UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin sees Portugal and Spain’s joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup as “a winning bet” and has promised the body will do everything it can to help.
“I see this as a winning offer. We will do what we can to help with this offer. It is time for Europe to host the World Cup. Both countries smell like football. We have some plans to help and we have already spoken with Fernando Gomes and with Luís Rubiales. I am sure that we will have the World Cup in Spain and Portugal in 2030”, he said, in his speech at the Football Talks forum, via videoconference.
In the forum organized by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), the head of UEFA addressed the density of the football competition calendar, considering that “it is close to the limit” and that it will be necessary to find a balance to help the clubs.
“The clubs have to be sustainable and, for that, they have to have a certain number of games. The ones who complain are the big clubs, which play more than the others, but have 25 top players. We should think very seriously about the number of games,” stressed the leader of the body that governs football in Europe, in office since 2016.
The possible creation of a European Super League was controversial, with UEFA totally against it, with Ceferin giving the example of the Moldovan Sheriff, who in the last edition of the Champions League defeated Real Madrid at the Bernabéu.
“People who think that only the elites should play football, don’t think that even they would get much worse. What many do not know is that UEFA returns 95% of its income to the clubs. I insist that the dream lives on. for everyone,” she stressed.
The current format of the European Championship, with 24 teams, “is not the ideal format”, pointed out Ceferin, who highlighted, however, the difficulties in changing the continental competition, while highlighting his satisfaction with the “successful” League of Nations. .
“Maybe 32 teams would be better, but I don’t know if we can change that. If the first two qualified directly, the qualifiers would lose value and the competition would not be as attractive as it should be. We are working on that with the federations. And we’ll see what time gives. If we want to change a competition like this, there will never be any more games, because of the density of the calendar”, he explained.
Finally, the Slovenian mentioned the success of the last Women’s European Football Championship, with “thousands of tickets sold”, which UEFA did not expect “to be a resounding success”, despite being one of the “highest rise of the world”.
“At UEFA, we don’t waste money investing in women’s football and it pays to invest. The new products are the ones we should invest in, for television and for sponsors, because it’s relatively cheap. I am sure that any investment will be very good. ,” he said.
The Football Talks forum takes place between today and Tuesday, at Cidade do Futebol, with an extensive program based on topics related to the five strategic pillars identified in the FPF’s 2030 Football Plan: Childhood and Growth, Football for All and All, Quality of Games, Commitment and Sustainability of the Ecosystem.
Source: TSF
