KEIR RADNEDGE in ROME —- European football is stronger, more united than ever and spearheaded financially by its new version of financial fair play – according to UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin.

The Slovene lawyer, elected into power by the European federation in 2016, was addressing the opening session of the annual congress of AIPS, the international sports journalists’ association in Rome.

Ceferin, who is all but certain to stand unopposed for re-election next spring, put a positive spin in answering a mix of questions from delegates. Not that this has been easy, after events of recent years.

He said: “We have lived in a constant crisis for almost three years because of COVID-19 and different problems. We had more crises in two and a half years than UEFA had faced in the previous 60. It was complicated but we came out on the right side.

“The best of it is that when we had these critical times with Covid and the so-called super league that European football stayed united and is now more united than ever. We showed we can stand together when there is a crisis.”

The “so-called super league idea” as Ceferin calls it, refuses to go away. At the weekend Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, one of the rebels along with Juventus’ Andrea Agnelli and Barcelona’s Joan Laporta, insisted that the project remained alive and well.

Cash balance

Ceferin, who believes too many words had been wasted on the contentious subject, explained the far wider reach of UEFA’s projects to promote financial sustainability across European elite football.

He said: “The main problem in the world is globalisation so from the [football] perspective a club from my country is smaller than a club from Italy but also a company is smaller because of the size of the market.

“Our new financial fairplay rules are trying to slow the gap. We can’t be naïve but the new system [we have launched] is a good one – which is shown by the fact that the leagues who always want stricter rules and the big clubs who would like them softer are all in agreement.

“We cannot have a salary cap like in the United States. The new plan clubs can spend up to 70pc of their revenue for salaries which is going to make clubs sustainable because now you have some clubs who spend 100pc on salaries which means they are not sustainable.”

New event

One contributory factor in building UEFA’s brave new world is the expansion of the Champions League from 2024.

Ceferin said: “The new system will be more interesting than before with four more teams and with a different kind of system. Nowadays in a group, after one or two matches you know who will qualify. With this new system you won’t know who will qualify until almost the end. As it is now everyone plays within a group. In the new system everyone can play everyone.”

The expansion of the Champions League will be echoed in the other two competitions, including the new Conference League whose success had surprised critics.

Ceferin said: “I’m very satisfied with the Conference League. Some smart guys told us no-one will not watch this and now the same guys are asking why we don’t have the finals in bigger stadiums for all fans?”

In terms of football’s international politics, Ceferin refuted speculation about a rift between UEFA and FIFA having arisen over the world governing body’s short-lived and unpopular consideration of a World Cup every two years.

Ceferin said: “The idea didn’t make any sense then in the end, at the last FIFA Congress, we learned it was not even the idea of FIFA but the idea of Saudi Arabia, instead.

All-powerful pair

“FIFA and UEFA agree in 95pc of things. The five per cent are very interesting for public opinion which likes scandals and fights but I think it’s important we both protect our own organisations and when we disagree we disagree. Relations between UEFA and FIFA are better now than before because, before, it was tough.”

Both UEFA and FIFA hold presidential elections next year. Ceferin did not expect any European candidate to stand against FIFA supremo Gianni Infantino and said he already possessed 55 letters of support for his own continuance at the head of UEFA. This was entirely logical: 55 is the totality of the UEFA membership.

FIFA, during the two men’s likely new terms of office, will decide on the host of the centenary World Cup in 2030. The main candidates promise a duel between Europe with a joint bid from Spain plus Portugal against a South American consortium from Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Chile.

Ceferin has no doubt about the outcome. He said: “I’m sure we will win and I say “we” because Spain and Portugal are our federations. There will be interesting developments in a few days’time and I’m looking forward to coming to their world cup.

“I have heard that the final will be in the Santiago Bernabeu but that’s OK.”

The Estadio Bernabeu, of course, is the home of Real Madrid.

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