Michel Platini is making a fool of himself again this week after his tirade against the prominence of English teams in European football. If you caught his interview on Sky Sports, you wlll have seem him ramble on and on, venting his anger and seeming quite unfocused and unpresidential — especially for someone who is […]

UEFA's general secretary David Taylor has lost his marbles. He's warned clubs that they may face being banned from competing in European competitions if they continue to carry excessive debt. "There would be forms of communication, even warnings, even reprimands before one would ever get to a situation of exclusion but it's absolutely possible," said […]

As we reported on a number of weeks ago, the UEFA Executive Committee has finalized the change in name of the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League starting in the 2009-10 season. Along with the new name come major changes to the competition, which will feature a 48-team group stage. Changes to the name, […]

This is a bit late but I did want to acknowledge that UEFA.com has re-launched with a new take on their familiar look. The layout is a bit cleaner though the page now contains more elements. The color scheme is basic white and black though the newly launched photo gallery adds plenty of color. I'd […]

It's time for FIFA to rethink international football. In 1992, UEFA changed the European Cup to the Champions League and transformed European club football into a more entertaining product that generates vast sums of money. It also didn't hurt that the tournament now attracts a cumulative television audience of 4 billion viewers in 227 countries. […]

After leading 1-0 from the first leg, Schalke had to have had some confidence going into Madrid for the second leg. A strong performance from Atletico saw them thump the German team 4-0 to advance to the group stage for the first time since 1996-97. I had picked Atletico as my 'dark-horse' team in the […]

UEFA's Control and Disciplinary Body has stripped Portuguese champions Porto FC of their place in next season's Champions League over alleged bribery of referees during the 2003/04 season. UEFA cited Article 1.04 (d) of the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League regulations (available via this PDF) in their decision. The article states that to be eligible to […]

FIFA recently approved the “6+5 rule” in a 155-5 vote among member nations. The rule would mandate that clubs field at least six players from the nation in which they play. By targeting wealthy clubs, particularly English ones, buying foreign players, FIFA feels they would revive national teams and achieve greater parity. This policy would […]

I've been meaning to do an in-depth piece on FIFA president Sepp Blatter's proposal to introduce quotas on the number of foreign players that teams can field. Yesterday, FIFA held a vote and Blatter's proposal cleared its first major hurdle. The FIFA Congress delegates voted 155-5 in favour of the proposal which would limit the […]

I've been meaning to do an in-depth piece on FIFA president Sepp Blatter's proposal to introduce quotas on the number of foreign players that teams can field. Yesterday, FIFA held a vote and Blatter's proposal cleared its first major hurdle. The FIFA Congress delegates voted 155-5 in favour of the proposal which would limit the […]

If you're desperate to follow the Champions League Final today, you can't watch it on TV and you don't have a Slingbox, listen to the live radio commentary from The Sun. The audio quality is usually suspect, but at least you'll be able to follow the biggest match of the year online. And, don't forget, […]

It has been a day of introductions here at EPL Talk, so let me be the latest to say hello to all of you. I am honored to be joining the site alongside all the new members, and I would like to thank The Gaffer for the opportunity to write here. Now to the big […]