Traditional values vital

UEFA's Chief Executive Gerhard Aigner says that football's traditional values and elements must be upheld to ensure the game's health.

Sporting merit
Speaking at the Planet Football International Professional Football Congress in Barcelona on Wednesday, Mr Aigner stressed that Europe's competitions should continue to be based on sporting merit, and called for the national-team game to be given due recognition in the modern football climate.

Demands and challenges
The UEFA CEO told representatives of clubs, national associations and political bodies: "In the modern and complex world in which football has to live and survive, there are an increasing number of demands and challenges that an international governing body has to face."

Focus on quality
"However, our focus has to remain securely set on the quality and success of our competitions. They are the lifeblood of our work," he added.

Successful competitions
"No single club, no single individual or grouping is bigger than the contribution made to the well-being of football by successful competitions," said Mr Aigner.

Fan appeal
Mr Aigner expressed the view that it was vital that competitions appealed to the fans - who he described as the true base of football's pyramid - enjoyed credibility and worked for broadcasting and commercial partners. "Without these elements, even with the best branding in the world, you cannot create a successful competition within professional football," he added.

Risk and romance
The UEFA CEO emphasised "the importance of uncertainty, of risk and romance, of the possibility of upsets and diversity," in European football competitions.

Grave mistake
"There are some who argue that UEFA's top competitions should narrow their focus and concentrate only on the major markets," he said. "For me, this would be a grave mistake."

Sporting qualities
"Of course, we have to ensure that the strength of the leading football nations is properly accounted for through mechanisms such as seeding and qualification procedures - but we must also ensure that sporting qualities determine outcomes as much as possible."

Global phenomenon
Mr Aigner issued a call for the national-team sector to be given due recognition. International football, he said, was a global phenomenon that fostered a sense of well-being and pride among nations and fans.

Role and influence
"National performance counts in the overall development of a country's football. We need only look at the World Cup and European Championship to see the role and influence of the national team in shaping the health and outlook of the footballing scenery," he said.

Sense of identity
The UEFA Chief Executive added that the growth of world football's two major national-team events reflected the "importance of tradition and a sense of identity" in making competitions successful.

Club challenge
"National teams provide this in a very special way - and in the post-Bosman era when many clubs have perhaps lost some of their strength of local identity, there is a challenge to club football to make sure that this issue is understood and addressed."

Youth development
Mr Aigner called on clubs to focus on developing and training young talent to strengthen their local community links, and urged vigilance against those who, he said, "focus on self-interest and would throw away important traditions."

Commercial and market realities
"We must live and work with commercial and market realities, but we should never let them determine our every move," he added.