Daily Times

KRANJ: Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) President Aleksander Ceferin said that he would examine the current system making sure that Champions League does not become an exclusive club for the wealthy.

“The Champions League cannot continue in this direction because that would lead us towards an exclusive club,” Ceferin told journalists on Wednesday at his first news conference as the president of the most powerful football confederation.

He added that the differences between the rich and less wealthy clubs would be hard to reduce but changes in the Champions League system were recently carried out without informing the public.

“The biggest problem was that nobody was informed about those changes and even we found out about it at the very end,” Ceferin said.

“One of the first things I’ll do at my arrival there (UEFA), will be to thoroughly examine the system and to meet with the presidents of the biggest clubs and see what we shall do in the future.”

UEFA recently decided that the four top-ranked leagues — Spain, England, Germany and Italy — will have four automatic places in the lucrative Champions League for the period 2018-2021.

In the aftermath of the changes, many European nations have already urged Ceferin to take a stand against those changes.

Ceferin said that one of the first improvements he would carry out until UEFA’s April assembly would be restricting the number of mandates of any position in the organisation. “As soon as we set a limit to those mandates, it will become the first step towards transparency. That will prevent anybody from staying for 15, 20 or 25 years at the same position which led to the horrific events of the past.”