LONDON - UEFA president Michel Platini wants to stop clubs like Real Madrid embarking on spending sprees using borrowed money by changing entry rules for the Champions League to ensure that players' salaries and transfer fees are proportionate to a club's income.

Big spending has come into sharp focus with Madrid using bank loans to buy three of the game's most sought-after players in the last month for more than euro200 million (S$492 million), including world player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo.

European football's ruling body said on Thursday it wanted the financial constraints, which would also cover the new Europa League, to be finalised in September ready for a phased introduction.

Uefa's executive committee - meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania - also agreed to give referees the power to halt or abandon matches in European competitions if there is racist chanting. It also confirmed an experiment with additional assistant referees behind each goal would be used in this season's Europa League group stage.

Platini has made curbing excessive spending by clubs his top priority in order to maintain their long-term sustainability.

'The only club which did not have debts this season was Barcelona, while all others lived beyond their means,' Platini said. 'In the future we will see to it that clubs have enough funds to finance the players. Uefa will be more active in this process.'

That means stopping players being purchased by clubs relying on huge amounts of borrowed money.

Florentino Perez regained the Madrid presidency by pledging to build a star-studded squad for the nine-time European Cup champions.

But the signings of Ronaldo from Manchester United for a record 80 million-pound (S$196 million) and Kaka for euro65 million from AC Milan were funded by bank loans.

Spanish building society Caja Madrid issued a loan of euro76.5 million and Spain's largest bank Banco Santander has reportedly agreed to lend the same amount.

Madrid also this week announced it will pay up to euro41 million for 21-year-old France striker Karim Benzema.

'I think there's something abnormal in this,' Platini told French sports daily L'Equipe. 'I don't like all this.' -- AP