Barcelona president Joan Laporta calls for stricter rules on state-owned clubs

Joan Laporta says it is ‘complicated’ for clubs such as Barcelona to compete with state-owned clubs. Photograph: Marc Gonzalez Aloma/Action Plus/Shutterstock

State-owned clubs are causing “instability” in football and should be subject to stricter rules, Joan Laporta, the president of Barcelona, has said.

Laporta revealed he was lobbying Uefa to at least harmonise rules over club ownership across Europe because state-owned clubs, such as Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, are “not using the same tools” to compete.