Platini renews criticism of English plan

PARIS, France -- UEFA president Michel Platini believes that the English Premier League plan for a 39th fixture to be played overseas is principally designed to help English club's to cope with growing debts.

He has renewed his opposition to the plan by telling French newspaper La Provence: " "Twenty years ago, people said that it was necessary to play sport to stay healthy. Today, it is to play for cash. "

When the idea was first mooted last month Platini described it as "comical, a joke."

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore canceled a trip to see FIFA president Sepp Blatter after the plan for the extra game was greeted with a great deal of universal opposition from fans, national associations and football's governing bodies.

Platini said: "English clubs are in debt and are therefore always looking for new sources of profit to cope.

"When I see a Premier League club where the president, the coach and players are not English, again, I am skeptical.

"Football is not just a product, it is the bearer of values, it has a social impact. We must return to the true values of sport.

"That is why I wanted to be president, in order to protect these values. I am not against money, far from it. I have earned a lot in my life. But I think that money should not command in sport." E-mail to a friend