The men’s football calendar is full and “we cannot play one more match”, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has told Sky News.
Amid concerns about workload for players, and fears of burnout, the boss of European football said expanding the Champions League was essential to help clubs in financial difficulties as costs escalate and to spread more cash across the continent.
In a rare interview, Mr Ceferin also said:
• Financial regulations could be changed again if clubs are finding it hard to comply
• There are no longer plans to stage the Champions League final outside of Europe
• UEFA would welcome Saudi sponsorship
• Politicians should stop interfering in football
• England fans should stop being angry after losing back-to-back men’s European Championship finals.
Mr Ceferin has led UEFA for eight years – fending off the biggest threat to his organisation when the men’s Super League breakaway was repelled in 2021.
But elite clubs have helped to shape a radical transformation of the Champions League with more teams, additional games, and a more complex format.
Players’ unions have warned that their members are at “breaking point” as competitions grow – an issue acknowledged by the UEFA leader.
‘Players don’t want to play more matches’
Mr Ceferin told Sky News: “There are too many matches, probably today, already.
“The thing is that from one point of view, we have clubs saying we cannot afford paying the players and coaches anymore. They are in financial difficulties.
“From the other point of view, players, of course, don’t want to play more matches, but I think with these interesting matches, this will be a benefit for everyone.”
Mr Ceferin told Sky News he would welcome Saudi sponsorship
Especially when the Champions League prize fund is soaring by almost 25% to €2.5bn (£2.1bn) – a welcome boost, according to Mr Ceferin, even for clubs in the wealthy Premier League.
“Practically all the clubs because of different reasons have some financial problems,” Mr Ceferin said.
“The calendar is full and it’s so full that nothing can change anymore,” Mr Ceferin said, not wanting to discuss the Club World Cup.
“I think we cannot play one more match, but for the rest, I think that everybody wants to win the European competitions.”
Europe will remain the place where Champions League finals are staged.
In his first interview after being elected in 2016, Mr Ceferin told me he was open to moving them abroad, but that is now no longer the case.
“We are not planning to host a Champions League out of Europe,” he said. “And it’s not about changing the system. It’s about the fact that the Champions League is a European competition, that fans deserve to have matches in Europe.”
Newcastle fans celebrate the club’s Saudi takeover in 2021. Pic: Reuters
Saudi influence
There was a fear a year ago that Saudi Arabia could attempt to usurp European football but the spending spree has not been repeated by their clubs in this summer transfer window.
“I don’t think that the big spending or overspending of Saudi influenced much,” Mr Ceferin said.
“I know that some clubs even benefited from it because they sold players for a lot of money and anyway they wanted to sell them.
“I think [Saudi Arabia] understand now that they have to invest into infrastructure, into coaching, because they have very young people who are super talented for sure, and they have to develop their own players.
“If you buy players that are slowly finishing their career, this doesn’t help developing. But of course that’s not my problem.”
The Saudis are spending lavishly on sponsorship in football which UEFA would embrace.
“Every sponsorship is welcome,” Mr Ceferin said. “We distribute altogether 97% of all the money back to football and we redistribute 93.5% of all the club revenues to the clubs.
“For me, I would be super happy if we get even more sponsors, even bigger deals for broadcasting which will not be easy, but of course the co-operation with everyone is welcome.”
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Politics and football
A concern is meddling by politicians – a notable comment at a time as Sir Keir Starmer’s new administration plans legislation for the introduction of a regulator for English football, reviving Conservative plans.
Speaking generally ahead of the new European season, Mr Ceferin said: “In this crazy world where we have wars every day, we have a very tense situation.
“We have politics interfering into football quite a lot everywhere. But we are ready. We are ready. We are strong and I am positive.”
‘Too much anger’
And he has a message for England fans to be positive rather than complaining about the men’s team not winning a trophy since 1966 and losing the Euros finals in 2021 and again this July.
The next men’s Euros is being staged in Britain and Ireland with the final at Wembley in 2028.
“There’s too much anger in the society,” he said. “England reached the finals of the Euros. They were close to winning both.
“I thought that should be a success. That should be a huge success. I understand the disappointment because for a country like England or France or Spain, it’s always only the winning of the competition that is important.
“But still if I speak about the English national team, you have fantastic players. You have a chance to win it in 2028. It might even be sweeter to win at home – going home at home.”
