04-12-2006, 06:07 AM
Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge claims Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich's spending power is stifling competition in European football.
He told Kicker magazine: "Given what Abramovich does every summer in the transfer market, how can German clubs stay competitive?"
Rummenigge also accused Europe's G14 group of top clubs of being "selfish" and hinted Bayern may quit.
Bayern lost captain Michael Ballack to Chelsea on a free transfer this summer.
606 DEBATE: Your reaction to Rummenigge's outburst
Rummenigge outlined his concern about the financial firepower of clubs outside Germany as he said: "I doubt whether in the next 10 years there will be a German club in the final of a European competition.
"If Werder Bremen get past Barcelona in the Champions League, that would be the eighth wonder of the world.
"Bremen earn 23m euros from television rights and Barcelona get 143m.
"I just hope the European Union puts a stop to these excesses of Abramovich and foreign television."
Rummenigge said Bayern, one of the founder members of G14 - which includes Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United - are now contemplating pulling out of the group altogether.
He added: "Everybody in the G14 thinks only about themselves. I will say it absolutely clearly - Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon and his colleagues only fight for themselves.
"So do the Italians and the English. In football it is pure selfishness that rules. There is little common ground among the clubs.
"The way it is at the moment, we would have to think if it is still worth staying in G14.
"I am very unsatisfied with the way it is developing. There is no communication with Fifa, none with Uefa and there are too few common projects."
He told Kicker magazine: "Given what Abramovich does every summer in the transfer market, how can German clubs stay competitive?"
Rummenigge also accused Europe's G14 group of top clubs of being "selfish" and hinted Bayern may quit.
Bayern lost captain Michael Ballack to Chelsea on a free transfer this summer.
606 DEBATE: Your reaction to Rummenigge's outburst
Rummenigge outlined his concern about the financial firepower of clubs outside Germany as he said: "I doubt whether in the next 10 years there will be a German club in the final of a European competition.
"If Werder Bremen get past Barcelona in the Champions League, that would be the eighth wonder of the world.
"Bremen earn 23m euros from television rights and Barcelona get 143m.
"I just hope the European Union puts a stop to these excesses of Abramovich and foreign television."
Rummenigge said Bayern, one of the founder members of G14 - which includes Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United - are now contemplating pulling out of the group altogether.
He added: "Everybody in the G14 thinks only about themselves. I will say it absolutely clearly - Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon and his colleagues only fight for themselves.
"So do the Italians and the English. In football it is pure selfishness that rules. There is little common ground among the clubs.
"The way it is at the moment, we would have to think if it is still worth staying in G14.
"I am very unsatisfied with the way it is developing. There is no communication with Fifa, none with Uefa and there are too few common projects."
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