned meeting was "shaping up as a high-profile disaster. Cancelling made sense, if only to avoid a further escalation of those tensions" (LONDON TIMES, 2/27). In Manchester, David Conn writes the decision "demonstrates that the league, so full of its own success as the world's richest, has been humbled into recognising its true position as just one competition in football's big, wide world" (BLOGS.GUARDIAN.co.uk, 2/27).