Governing Bodies
RELEGATION-BOUND BOTTOM 6 PLOT AGAINST PREMIERSHIP RESUMPTION
The Premier League will make a desperate plea for unity this week amid claims that the bottom six clubs are sabotaging plans to resume the season.
According to UK’s Daily Mail, their is another sign of the destructive conflict gripping the top flight English football. It revealed that some of the Big Six are lobbying for guarantees that promotion and relegation will still be implemented, even if the season is curtailed.
The dramatic move following last Friday’s shareholders’ meeting represents an attempt by the biggest clubs to persuade those in the bottom three to vote for playing on, as it would be their only hope of avoiding relegation.
The split over the merits of Project Restart is largely based on where clubs stand in the table, with an executive at one club telling Sportsmail on Sunday that the objections raised by clubs near the bottom were a deliberate act of sabotage.
The Premier League have attempted to maintain a show of solidarity throughout the increasingly acrimonious debate that has raged since the season was suspended on March 13. But that facade finally cracked over the weekend.
Brighton chief executive Paul Barber opposed publicly the Premier League’s plan to complete the campaign using 10 neutral venues by saying that such a move would damage the integrity of the competition, while Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish responded in the Sunday Times with a strong expression of the social and economic case for football’s return.
Such divergent opinions appear to be diplomatically expressed versions of the robust debate that took place last Friday and the more heated discussions that are occurring in private.
‘They are threatening to destroy football just to avoid the risk of relegation,’ is how one executive put it. ‘Their thinking is so short-sighted.’
In another indication of the febrile atmosphere, one source present at the meeting told Sportsmail that 13 clubs were in favour of Project Restart, six opposed and one was undecided. Others are claiming there are at least eight rebel clubs, which would be enough to veto the plan.
Such are the tensions that some clubs have been accused of using their medical staff to stoke fear among players about the health risks of returning to action.
The Premier League will need 14 votes in favour for matches to resume, with June 12 the favoured restart date, but that ballot is unlikely to take place at a meeting on Friday, which has been scheduled to follow publication of the Government’s lockdown exit strategy the previous evening.
Instead, the Premier League’s plan is to continue to pursue a step-by-step approach based on increasing the intensity of training from individual, through small groups to full contact, in the hope that the spread of Covid-19 has slowed significantly by the time a decision is required at the end of the month.
While the finer details on neutral venues, broadcasting, promotion and relegation — and a Plan B if the season is suspended for a second time — still need to be resolved, the Premier League are hoping to secure an agreement to return in principle.
Chief executive Richard Masters is expected to spell out the need for unity, and to urge clubs to put self-interest and squabbling aside. While there is sympathy regarding the integrity issues raised by Barber and others, the Premier League want clubs to commit to doing everything they can to resume in order to prevent financial collapse.
Most clubs have accepted that next season’s season-ticket money and sponsorship income will be diminished due to the strong likelihood that social distancing measures will be maintained, and the loss of the £762million outstanding on the television contract would put many in jeopardy.
The clubs will also be urged to emphasise the Premier League’s importance to the country as a whole, and its potential role in kick-starting the economic recovery from the shutdown and improving the nation’s health.
A report from accountancy firm Ernst & Young published last year stated that top-flight clubs paid £3.3billion in tax during the 2016-17 season and employed 12,000 people directly, as well as supporting almost 100,000 full-time jobs in other companies, many of which would be lost without Premier League football.
In addition, the Premier League and clubs support numerous community and grassroots projects, some of which would be scrapped as part of cost-cutting measures.
The Premier League’s Project Restart is strongly supported by the FA and the EFL, who are eager for matches to resume as soon as possible in the hope that it will enable their own competitions to follow.
Other sports are watching with interest, particularly cricket and rugby, who also have valuable television deals which finance their entire structure.
The chief executive of another sport told Sportsmail: ‘We are a million miles behind the Premier League in terms of resources, testing capacity and medical provision. If they are unable to resume this summer, then we have no chance.’
World football governing body, FIFA, today clocks its 122nd anniversary, celebrating more than a century of overseeing and expanding the global game.
Founded on May 21, 1904, in Paris, France, FIFA began with just seven member associations — France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
From that modest beginning, the organisation has grown into the most influential sports governing body in the world, with 211 member associations spread across all continents.
