[Thread] Aleksander Čeferin interview on Slovenian TV station 24ur.

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Čeferin "I told my UEFA delegates who where worried and asking me "What now?" I told them to give me 24 hours and this (Super) league wouldn't exist anymore ". #SuperLeague #UEFA

Čeferin "Where was the breaking point? It was a set of different things. It started with our statement with the football associations and clubs where we strongly opposed to the creation of this Super League, that was on Sunday afternoon ". #SuperLeaque #UEFA

Čeferin "The clubs announced the creation of the Super League later that day at midnight or around that time. The executive board had a meeting the following morning when we confirmed the new Champions League format ". #SuperLeaque #UEFA

Čeferin "I had a press conference afterwards where I tried to honestly explain everything that was happening behind the curtains. Following that there was a response from the cabinet of the UK prime minister Boris Johnson, the French president Emmanuel Macron was very quick...

Čeferin "...aswell with his statement. But the people who helped stop this the most were the fans, who staged a real revolution against this, stating they were being overlooked and not considered when this change was taking place ". #SuperLeague #UEFA

Čeferin "The UK prime minister is well aware how much football means to the fans in the UK, they realise that fans are economically one of the lowest classes in the country and that they "live a hard life" because they spend every last bit of their money on football which... "

Čeferin "... is their passion and relaxation. They are part of the European culture, the are part of the history and I thought that the reaction from the prime minister was very logical ". #SuperLeague #UEFA

Čeferin "He really cared what was gonna happen with football because it would really affect the citizens of the UK ". #SuperLeague #UEFA

Čeferin "We kept in touch(with prime minister Johnson) yes and I talked to his cabinet today aswell. I thought their reaction was fantastic, I have to admit I was really impressed with how efficient they were. They told us straight away that they are available... ".

Čeferin "For any kind of help with the matter and that they would address the public with a really strong statement and I think the UK goverment was a huge help to us in stopping this (Super League) ". #SuperLeague #UEFA

Čeferin "I've never experienced such a conspiracy theory in a long time, we were disscussing matters with 47 clubs that are part of the ECA about the future of the Champions League after the year 2024. The person I talked the most to was the president of the ECA(Agnelli)... ".

Čeferin "... who was constantly telling me they are with us. Every now and then I heard rumours that something was being created but I maybe naively didn't believe that since I'm talking to these people everyday, finding solutions for the future of the Champions League... ".

Čeferin "... with them, I just didn't believe they would have anything planned behind our backs. On Thursday(15.4.2021) I got a call from Ed Woodward and he told me that we prepared fantastic new reforms, that he greatly supports them and... ".

Čeferin "... and that he's happy that they're gonna vote on them on Friday. On Friday they had a meeting that was lead by the then president of the ECA Andrea Agnelli and everyone voted for the changes we suggested. So the same people who at the time... ".

Čeferin "... have already signed something else, were voting for these changes and after that the story is even more complicated ". Čeferin and Agnelli are real personal friends in their private life. Čeferin is also the Godfather to Agnelli's daughter #SuperLeague #UEFA

Čeferin "Maybe I was bit naive but I always say it's better to be naive rather than being a liar. I am just naive (said with a smirk on his face) ".

Čeferin "Saturday was really interesting, I got a call in the morning from someone and he said he had reliable information that on Sunday at around midnight there was going to be an announcement of some kind of Super League. After that I recieved calls... ". #SuperLeague #UEFA

Čeferin "... from 5 out of these 12 clubs and everyone was apologising that they were sorry but that they had to sign the contract, that if they didn't they would drop out of this new league and so on. I called Agnelli straight away, he didn't pick up his phone... ".

Čeferin "... When I finally got him I asked him what's this about and he told me it was nonsense and that it's not true, it's all made up. I told him okay if it's made up because I'm not *that* naive, I told him that we need to make a press release... ".

Čeferin "... about this and say that it's all made up and he told me fantastic. He told me to prepare a draft and that we will be in touch. I tried to get him on the phone again and after I finally got him he told me I don't really like the draft as much... ".

Čeferin "... let me change it a bit and I'll call you, he never called back and he turned off his phone ". This was happening on Saturday in the evening hours
"I was driving to Switzerland and when I got there I got a call from a club that was last to sign... ".

Čeferin "... the contract to join this new league and they told me they needed to sign the contract first thing tommorow morning or they won't be part of it and I said okay tommorow morning we start a war if it's like that you guys become my enemies... ".

Čeferin "...they told me they would like to be friends withing the Super League and I told him no such thing can exist and from then on it started. I think it was announced at midnight or 1AM on Sunday through Monday which again I find really interesting... ".

Čeferin "... because it's about European football and yet they announced it in the middle of the night, obviously for the American market, which especially made some fans even more angry ". #SuperLeague #UEFA

Agnelli made a comment that the relationship between them broke on a personal level in their private life.
Čeferin "Yeah that's okay, I think if you're talking about business you're not doing it privately, it's not like we were talking where... ".

