Aleksander Čeferin, during his appearance at THE FORUM, the event promoted by Atlético de Madrid and Apollo Sports Capital, warned about the importance of unity and institutional responsibility regarding the future of European football.
During the event held at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano, the president of UEFA asserted that all stakeholders, from clubs to leagues and unions like FIFPRO, must work as partners: “We are all associates, we are all partners. We live in the same ecosystem.” In this regard, he highlighted the positive attitude of leaders like Miguel Ángel Gil and Nasser Al-Khelaïfi in achieving common goals that will allow football to continue flourishing: “We have the same goal; we want football to flourish, to become better.”
On calendar saturation, Čeferin was emphatic in stating that the system has reached its capacity limit: “What I can say now is that we’re at the top. We can’t play any harder.” The leader pointed out that, although there are “selfish perspectives on the situation,” the solution will only come if the entire ecosystem unites: “I believe a decision is possible if the entire ecosystem comes together and we try to reach a solution.”
He also referred to the perception surrounding refereeing in professional football: “The club presidents don’t call me, but they do call other colleagues at UEFA. Nobody ever calls me to say that a penalty awarded to them wasn’t fair; it’s always the ones against them.” He added that UEFA is trying to “explain that the referee is the one who decides on the field and that the decisions must be very clear and quick.”
The UEFA president also highlighted the impact of social projects linked to football, emphasizing the work of the UEFA Foundation: “This is one of my greatest passions here, because we are truly doing some very good things.” He shared his visit to one of these projects: “I was in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, for example, where there are 80,000 refugees. And it’s striking to see the children who lost their parents in Syria, who have such a hard life. When they’re in the camp, they start to smile. They start to play, not just football; we also built basketball courts and funded judo.”
Finally, Čeferin emphasized the global dimension of these initiatives and their future projection: “Looking ahead, we have around 100 projects each year: 50% in Europe and 50% outside of Europe.”
THE FORUM is powered by Atlético de Madrid, Riyadh Air, and Apollo Sports Capital. More information at www.theforum.es.
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