Alexander Ceferin He was one of the guests at the ‘football and business’ frum organized in London by the ‘Financial Times’ newspaper. The UEFA president participated for thirty minutes and gave his version of what has happened in football in recent months to the present and the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine: “A critical moment was overcome with the pandemic, without fans, after The Super League project appeared, but it was shown to be a small project, without legitimate ideas, then the idea of the World Cup every two years and now the terrible situation that Ukraine is experiencing. This is not football, but we have been able to adapt. We are very strong”.
Ceferin charges against the biennial World Cup: “It’s a bad idea and it won’t happen”
He explained the reasons for the decisions that have been made due to the start of the war conflict. “We don’t know what is happening at the moment because it changes every hour. Many coaches and footballers asked for help to leave Ukraine. They have been helped as much as possible. We analyzed what was happening and made decisions. We made ourselves available to the leaders of the Federation of Ukraine. We are trying to help as much as possible. The football family is united and has shown it again, helping families find a destination, but we don’t know what will happen. I hope it stops as soon as possible. That’s what We should be worried. We can’t say what might happen. Let’s hope that peace will return soon. Football is not important in these conditions.”
The Super League was another of the star points of Ceferin’s talk: “Talking about the Super League is not talking about football. It is not a football project. It was not logical for something like this to appear in the midst of the pandemic. UEFA tried to help footballers and teams in a terrible situation like the pandemic. For us, football and footballers are for the fans. No more Super League or competitions outside the rules of football. They used the pandemic and now the war. The clubs are free to create their own tournament, but don’t expect to compete in the UEFA. I’m tired of this football project”.
Ceferin apologizes for the Champions League draw
Continue with your exposition: “You can pay whoever you want to say it’s a good project, but it’s still a pointless idea. One of the executives who created the project called me to apologize.”
Ancelotti ‘pokes’ Ceferin: “If he is incompetent…”
The changes of the Champions are not related to the movement of the Superliga: “It’s something completely different. We continue to work with the ECA to find the solution to everything. It has nothing to do with it. The calendar is overloaded and the players suffer from it. The teams want to play a lot of games. It’s not a UEFA issue, it’s of football in general. It worries us. We are comparing the Super League project with the changes in FIFA. For the Super League, fans are consumers for UEFA, the most important thing”.
Ceferin opens his hand to planning changes to the calendar and talks about a global League of Nations: “I see logical that the big federations want to play more matches between them. A global League of Nations is a possibility that is being discussed with FIFA. It could not only be played within UEFA but also with other confederations. The World Cup every two years nobody wants it”. .