Čeferin "... to go on a vacation or how are the kids doing, I wouldn't like to talk about that publicly. But if someone brings uncertainty to the fate of European football and essentially with that International football because of constant lies... ".

Čeferin "... then I think that's a very public matter that needs to be handled and I'm always ready for something like that. But it's hard to admit something like this, it's probably easier to say that it was a personal issue in our private lives ".

Čeferin "Was I underestimated? It's hard to say, possibly I was, for sure if you go into a project like this so unprepared and unverified you're not just underestimating me but the whole situation that comes with it, these people are really wealthy... ". #SuperLeague #UEFA

Čeferin "... at the end of the day so I'm amazed that they didn't really know what they were getting into, but it's a fact that I don't believe anyone's gonna underestimate me in football in the future ". #SuperLeague #UEFA

Čeferin "To me it's quite scary that you can be so enormously rich and that profit is so important to you, that values start meaning nothing to you, that you can speak your lies and take your own clubs players, coaches and staff of the club to a whole new competition... ".

Čeferin "... without them even knowing about it. Zvonimir Boban told me that he signed for AC Milan because he wanted to win the Champions League, he said he wouldn't have signed if they were creating some new phantom leagues, which would only please a certain amount... ".

Čeferin "... of wealthy people. For me and I'm not trying to use an over offensive expression but for me it's downright horrible that greed can be so big... ".

Čeferin "... that you completely don't care for the sport we all love, for the European culture, the European tradition, for the fans and for personal friendships ". #SuperLeague #UEFA

Čeferin "(Perez) is a president of a Super League that doesn't exist, so essentially he's the president of nothing at this moment... ". #SuperLeague #UEFA

Čeferin "...and secondally I know for a long time now that Perez doesn't want a president that's like me and that's an even better motiviation for me to continue ". #SuperLeague #UEFA

Čeferin "He wants a president who would oblige him, that would listen to him and do as he pleases, but I'm trying to work in the way that I think it's best for European and International football ". #SuperLeague #UEFA

Čeferin "The fans have an enormous power, a public opinion has a lot of power. Fans are very numerous, they love their club and if the fans get angry, in a way it's like a revolution that no country can afford and I think it was highly responsible of Boris Johnson... ".

Čeferin "... that he strongly backed up the fans voices, not just for culture and love of the game but it also ensures order in the country ".

Čeferin "Did the American owners underestimate the power of European football? In a way we have to admit it wasn't just American owners who were part of this there were European owners aswell and all of them underestimated all of us, that's quite typical... ".

Čeferin "... for people who are surrounded by people who nod and tell them they are the best and the biggest. But the truth is that all these American owners that are in Europe at different clubs, don't have the same view as these American owners who wanted... ".

Čeferin "... the Super League. I talked to Roma's owner, to Marseille's owner who are both American billionaires, they both called me and publicly stated that they would never join a league like that, as they respect the tradition and fans of the club ".

Čeferin "... So I would feel guilty saying that American owners are different than other but it's true that their sports system is different. Some inquire about it really well and the others haven't but they obviously found out how the is situation now ".

Čeferin "i think young people are really entertained and interested in football to me that's really clear. The fact is that football is a sport, a passion, a school of life that we can learn a lot from, I learned alot from football myself. You can't look at football... ".

Čeferin "... as a product, the players aren't clients or consumers, after matches you shouldn't look at how much money you have on your bank account or how many followers you have on Twitter ".

Čeferin "... That's something that has stayed with some of these owners of the big clubs and these owners lost touch with reality, and reality has been showed to them in the UK in the last 24 hours ". #SuperLeague #UEFA

Čeferin "A spanish reporter asked me why I wasn't talking to these owners directly and I told him we talked to them for 2 years and then they disappeared in the middle of the night. I'm not gonna search for them in Europe just so I could talk to them. Right now... ".

Čeferin "... they would all like to have a dialogue and I'm not saying we won't talk to eachother I just think we will have to assess how the situation is for any given club and we'll see how that resolves. You have to be honest and righteous if you want to have a dialogue back "

Čeferin "I don't want it to sound like it's me against Perez, this is about football. I can sit next to everybody especially in European matches where I have the power to invite or remove someone next to my seat. The fact is that if any of these clubs would like to play... ".

Čeferin "... in our competitions they will need to approach us and we will need to resolve the matters with those clubs, I wouldn't like to go into details about it because we're still disscussing it with our legal team but I would like to say that I think the decision... ".

Čeferin "... by the English clubs has been really good and we will consider their apologies for their mistakes, because we all make mistakes ". #SuperLeague #UEFA

Čeferin "All the clubs disappointed me but maybe Barcelona was the club that least disappointed me because they've just elected a new president, I spoke 2 or 3 times with Laporta and he had to inherit a tough financial situation at Barcelona which put him under... ".

