In 2016, as a relatively unknown man to the general public, Slovenian lawyer Aleksandar Ceferin was elected the first man of UEFA. Before that, he gathered experience by working as the commander-in-chief of the Slovenian football association.And no one could have guessed that Ceferin’s mandate at UEFA would be so turbulent. Ceferin had to face one of the biggest challenges of modern football – the attempt of big clubs to establish the European Super League.As a guest on Croatian national television HRT, the 54-year-old spoke about the crucial 48 hours when he found out about that the idea of establishing the league is serious all the wayto the collapse of the attempt.”Football is a fair game, and the secret of its superior popularity is that the little ones beat the big ones and that it can be played anywhere. You don’t need infrastructure for that,” Ceferin said.Water is wet, the world is round and Lionel Messi wins Ballon D’Or – that’s number seven for the ArgentineHowever, the Slovene is aware that the situation around the most popular sport is not ideal, and that it will be difficult to change for the better in the coming period.”I was a lawyer in criminal cases for 24 years and I defended various people. Even murderers, but I know I often say that in two years in football I met more suspicious people than in those 24 years.”Everything at one point indicated that the big clubs had made a great plan and that the Super League was inevitable. However, with the wind of social unrest across Europe and the protests of fans, reaction from UEFA came promptly.”I knew I had to be as aggressive as possible because we had to cancel the Super League in 48 hours or maybe they would have some chances to succeed. I was sure we were fighting for the right thing. That elitist competition would mean that out of 55 UEFA members, at least 45 would be close to bankruptcy.”These people are billionaires, everyone tells them YES all the time and they don’t see the real picture. I knew we were on the edge – we will either fall or we will bring down the Super League. There were all sorts of reactions to our approach – both threats and support. I didn’t sleep, eat or drink for those 48 hours, but it paid off.”Cristiano Ronaldo or Marco Verratti? At least one European powerhouse won’t make it to QatarHe says that the initiators of the Super League did not expect his brutal reaction.”They were absolutely shocked. But that was my honest reaction because it would ruin football. Nothing terrible would have happened to me personally, I could have agreed with them, but that was not my goal.”Aleksandar Ceferin learned of the news that the Super League might in fact happen while traveling with his friend and former AC Milan midfielder and executive Zvonimir Boban.”We went to Switzerland together, we were in the car together when it happened. He was positive from the start. It’s good that I didn’t have someone by my side who was crying and whining about how we would lose everything and that football would fail. He told me, “Let’s bet dinner you’ll knock them down in two days.” I accepted, but I haven’t paid for dinner yet.”Ceferin reminisces it was very emotional.”Some clubs called me and said that they would enter the Super League to be our friends from the inside and to give us information. I told them that from tomorrow they would all be my enemies. It’s a war. When we lit the match – the fire started, the fans reacted, followed by Boris Johnson, the English Prime Minister, and then the French President Emanuel Macron.Haaland tops the list of players we won’t see in Qatar 2022″Interestingly, in 2019, an email came to my office from a Tottenham fan who said he was a Spurs fan for 40 yeas and his father was one for 60 years, and that they can’t get tickets to the Champions League final against Liverpool. I sent them two free tickets. They called me later, they were in the front rows. Fans understand that football is for everyone. Everyone must have the opportunity to dream of winning the Champions League.”He is convinced that there will be no renewed idea of the Super League. At least for a while.”When it was all over, I received an invitation from one of the people who were tied to the Super League. He told me that they could give us three and a half billion euros so that we could make that competition happen. I told him that someone was crazy, either him or me. I know I am not. They haven’t called since. It is realistic to believe we will have peaceful ten years ahead.”
