Ceferin: “We had the Super League, the covid, two wars, I hope the next few years will be more peaceful”

The president of UEFA, Aleksander Ceferin, reviewed the current situation in international football, an ecosystem that he hopes will be “more peaceful” in the coming years, weighing the need to generate income with the bulk of the calendar, and the changes in football without forgetting the essence of the sport.

“We had the Super League, the covid, two wars… I hope that in the next five years the ecosystem is more peaceful. The way of consuming football is changing, it is not that young people do not watch football, I do not believe that only a summary is worth it. Technology will be key in the future, without forgetting that football is a wonderful sport, we should not change it,” he said this Thursday at ‘THE FORUM’, a meeting at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano promoted by Atlético de Madrid and Apollo Sports Capital.

“We love the fans, they are the essence of football, they are not customers. We could sell tickets for 10,000 euros, but it is not appropriate, we don’t want to. Football is our culture, our DNA. It would be less difficult for some fans to lose the job than their team loses. We all participate in the ecosystem. We all have the same objective, we want football to flourish and improve, sometimes we don’t agree, but in the end we think the same,” he added.

The president of the body that governs continental football described the change of format in the Champions League as a success, “much more interesting.” “The clubs like the format, until they don’t like the referee and they don’t like the format anymore,” he joked.

In fact, Ceferin talked a lot about the referees and the VAR. “The referee on the field is the one who decides and only if it is a clear error does he intervene. Sometimes referees referee in a different way than they do in their leagues, and it should not be like that. The best thing is to try to obey the rules strictly. There are errors, although I don’t think there are many at European level. There are many clubs that call me about refereeing issues… Nobody calls me to tell me that a penalty in favor was unfair, only if it is against,” he stated.

The top leader of UEFA pointed out that they cannot allow timeshares but they can allow investment funds, because otherwise “they will go somewhere else.” “If an entity owns two clubs, it can be problematic for the integrity of the competition. People have to believe that our matches are not fixed. Allowing one owner to have five clubs in the Champions League is unviable,” he said.

In addition, Ceferin assessed the complaints with the calendar. “Everyone has a selfish vision. The Leagues have 20 teams and could have less, but they don’t want to. The Premier has two cups, but it is tradition. The solution is only possible if the ecosystem comes together. The majority are looking forward to playing with their national team. It is complicated, now we are at maximums, it is going to be difficult to go back. The last competitions that were created were too much,” he confessed.

“The clubs came and said they wanted to play more because they cannot pay players and coaches, the clubs need games to survive. Everyone should join together, but not to say fewer competitions without changing anything else,” he added.

In addition, the UEFA president highlighted the investment in women’s football and its growth. “Women’s football is growing faster than men’s football, although it is still unsustainable. We continue to lose money, although all the tickets are sold, but it is not an expense, it is an investment, because in the next competition in Germany we hope to make profits,” he explained.

On the other hand, Ceferin praised the work of the UEFA Foundation, with children who have lost their parents in Syria or neighborhoods of 50,000 people without a bathroom. “We must continue with these projects. We are privileged, we have a wonderful life and we complain about nonsense, the Foundation is something important to me. Children do not know how to lose, and sport teaches you how to lose. We must get them off their cell phones, off screens, and take them to a team, to play, to do a sport. Elite football has to be used to finance the grassroots and women’s football,” he concluded.