A radical review of football has called for controls to prevent billionaire owners "buying up all the best players".

The new version of the European Football Review published today insists that salary controls should not limit what an individual player can earn but curb the total amount clubs can spend on wages.

The review was presented by author Jose Luis Arnaut, a former Portuguese minister, to a meeting of European sports ministers in Moscow.

Unlike Arnaut's original report, the final version makes clear that big-spending billionaire owners, such as Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, should not be permitted to dominate the game.

Talking about salary cost control, the review says: "The aim here is not to place an upper limit on what players can earn but simply to prevent those with the deepest pockets buying all the best players and therefore dominating competition, contrary to the interests of the sport and the public.

Complex

"Whilst this is a complex subject that requires further study, one possible approach would be to limit overall salary spending levels

to a percentage of club turnover and this would also require clear rules to govern how turnover is calculated."

The review says clubs should be punished financially if they did go above the set limits.

Arnaut says: "We consider that a form of 'payroll tax', requiring clubs to pay a 'redistribution levy' if they exceed the relevant limit on salaries, warrants particular attention."

Issues previously identified by Arnaut as needing attention include some form of limit on foreign players, and the urgent need to tackle illegal gambling, money laundering, racism and the trafficking of young players.

UEFA president Lennart Johansson, who was was in Moscow for the presentation, backed the new report.

Johansson said: "In football, wealth is steadily being concentrated in the hands of a minority, there is a lack of financial transparency within parts of the game, clubs and individuals are increasingly challenging sporting rules and governing bodies in the law courts and sporting values as a whole are under threat.

"Sports governing bodies therefore need legal certainty to address these key issues. If they are unable to set the rules of the game, sport will become a free-for-all where the richest can buy success."

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