Čeferin "... a lot of pressure and he had an exit planned just in case it didn't work out. Clubs do have losses but also because they are badly run. If you're overpaying for the wrong players that don't get you results you're making your own losses ".

Čeferin "Bayern Munich don't have losses and they won the Champions League. Covid shouldn't be the main excuse for some of these clubs but like the president of Bundesliga said it's a sad way of running a club ". #SuperLeague #UEFA

Čeferin "It was very important that the German clubs publicly denied their involvement in this league and I was in constant touch with the general director at Bayern Munich and general director at Borussia Dortmund and they showed us great support in this ".

Čeferin "The maximum support was offered by Nasser Al-Khelaifi who by some logic could have been one of the teams that was first to join the Super League but he didn't because he believes in football, he says the football pyramid shouldn't be broken, he was... ".

Čeferin "... a huge help and was always with us and without him, Rummenigge and Watzke we would have had a much harder job of stopping this ". #SuperLeague #UEFA

Čeferin "I recieved a very interesting joke from one of the big clubs about Real Madrid and Juventus playing eachother every day in the Super League. We will see what will happen with the European ties, we have a meeting tommorow morning but look if there was... ".

Čeferin "... so much change in the last 24 hours I expect a lot of changes until Friday. Whoever said that they are completely calm in this situation is not telling the truth. The situation is really complicated, but not for Uefa ".

Čeferin "We have 235 clubs on our side out of 247 or we had, now we have 244 clubs on our side, everybody stands with us. I got messages of support from practically every European club in these leagues ". #SuperLeague #UEFA

Čeferin "The key part is the fact that the competition has already started and it's advanced, your TV station like most others would want their money back if the semi finals wouldn't be played so there's a relatively small chance... ".

Čeferin "... of the games not being played next week. But in the future things will be *a bit different* ". #SuperLeague #UEFA

Čeferin "I don't have billions of dollars of money to give to the English clubs, do you really think these clubs would be apologising to me if I gave them money? They wouldn't apologise they would approach us in a different way ".

Čeferin "They know exactly why they came back, they made a mistake, they called me and I respect that. You have to be big to admit your mistakes so I have a much deeper respect for these clubs who have apologised rather than the other clubs who keep insisting... ".

Čeferin "... on something that doesn't exist. It's relatively quite funny. Uefa's doors are open to clubs coming back but every club will need to accept the consequences that they get ". #SuperLeague #UEFA

Čeferin "I think football is a very interesting activity and I think these clubs are part of Uefa, I'm sure of it because these clubs play in European competitions every year but I will never have a personal relationship with some of the individuals again ".

Čeferin "Personally when they released the news about the SL I was convinced and I even told my Uefa delegates that in the next 24 hours this competition won't exist anymore. After the congress I was even more convinced after I started getting calls from some of the clubs ".

Čeferin "My balance wouldn't change even if the Super League happened. What many people don't know is that Uefa redistributes 90% of all funds back into amateur football, woman's football and countries that don't have a lot of money I always believed in the power of football "

Čeferin "Since I was appointed I realised the enormous power of football. Football can start or end wars. Football can trigger amazing social shifts and I was completely sure that especially in England, that the fans wouldn't give up and I knew from the reactions... ".

Čeferin "... from Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron, Viktor Orban and many others. The president of Hungary(Viktor Orban) is a huge fan of football, he respects football and I liked that he backed us up ". #SuperLeague #UEFA

Čeferin "I had to drive home for 8 hours by myself from Switzerland. The whole family was waiting for me despite the late hours because they were very worried ".

Čeferin "They knew I was under a lot of pressure and they knew what was at stake and if I'm honest I had to pour myself a double whisky just so I could fall asleep (smirks) ". #SuperLeague #UEFA

Čeferin "The hardest situation was on Saturday evening, when I arrived in Switzerland and I saw the people who I thought were closed to me lied to me and I had so much stuff on my mind about what's gonna happen to European football and how to save it... ".

Čeferin "... that night when I was all alone, but the next morning I was completely sure we would succeed in stopping this ". #SuperLeague #UEFA

Čeferin "What I learned most from all of this is that money isn't everything. Money can't buy everything. If the capital goes to far then you can see a fantastic response from people ".

Čeferin "I also learned that the people closest to you can betray or lie to you but I keep believing the people who are close to me. I always said I can look at myself in the mirror if I'm truthful and the ones that aren't I don't know how they do ". #SuperLeague #UEFA

[End of thread] I hope you liked what was said, I was quite happy with this interview. If you enjoyed please retweet is so it can reach a larger audience.

@FabrizioRomano @charles_watts @jamesbenge @ChrisWheatley_ @mohamedbouhafsi feel free to take the quotes if needed