UEFA president Michel Platini welcomed the English Premier League backing his demands for more financial transparency from clubs, but stressed the need for all clubs to urgently curb debts before they start going bankrupt.
Platini's concerns about financial fair play will be in sharp focus next Wednesday when Manchester United plays Barcelona in the Champions League final.
Malcolm Glazer-owned United is consumed by a debt which has spiraled to more than $1 billion despite winning last season's Champions League, the Club World Cup and the English title.
"If people come into football to make money, we can say, 'No, this is bad,'" Platini told The Associated Press on Friday. "We are not trying to hurt the clubs, we are trying to help them.
"Maybe the big owners _ Glazer and (Chelsea's Roman) Abramovich _ will say no thank you, but many other clubs come to us to ask for our help."
In contrast to United, Barcelona reported debts last year of less than $20 million because it is still owned by the fans rather than experiencing a debt-leveraged takeover.
"In England the clubs are very liberal, but in Spain the clubs are owned by fans, it is totally different," Platini said.
The Premier League, the world's most popular and profitable, announced last week that it would strengthen its rules to prevent clubs overspending, and follow UEFA by demanding a financial sustainability plan before issuing a license to play in the competition.
"I want to congratulate the Premier League about what they said on financial plans," Platini said. "I am against what they planned with the 39th game (overseas) because I don't think it is good, but for this I am very happy and I support them because we are trying to do the same all over Europe."
Platini, though, wants regulations to go further than the rules the English topflight is planning to adopt, by preventing clubs taking on huge debts to deliver trophies.
"We have a responsibility to make teams more transparent _ what we want to do in the future is easy in one sentence: Don't spend more money than we receive," Platini said in Istanbul, where he attended the UEFA Cup final. "We need to do something because the world is facing big difficulties because there are many debts. Debts are different in England, Spain and France. Debts are good when you want to invest in the stadium. They are not good when you spend more money than you have because of the salaries of the players.
"Many owners, perhaps two or three are not happy, but 95 percent are very happy we will do something because we want to help them because otherwise we will have bankruptcies."
England's Football Association estimated last year that debts in the English game total about 3 billion pounds ($4.5 billion).
"We have to help to save the clubs. It's not just about thinking about the future, you can't just escape the situation now," Platini said. "Football is beautiful, we have beautiful teams, beautiful players, beautiful atmospheres, but it is a beautiful toy for many people and we should not break this toy.
"We have to take care of the people. Football is football. We can play with two stones if we like, but we also have to take care of business. When we lose popularity, people will leave football."
