In an interview given to Nos Sunday, the boss of UEFA Alexander Ceferin returned to Saudi Arabia’s massive investment in football. But the Slovenian showed little concern about the strategy undertaken, in particular because of the age of the players who left for the Arabian Peninsula. “I think Saudi Arabia is making a mistake for domestic football. It reproduces the mistakes of China by recruiting players at the end of their career, ”he assured in English, with reference to Cristiano Ronaldo or Karim Benzema.
“We haven’t lost Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi or Karim Benzema. They are still playing. But they are at the end of their career. At this stage of their career, many players go to clubs to earn money. But it’s not all about the money. The best players want to win the best competitions, and the best competitions are in Europe. Can you name a top player who went to Saudi Arabia at the top of his game or at the start of his career? “, added the Slovenian leader.
A reflection in progress to prevent unlimited investments
The latter then detailed his logic for developing football, which bears no resemblance to the project undertaken by the Saudis. “I think the Saudi leadership should rather invest in academies, in coaches, and they should develop their own players. The system of buying players at the end of their career is not a system that develops football,” Ceferin said.
Finally, the boss of UEFA outlined an ongoing reflection within the European institution, “which is far from concluded”, to prevent unlimited investments of certain funds. “We want to put a cap on a club’s salaries and transfers. So you can spend, I don’t know, 500 million euros but no more, because we don’t want two or three teams that have unlimited funds. The competition is no longer interesting afterwards. Everyone agrees with that. »