UEFA row rumbles on

The story may now be growing old with the new season finally upon us, but Real Mallorca have again launched an attack on Michel Platini of UEFA in regards to the club being removed from the Europa League.

The attack comes from Platini’s latest comments which reiterates the fact the club cannot compete in Europe because it went into administration, therefore not meeting the management criteria set by UEFA. He said that the club were participating in a legal battle “against UEFA’s principals” and that the rules are shared by everyone.

The club’s reaction was based around Platini’s suggestion that the RFEF wrongly gave the club a UEFA Licence. A spokesman for Los Bermellones said, “Platini reiterated the arguments already put forward by UEFA that the RFEF wrongly gave us the licence. But they have instead punished the club and not the federation financially which they do not have any real legal ground to do so.”

The club are hoping to break even by the end of the 2010/2011 season which means plugging a gap of £24.6 million. The club will receive £12.3 million in television rights and an extra £2.4 million from local TV station IB3 to show some games. The club has also secured around £4.9 million in sponsorship deals which includes the £650,000 the club will receive from Bet-at-home.com for shirt sponsorship over the 2010/2011 season (the deal is one year only). Around £2.5 million will be earned through ticket sales and £850,000 from renaming the stadium Iberostar Estadi for three years. And, down to the point, the club hope to recover between £2.5 million and £3.2 million in damages from UEFA after they expelled the club from the Europa League.