Gibraltar's wish to join UEFA as a full member has always been opposed by Spain. But now UEFA is giving way to discussions, reports Steve Menary.

UEFA revealed fresh details on the woeful state of European club football to Play the Game ahead of the introduction of the new Financial Fair Play measure that aims to curb the game’s endemic losses.

The Council of Europe has adopted a recommendation to its member states against match-fixing and other sorts of manipulation of sports results.

According to UEFA President Michel Platini match-fixing has become such a threat to football that the whole integrity of the global sport is at stake.

Comment: English side Manchester City may be about to embark on their first Champions League campaign but the riches earned by clubs playing in continental competitions is bankrolling increased domination of domestic leagues. That is the evidence in Play the Game’s annual Champions League diversity index for 2011, which shows a third of the countries in this year’s competition are represented by exactly the same sides as a year ago.

The new UEFA concept of Financial Fair Play is blurry and mounts the risk of court cases, according to leading sport economic, Professor Stefan Szymanski from the CASS Business School in London. Others do not see any good alternatives.

The conference taking place during the U/21 UEFA Championships has now released its programme featuring top speakers from UEFA, UK Premier League and many other football stakeholders.

UEFA expressed concerns that club losses could rise by 50 per cent in 2010 when their regulation to stop clubs’ overspending, Financial Fair Play, was discussed at the SoccerEx Forum in Manchester.