The Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, has praised the Premier League for its financial success and said it is being demonised by critics who claim it is damaging competition with Europe’s other leagues.
Ceferin, elected unopposed for a third term at Uefa’s congress in Lisbon on Wednesdayyesterday, said the threat of a European Super League remained a “present danger” and described the owners of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus as “cartels above meritocracy and democracy” for their leading roles in the plot.
He suggested the original plan to form a breakaway league, thwarted in April 2021, was caused by “jealousy” towards the financial domination of Premier League and England’s top division was a model the rest of Europe should follow.
“Jealousy is a bad adviser,” Ceferin said in a speech to the congress. “Before it was Uefa that was criticised, now it seems that it is the Premier League that is demonised and should be overthrown. Since the British government, supporters and clubs said no to the Super League, the Premier League has been demonised and labelled a Super League in its own right that needs to be toppled.
“However, the Premier League’s success was not achieved by accident. By adopting an audacious approach based on a vision, a strategy and a lot of hard work, its leaders and clubs developed a remarkable model founded on sporting merit and a highly egalitarian distribution of wealth, one of the most egalitarian systems in the world. Rather than a model to be destroyed, this is a model that should be followed.”
Ceferin cited the relative failure of English clubs in European competitions this season as evidence the Premier League is not dominating despite its financial advantage, with Italy providing the most Champions League and Europa League quarter-finalists.
A22 – a consultancy firm hired by the Super League company – presented a 10-point manifesto for reinventing the concept in February, which also detailed the financial dominance of the Premier League, born largely of its TV rights deals. But Ceferin pulled no punches when it came to Real, Barça and Juve, who are understood to have been heavily involved in plans announced for a new competition for elite clubs involving 60 to 80 teams instead of 20.
“Those who promoted this project are now claiming that they want to save football,” he said. “It’s really great that nobody has ever died of shame. The Super League has become a Little Red [Riding] Hood character, a wolf disguised as a grandmother. Who are they kidding? Nobody. They are cartels above meritocracy and democracy. It’s the money over the trophies.
“There is no room for cartels in European football. The general interest must be above the individual interest of three clubs, two financiers and their spokesperson.”
After hinting last month that Uefa was considering relaxing rules that prevent clubs in related ownership from playing in the same competition, Ceferin said this remained under discussion. He said sustainability would have to be at the forefront of the thinking. “We haven’t decided anything about multiclub ownership,” he said. “I don’t have a problem with the interest of profit but they shouldn’t forget about the purpose. The rules should be strict in any way. This is an issue we discussed between five of us but we don’t have a solution yet.”
Ceferin revealed Uefa was considering adding a second female-only position to its executive committee after Lise Klaveness missed out in Wednesday’s elections. The president of Norway’s Football Association was the first woman to run against men for a place on Uefa’s most important body but received 18 of 55 votes. Laura McAllister of Wales was elected unopposed as the guaranteed female member.
The Football Association’s chair, Debbie Hewitt, will be Britain’s vice-president at Fifa after becoming the first woman to beat a man in an election at world football’s governing body.
