UEFA President
Ceferin rules out Saudi clubs from participating in the Champions League
Aleksander Ceferin is critical of the move of several stars to Saudi Arabia
© Hans Punz / DPA
UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin rules out Saudi football clubs from participating in the European Champions League – he takes a relaxed view of the transfer activities of the super-rich competition.
Despite the upgrade of the financially strong Saudi league, Ceferin sees no danger for European football. “We had a similar approach from China, who bought players at the end of their careers and offered them a lot of money. The result: Chinese football didn’t progress after that and didn’t qualify for the World Cup,” explained Ceferin.
Ceferin: Mbappé and Haaland don’t dream of Saudi Arabia
This summer, a number of stars like Neymar or Sadio Mané moved to Saudi Arabia for a lot of money, which Ceferin sees critically: “It’s not the right way, they should work on training players and coaches, but that’s not my problem .”
According to Ceferin, only players at the end of their careers and those who are not ambitious enough are drawn to the desert: “As far as I know, Mbappé and Haaland do not dream of Saudi Arabia,” he said, referring to the superstars Kylian playing in Europe Mbappe and Erling Haaland. “We’ll see what happens, but I don’t think for a second that it could endanger our competitions.”