"The Premier League does not aim to become the NBA of football" (Mathieu Moreuil, head of PL-Europe)

"The Premier League does not aim to become the NBA of football. National competitions are very important throughout Europe. In Belgium, for example, people prefer the Jupiler Pro League, even though many Belgian players play in the Premier League. The Premier League took the lead on the sale of overseas TV rights, for a lot of reasons, but in each country, the national championship remains the flagship competition," said Mathieu Moreuil (FRA), the head of European actions for the Premier League, at a discussion entitled "Why has the Premier League become the best club championship in the world?" at the convention of French professional football, organised by the union of Ligue 1 clubs, the Première Ligue, in Cannes (Alpes-Maritimes), on 28/06/2016.

David Dein, an ambassador of the Premier League and a former vice-president of Arsenal FC (Premier League), and Gérard Houllier, the French former manager of English clubs Liverpool FC and Aston Villa FC, were the other two participants in this discussion which was designed to analyse the reasons for the lead taken by the Premier League…