Jan-Christian Dreesen was elected to the ECA board at the European Club Association’s general assembly on Thursday, and the Bayern boss then positioned himself clearly.
First of all, Dreesen, who was elected to the ECA board as vice-chairman just like Oliver Mintzlaff of RB Leipzig and thus succeeds Oliver Kahn, was pleased to “take on responsibility in this leading body of European club football”, especially as FC Bayern and the ECA “have a long tradition”. The 56-year-old wants to “underline our claim to leadership in international competition and at the same time be a strong voice for German football”.
Dreesen then used this opportunity to warn against the growing influence of so-called multi-club ownerships. “Certainly you have to look at when players move back and forth between clubs that are owned by one owner. It will be interesting to see how this can be countered,” said Dreesen, who has a “clear stance” against multi-club ownership. As does BVB managing director Hans-Joachim Watzke: “German football has to be very vigilant about this, we have a more vigilant line of sight than is the case in many other countries.”
Dreesen also took a stand after Thursday’s meeting with regard to the transfer window, which has been closed in Germany as in many other countries since 1 September, but especially in Saudi Arabia will not close until after 7 September. “I would prefer the transfer window to close at the same time,” Dreesen said, especially as top European clubs would not be able to bring in replacements in the event of a move to the kingdom after 1 September.
“Nobody talks about China anymore “
Whether the transfer activity around the Saudi Professional League – players like Neymar (Al-Hilal), Karim Benzema (Al-Ittihad) or Sadio Mané (Al-Nassr around Cristiano Ronaldo) were lured with huge contracts and paid immense transfer fees – is also sustainable remains to be seen, according to Dreesen: “We had a similar situation with China, nobody talks about that anymore today.”
Dreesen also does not see a final of a European top competition in countries like Saudi Arabia or even in the USA: “We must continue to play our games in Europe. “
