UEFA president, Aleksander Ceferin, rejected the idea of a biennial World Cup and suggested he’s open to meeting with the three main Super League clubs.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino is pushing for a World Cup every two years, something that most in the footballing world are seemingly against, scared of devaluing the competition and history. It’s understandable that UEFA are particularly concerned, considering that the European Championships are held in the middle of the four-year World Cup cycle.
Speaking in an interview with Journal du dimanche, Ceferin first discussed the idea of a biennial World Cup and how it would impact both the men’s and women’s game.
“I am sure that the two-year World Cup will not happen, because it is a completely nonsensical idea.
“It seems incredible to me that a football organisation could propose an idea whereby footballers, who are already struggling with a heavy calendar, would have to play a month-long tournament every summer, World Cup, continental tournament, World Cup, continental tournament and so on. Among other things, this would cannibalise women’s football.”
The UEFA president discussed the European Super League project.
“I believe that the impetus came in 2019 from the discussions on the new format of the Champions League. There some clubs started to work seriously on the Super League, they discussed it three years before the tear and prepared it while shaking hands.”
He then looked back on a famous day that the European Super League was announced.
“I remember two particularly stressful days, on the phone from seven in the morning to midnight. They were counting on twelve clubs to break away and that the others would then follow, but it all lasted forty-eight hours.”
Finally, Ceferin highlighted that he was open to discussions with Juventus, Barcelona and Real Madrid, the three clubs who have refused to give up on the Super League project.
“I haven’t heard from them, but I have no problems with the three clubs, which have a great tradition and which I respect. If they ask for a meeting, I would sit down and talk to them, for the good of football.
“But I keep receiving nonsense court cases. The European Court of Justice hasn’t ruled yet, all the EU governments support us and so do the European Commission, the European Parliament, the British government.
“I can’t say what will happen in twenty, thirty or forty years, but for sure in the next ten years there can’t be any Super League, because nobody wants it except for those who think football is only about money.”