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maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 6 SEPTEMBER 2017 20 Sport SPORTTODAY OLYMPICS FOOTBALL Brazil police probe suspected vote-buying for 2016 Olympics BRAZIL'S federal police on Tuesday said they raided the home of Carlos Arthur Nuz- man, the national Olympic committee's president, to probe a suspected interna- tional vote-buying scheme to secure Rio de Janeiro's selec- tion as the host of the 2016 Games. Police were also serving two arrest warrants and conduct- ing search and seizure opera- tions as part of the investiga- tion started nine months ago in cooperation with French authorities, a police statement said. French newspaper Le Monde in March said a company linked to Brazilian business- man Arthur Cesar de Menezes Soares Filho paid $1.5 million to Papa Massata Diack, son of Lamine Diack who was then International Association of Athletics Federations presi- dent, three days before the 2009 IOC vote to choose the host city for the 2016 Games. Rio lost the first vote to Ma- drid but bounced back to win the nomination on a third bal- lot, by 66 votes to 32. After the publication of the Le Monde report, the IOC said it had started investigat- ing the allegations, and a Rio 2016 Games spokesman said the 2009 IOC vote was clean. Yesterday, a spokesman for the Rio Olympics declined to comment on the federal police statement. An IOC media representa- tive said, "The IOC has learnt about these circumstances from the media and is making every effort to get the full in- formation," "It is in the highest interests of the IOC to get clarification on this matter," the represent- ative added. UEFA president says rich-poor divide is key issue in European football PREVENTING the growing gap between the rich clubs and the rest is the key issue in European football, UEFA president Alek- sander Ceferin said on Monday. The issue came to a head last year when UEFA, with the Euro- pean Club Association's (ECA) backing, introduced changes to the Champions League which will reduce the number group stage slots allocated to teams from Europe's smaller leagues. The decision was made amid suggestions that the big clubs were considering a breakaway Super League. "Let's put our cards on the table and be honest with our- selves: the biggest challenge over the next few years will be 'competitive balance'," Ceferin told the ECA general assembly. "How can we continue to de- velop football in Europe and avoid widening the huge gulf between the most powerful and the rest? That is the million-dol- lar question. "I am a pragmatist; I am open to any practical suggestion that might benefit European foot- ball," he added. Ceferin said he was pleased that he had been able to talk to the ECA about "about ideas such as salary caps, luxury tax, squad limits and even reforming the transfer sys- tem" during the last few months. "If this is the direction we must take, we will," he added. Ceferin, elected as UEFA pres- ident in September after the changes had been approved, ad- mitted they had created "a few misunderstandings and frustra- tions for some." The Slovenian lawyer also in- sisted the UEFA would enforce its breakeven rules known as Fi- nancial Fair Play. UEFA's finan- cial control last week began in- vestigating if Paris St Germain's spending spree had fallen foul of the rules. Brazilian striker Neymar left Barcelona to join PSG last month after the French side triggered his 222 million euros (204.26 million pounds) release clause and the record-breaking fees are unlikely to fall in the near future, agent and transfer market expert Esteve Calzada told Reuters. "UEFA's credibility and that of football rests on us ensuring that the rules that are in force are respected. Nobody is above the law," Ceferin said. ECA chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who will step aside on Tuesday after decid- ing not to seek re-election, said "everyone will benefit" from the reform of European club com- petitions. "The small ones understand the big ones, and the big ones bear responsibility for the small ones," said the former West Germany international. "The reform of the European club competitions has proven this again." UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin