"Football has replaced the Iron Curtain by a financial curtain that divides Europe" (J. Champagne)

"In a little more than twenty years, football has replaced the political Iron Curtain which never blocked anyone from playing together, by a financial curtain dividing Europe in two. And worse a curtain installed by us!" wrote Jérôme Champagne, candidate to the FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) presidency in a thematic letter addressed to all the European football federation presidents on 22/04/2014.

"Before, European football could be described as rather homogenous with a three or four- gear system but with the possibility to go up and own. Now, it is a two-speed football, with an increasingly unbridgeable gap separating the ultra-elite of the wealthiest ones and the remaining 99% of clubs. Moreover, it is feared that the current hierarchy will solidify in the absence of drastic reform," said Jerome Champagne in his letter entitled "European football: To 'tear down' the financial 'iron curtain'"

"To correct that destructive trend is also a unique opportunity to reconcile FIFA and UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) for good after decades of…