Platini appeals to governments

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Platini's letter, which was sent to all European leaders, calls on governments to accept their role as "the last hope for a healthy and balanced future of European football".

England has been a hotbed for foreign investment in recent years and with the current broadcast deal far outstripping its predecessors the professional game is currently awash with cash, but Platini fears the prevalence of money could lead to a dangerous shift in traditional values.

Platini's letter, reproduced in the Daily Telegraph, said: "A serious threat hangs over the development of European football: the malign and ever-present influence of money.

"Money has always been in sport and football has had a professional component for 150 years. But money has never been the ultimate objective of football: the main purpose has always been to win trophies.

"For the first time we may be entering an era in which financial profit alone will be the measure of sporting success."

There had been speculation that the new European Union Reform Treaty would give football's governing bodies more power to tackle inequalities in the game as well as battling doping and a lack of homegrown talent in teams - a problem the Barclays Premier League suffers chronically from.

But Platini is upset that recommendations proposed by Portuguese minister Jose Luis Arnaut have been rejected in favour of a less strongly-worded article which many fear could leave the sport open to legal challenges from clubs and players who do not agree with any tough new measures.

"This article doesn't go far enough to protect football from the rampant commercialism which assails on all sides. Millions of football fans, for whom I speak, are calling on Europe to do more to defend our football and the European sporting model based on financial solidarity between rich and poor, which is the only way to guarantee the values we cherish.

"If I am turning to you, the heads of state of government, it is because you represent the last hope for a healthy and balanced future of European football."