Over the decades, FIFA has transformed football into a truly global phenomenon through competitions such as the FIFA World Cup, Women’s World Cup, Club World Cup, youth tournaments, and developmental programmes aimed at growing the game worldwide.
The organisation has also witnessed remarkable milestones, including the expansion of the men’s World Cup from 13 teams in 1930 to 48 teams beginning from the 2026 edition to be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
FIFA’s journey has equally reflected football’s growing influence beyond sport, with the game becoming a major tool for diplomacy, social inclusion, youth empowerment, and economic development across the world.
As FIFA celebrates 122 years of existence, attention is now focused on the future of the game, technological innovations, expanded competitions, women’s football growth, and the continued globalisation of football.
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UEFA has issued a lifetime ban to Petr Vlachovsky, a Czech women’s soccer coach who secretly filmed his players, the governing body announced on Tuesday.
Czech media reported that the coach was convicted in May 2025 and initially received a suspended one-year prison sentence and a five-year domestic coaching ban for filming FC Slovacko’s players in changing rooms, the youngest of whom was 17.
In a statement, UEFA’s Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body (CEDB) said it had decided to ban Vlachovsky “from exercising any football-related activity for life” following the appointment of an Ethics and Disciplinary Inspector to investigate allegations of potential misconduct.
“The CEDB further decided to request FIFA to extend the abovementioned ban on a worldwide level and to order the Football Association of the Czech Republic to revoke Mr Petr Vlachovsky’s coaching licence,” the statement added.
FC Slovacko did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Football players’ union FIFPRO welcomed the ban as well as UEFA’s request for world soccer governing body FIFA to impose an international ban on Vlachovsky.
“This outcome sends a strong and necessary message that abusive and inappropriate behaviour has no place in football and that safeguarding the well-being of players must remain a priority at every level of the game,” FIFPRO added in a statement.
Vlachovsky had also previously served as coach of the Czech women’s Under-19s team.
RELATED STORY: https://sportsvillagesquare.com/2026/04/08/outrage-as-male-coach-who-secretly-filmed-women-players-still-free-to-work-in-football/
-Reuters
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Southampton have been kicked out of the Championship playoff final after being found guilty of spying on semi-final opponents Middlesbrough, the English Football League said on Tuesday.
Middlesbrough, who lost 2-1 to Southampton on aggregate in the semi, have been reinstated and will face Hull City on Saturday in what is dubbed the world’s richest soccer match.
Promotion to the Premier League, even with an immediate relegation, is estimated to be worth in the region of 200 million pounds ($268.10 million) over three seasons.
Southampton, who admitted the charges, were also found guilty of filming training sessions involving Oxford United in December and Ipswich Town in April during the regular season.
They have also been deducted four points from the start of next season in England’s second tier.
“An Independent Disciplinary Commission has today expelled Southampton from the Championship play-offs after the club admitted multiple breaches of EFL regulations related to the unauthorised filming of other clubs’ training,” the EFL said.
“Southampton admitted breaches of Regulations requiring Clubs to act with the utmost good faith and prohibiting the observation of another Club’s training session within 72 hours of a scheduled match.
“The effect of today’s order is that Middlesbrough are reinstated into the 2026 play-offs and will proceed to the play-off final against Hull City. The final remains scheduled for Saturday 23 May, with the kick-off time to be confirmed.”
The EFL confirmed that Southampton could appeal against the decision and that “parties are working to try and resolve any appeal on Wednesday 20 May.
“Subject to the outcome, it could result in a further change to Saturday’s fixture,” the statement said.
‘BORO CALLED FOR SOUTHAMPTON EXPULSION
Middlesbrough had called for Southampton’s expulsion after having a training session at their Rockliffe Park site filmed 48 hours ahead of the first leg of their playoff semi-final with Southampton which ended 0-0.
The north-east club said they welcomed the decision.
“We believe this sends out a clear message for the future of our game regarding sporting integrity and conduct,” the north Middlesbrough said in a statement.
“As a club, we are now focused on our game against Hull City at Wembley on Saturday.”
Southampton were relegated from the Premier League last season and were struggling in the early part of this campaign until a storming finish in which they went unbeaten in 19 league games to finish fourth and enter the playoffs.
The south-coast club are the first to fall foul of the Football League’s regulation 127 — brought in after Leeds United were found guilty of spying on Derby County seven years ago, an offence for which they were fined 200,000 pounds.
-Reuters
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