Barcelona push for international pay change

Barcelona president Sandro Rosell said the European Club Association (ECA) wants FIFA and UEFA to pay their players in major tournaments.

Rosell feels that the current situation, where clubs pay their players although they are unavailable, is unfair and is hopeful that football’s governing bodies are open to change.

“Will clubs ask FIFA and UEFA to pay players during the World Cup or European Championship? This is what we are discussing with both institutions,” Rosell said to reporters in Doha.

“That could happen in the near future because we don’t think it’s fair that we pay the salaries and they use our players and they get income using our players.”

“This is something that has to be treated very seriously. We hope they will hear what we want to tell them.”

Rosell said the ECA also wanted UEFA to make changes to the Champions League to increase income for the clubs.

“We want to have the Champions League under the umbrella of UEFA, but we also want UEFA to hear our demands.”

“We are asking for more revenue. We are asking for governance, transparency and insurance.”

“We would like to have a Champions League with more teams. That means, one day we can play a Barcelona v Manchester United Champions League game on Saturday or Sunday.”

Rosell recently said it would benefit the top clubs if domestic leagues were reduced to 16 teams to give them a better chance to boost income.