Keypoints:
- Aleksander Ceferin, Uefa’s president has insisted that the players who join the European Super League will be banned from the World Cups and European Championships.
- UEFA committee member,Jesper Moller claims that Chelsea, Manchester United and Real Madrid will be expelled from the Champions League this week.
Aleksandar Ceferin, who is the UEFA’s president, has insisted that the players who join the European Super League will be banned from the World Cups and European Championships. He admitted that it is unlikely that a ban would come into effect in time for the Euro 2020, which starts in June. Ceferin left no one in doubt at his anger at the Super League, which he called a “disgraceful and self-serving proposal from clubs motivated by greed”.
“The players who will play in teams that might play in the closed league will be banned from playing in the World Cup and Euros, so they will not be able to represent their national teams at any matches,” he said. “These cynical plans are completely against what football should be. This idea is a spit in the face of all football lovers and society as well. I’m not going to call them the Dirty Dozen, but …”
“They write in their press release about solidarity, they don’t know ‘S’ about solidarity. They want to be famous. They will be famous in the wrong way,” he added.
On Monday evening, a statement from players Union FIFPro said that it would “vigorously oppose measures by either side that would impede the rights of players, such as exclusion from their national teams”.
Uefa committee member Jesper Moller claims that Chelsea, Manchester City and Real Madrid will be expelled from the Champions League this week. “The clubs must go, and I expect that to happen on Friday,” he told Danish broadcaster DR. “Then we have to find out how to finish (this season’s) Champions League tournament. There must be one extraordinary executive committee meeting on Friday. I have an expectation that the 12 clubs will be thrown out.”
Florentino Pérez, who is the Real Madrid president, however dismissed the threat saying that it is “impossible” and added that the move to establish the breakaway league had been forced upon the 12 clubs.
“Uefa is a monopoly but it needs to be more transparent,” he said. “We want to save football for the next 20 years, it is in a time of serious danger. If you win, you receive €120 to € 130m from Uefa but with the Super League we will earn much more. Many important clubs in Spain, Italy and UK want to find a solution to a very bad financial situation. If there is no audience, small, medium and large clubs will die. They (Uefa) want to make changes for the 2024 Champions League, but if we wait for that we all die.”
Also, Ceferin suggested that it was not impossible for domestic leagues to kick out teams that have broken away.“This is the decision of domestic leagues but we are in contact with them and I’m sure they will do the same sanctions, as we will do within the law of course,” he said.
Uefa had earlier confirmed that it would plough on with a revamped 36-club Champions League from 2024 whether or not the European Super League is established. Ceferin, however admitted that he was blindsided by the announcement made on Sunday.
“I’ve seen many things in my life, I was a criminal lawyer for 24 years, so I’ve seen different people, but I’ve never ever seen people like that,” he said. “If I start with Ed Woodward,” he added of Manchester United’s executive vice-chairman. “I didn’t have much contact with him but he called me last Thursday in the evening, saying that he’s very satisfied with the reforms, that he fully supports the reforms, and that the only thing he would like to speak about is financial fair play. And obviously he already signed something else.”
Ceferin was even blunter when talking about the Juventus chairman, Andrea Agnelli. “He’s probably the biggest disappointment of all,” he said. “I don’t want to be too personal. But the fact is I’ve never seen a person lie so many times, so persistently. That he did was unbelievable. I spoke with him on Saturday afternoon. He added that, ‘These are only rumours. Don’t worry, nothing is going on.’ And then he said: ‘I’ll call you in one hour.’ And he turned off the phone. Next day, we get the announcement. I’ve seen many things in my life but not a situation like that. Obviously, greediness is so strong that all the human values evaporate.”
Ceferin was earlier asked whether it is right for a player who might have signed with a club years ago to be banned from his national team if that club joins the breakaway. “Yeah, it’s an interesting question, and I think that this is one of the legal questions,” he said.
Ceferin concluded his press conference with a retort to the clubs that have decided to leave. “How can you see all your fans protesting and you don’t care?” he said. “You are full of money anyway, but you want more and more and more. I’ve had enough that football clubs are assets – they are part of our history.”
