UEFA will always endeavour to give priority to sporting arguments whenever there is a conflict with commercial interests, according to UEFA Chief Executive Lars-Christer Olsson.

Mr Olsson, in Malta for a meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee, was replying to a question by veteran Maltese journalist Lewis Portelli on whether UEFA felt money matters had taken over from sporting aspects within the game. “We are in favour of giving priority to sporting arguments when taking a decision,” he said. “The reason that so much money is involved in football is because football is popular.

“Football has become a driving force in creating TV audiences – this is the main reason why so much money has come into football. The bigger the market you have, the more money is coming into that specific market. If your football is popular, you become more popular with commercial partners.”

He however added that in some cases, the influence of football’s commercial side had been negative for the game.

“We think sport should overrule commercial decisions. We are trying to build our competitions on solidarity and the distribution of money. The big clubs are questioning the FIFA rules where players are released free of charge to national teams. This could be a blow for national team activities, and detrimental to the smaller associations.

“We have to be aware that we are challenged by the commercial side of élite football. Our challenge is to keep the football family together. There should be a distribution of money from those who have more, to those who have less.”