'No 35th match'

Christian Seifert, the chief executive of the German Football League (DFL), the governing body of the Bundesliga, has ruled out the idea of the organization holding a league match overseas. The comments are in response to the "39th match" proposal for the English Premier League (EPL).

Within the EPL, there is a widely held opinion that a "39th match" of the domestic season - which currently has 38 matches - would appeal to the league's huge global popularity, if a match was held on foreign soil.

The idea has been muted for sometime, but today Swansea City chairman Huw Jenkins said that he believes a match will be staged abroad within the next two seasons. EPL's CEO Richard Scudamore has spoken publicly before about the increasing possibility of the "39th match" taking place, despite general opposition from supporter groups and the two main governing bodies, UEFA and FIFA.

But the chief of Germany's top-flight, speaking at the Leaders Sports Business Summit in London, said the proposal doesn't fit with the Bundesliga's fan-orientated ethos.

"It would be completely against our understanding of how the fans should be involved," Seifert said.

"This is a match-day which can have an impact on who's going to be relegated, who's going to be champion, who plays (qualifies for the) Champions League. For the financial side, it would be maybe a good idea to play a match-day all over the world.

"But for the supporters, who are visiting 34 games of this club - no matter if it's snow, or rain, or wind - and for that game where the impact is that the team could be relegated, they cannot be there because it's in Thailand. I think this would not be an approach for the Bundesliga."

rd/rc (AFP, AP, RTRE)