Hamburg, Sept 19: Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has threatened a boycott of the Club World Cup in 2005 by the Europe's leading clubs in their dispute with the ruling body Fifa, Germany's Die Welt daily reported yesterday.
''As long as there is no agreement on the issues of compensating clubs for their players' international duties and the international calendar the Fifa can forget about a Club World Cup with the G14 clubs,'' Die Welt quoted Rummenigge as saying.
Rummenigge was speaking in his function as spokesman of the G14 group which brings together Europe's top clubs such as Munich, Real Madrid, Juventus and Manchester United.
Fifa plans to revive the Club World Cup in 2005 but has so far no date or format for the competition. Should G14 sides not enter, it would heavily devalue the event.

Rummenigge said that Fifa was doing nothing to end the dispute. Apart from compensation for international games the G14 demands a reform of the international calendar to allow players to return from international duties on a Monday instead of just before weekend games.



In order to do so, Fifa should change the format from Saturday/Wednesday games to Wednesday/Saturday.


Bureau Report