September 3 – In a wide-ranging interview UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin addressed the major issues facing football in Europe from geo-political to the international calendar, and UEFA’s relationship with FIFA. He also ruled out any talk of his running for the FIFA presidency.
Ceferin spoke to Politico ahead of the UEFA Champions League draw in Monaco last week and was quick to criticise ‘reckless politicans’ for the instability in the world and the loss of life being witnessed in Gaza and the Ukraine.
Asked what it would take to admit Russia and its clubs back into European competition, he said that first the killing must stop.
“For us, it’s pretty clear that the war has to stop. The war has to stop. I hope that we are moving in the right direction, but I don’t have information except from the media. We wanted to bring youngsters, under-17 boys and girls, back, and we even got the support from our executive committee. But then it was such a political hysteria. Such a pressure on certain members of the executive committee; they didn’t change their mind but they asked us to wait because they were privately, personally so attacked that they couldn’t stand it anymore.”
UEFA has not banned Israel from its competitions despite the war in Gaza, so should their treatment be the same as the Russians?
“Look, first of all, what’s happening with civilians there is personally hurting, killing me. It’s impossible to see these things anymore. From the other point of view, I’m not a supporter of banning the athletes. Because what can an athlete do to their government to stop the war? It’s very, very hard. Now, the ban for Russian teams is, I think, three and a half years. Did the war stop? It didn’t. So for now, I don’t know. I have to say that with the situation in Russia and Ukraine, there was a super strong political pressure. Now it’s more a pressure of the civil society than politicians, because politicians are obviously, when it comes to wars and victims, very pragmatic. I cannot say what will happen. There are talks about everything, but me personally, I’m against kicking the athletes out…
“I cannot understand how a politician who can do a lot to stop the slaughter, anywhere, can go to sleep seeing all the children and all the civilians dead. I don’t understand it. You know, the idea football should solve these problems? No way.”
Before the Super Cup final UEFA displayed a banner with the message ‘Stop Killing Children, Stop Killing Civilians’, while Ceferin presented the medals flanked by two child refugees from Gaza. This prompted hysterical Israeli comment comparing UEFA to Hamas.
Čeferin said: “We are not living on another planet. We are living in this world. And when you see children dying all around the world because of – it’s a diplomatic statement, if I say – reckless politicians. Whoever thinks that ‘Stop Killing Children, Stop Killing Civilians’ is a political message is an idiot, for me.
“It’s terrible that children are dying because of political interest, starving to death. Mohamed, who was giving the medals with me [at the Super Cup], lost his mother and his father. And he was heavily injured. I’ve never seen a child hugging me so much as he did. He needs love. He doesn’t need another bomb on his head because of a geopolitical interest. So it’s far from politics.”
Is FIFA trying to eat your Champions League lunch?
Čeferin said that he had no problem with the Club World Cup every four years, but if it was every two years then there would be an issue.
“I’m not concerned at all,” he said. “Our clubs wanted it, especially the big clubs, I think that the reason was mainly financial. And if they organize a Club World Cup every four years, for our organization and for me personally, it’s perfectly fine.”
As to running the full competition every two years: “I wouldn’t agree with that, but I don’t think they want to… club football is not only UEFA territory. They had this Club World Cup before, which was a much smaller thing. I mean, the most problematic thing about that is that the players are dead after the season, and then they have to go and play in this five-week tournament, which is too much. They would have to speak also with the clubs who supported this idea.”
As far as Ceferin is concerned the relationship with FIFA is ‘absolutely’ positive, despite the walkout of UEFA’s FIFA Council members at the FIFA Congress in May.
Owners, who needs them?
Ceferin acknowledged that the multi-club ownership of European clubs “is one of the issues that we will have to deal with now, quite a lot. Now to forbid it completely means that you will push the investors out of football. To allow two clubs to be owned by the same owner and play the same competition is a no-go for us because of the credibility of the competition. The moment we lose credibility of competition, we lose everything.”
As for leagues regular season matches to countries outside their normal domestic locations – as LaLiga and Serie A are proposing for games in the US and Australia – Cefering is not in favour though is likely limited in UEFA’s decision making power.
“We’re not happy but, as much as we checked legally, we don’t have much space here, if the federation agrees, and both federations agreed. But I think that for the future we’ll have to discuss this very seriously, because football should be played in Europe, fans should watch football at home, they cannot travel to Australia or the U.S. to watch their teams,” said Ceferin.
“We will open this discussion also with FIFA, and with all the federations, because I don’t think it’s a good thing. OK, if it’s an exception, fine; if there’s a reason, fine; but, in principle, European teams should play in Europe because the fans that are supporting them live in Europe. It’s a big tradition.”
To read the full interview in Politico, click here. https://www.politico.eu/article/politico-interview-uefa-president-aleksander-ceferin/
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