Uefa disciplinary chiefs were “right” about Manchester City breaching its Financial Fair Play regulations when they threw the club out of the Champions League, its president has declared.
In his first public comments about the saga since the Premier League revealed a date had been set for a hearing into its 115 charges against the Treble winners under its own rules, Aleksander Ceferin also said he understood mounting angst over how long the case had dragged on.
Speaking during an exclusive interview with Telegraph Sport, Ceferin refused to be drawn on whether City – who deny any wrongdoing – should be stripped of titles if found guilty by an independent commission.
But asked if such a verdict would vindicate that of Uefa’s equivalent arm, the Club Financial Control Body, four years ago and the defence of its case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), he replied: “We know we were right. We wouldn’t decide if we didn’t think we were right.”
Ceferin stressed he respected the CAS decision, which overturned City’s two-year European ban after ruling some of the evidence against them was timed barred and that other accusations were unproven, while fining them €10 million for failing to cooperate with investigators.
“As a trial lawyer for 25 years, I know that, sometimes, you win a case that you are sure you will lose,” Ceferin added. “And, sometimes, you lose a case when you’re sure… You just simply have to respect in a serious democracy the decision of the court.
“I don’t want to speak about the case in England. But I trust that the decision of our independent body was correct. I didn’t enter into this decision.”
City had already paid Uefa €20 million to settle an FFP case in 2014 when further evidence of wrongdoing emerged that saw a new investigation opened in 2019.
The Premier League began a probe of its own that same year into the same accusations – unencumbered by any time bar – and its pursuit of City is now into its fifth year.
There has been criticism of the amount of time taken, which has only grown since Everton and Nottingham Forest were referred to an independent commission after admitting breaching the league’s Profit and Sustainability Regulations.
Ceferin said he could “of course” understand fan frustration, adding: “They want to know what’s going on and what are the consequences but I don’t want to enter into this concrete process because I don’t know what the Premier League is dealing with. I really don’t want to criticise, or something like that. It wouldn’t be fair.”
City declined to comment, having previously hailed the CAS ruling as a “validation of the club’s position”, and expressing surprise at the subsequent Premier League charges against which they said they had “a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence”.
As well as having twice fallen foul of FFP rules, City could soon find themselves having to comply with new Uefa regulations on multi-club ownership.
Ceferin said he wanted restrictions imposed on teams under those regulations to be made more explicit, which could have a major impact on City Football Group’s stake in shock Spanish La Liga leaders Girona.
Revealing a meeting on the issue had been held last week, he said he wanted the rules to define clearly what constituted a “decisive influence” on more than one club.
Aston Villa and Brighton & Hove Albion were among several teams cleared to play in Europe this season after being ordered to cut some of their ties with sister clubs, with bans on inter-group transfers also imposed.
Ceferin said the “biggest problem” with multi-club ownership – CFG owns a little under 50 per cent of Girona – was one of “perception”.
“You know football. Big English club can lose 3-0 to a small Portuguese club, if you want, because they have a bad day.
“Imagine that it’s the same ownership? [You would] say, ‘Look, your competition is fixed’, and then you start losing everything.
“This is my biggest problem where I don’t have a solution. We could always say, ‘Okay, you can do it under these and these and these conditions’. But full control of two or more is a no-go.
“That’s, for now, my opinion. We didn’t come to a concrete solution.”
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s purchase of 25 per cent of Manchester United could also see them come under scrutiny if both they and Nice – which he also owns – both qualify for Europe.
Ceferin has laid bare his security concerns for this summer’s European Championship, declaring: “The world is going crazy.”
Ceferin raised the alarm ahead of arguably the world’s third biggest sporting event, which is on course to take place amid two of the bloodiest conflicts to engulf his member nations since the Second World War.
In a wide-ranging interview with Telegraph Sport at Uefa’s headquarters in Nyon, Ceferin agreed one of those nations – Ukraine or Israel – qualifying for Euro 2024 through March’s play-offs could add an extra dimension to the security threat traditionally posed to major tournaments by the likes of terrorist and activists.
Stressing Uefa was “very excited” about the latest edition of its flagship event and backing Germany to be “good organisers”, he added: “In these crazy times where, geostrategically, the world is going crazy, the biggest concern is security.”
Ceferin revealed he had already met with the host country’s interior minister twice, including at last week’s funeral of football legend Franz Beckenbauer.
He also said they would meet again in light of what he branded a “completely aggressive situation” geopolitically about which he warned this summer’s Olympics should also be concerned.
“My fear is not only the stadiums,” he added. “Because, stadiums, I’m sure, will be protected properly. But fans will be all around cities and towns.
“Let’s be optimistic. I still think everything will be fine with support from German authorities, who are very determined to help us.”
Uefa’s ban on Russia over the country’s invasion of Ukraine should help prevent a repeat of the savage attacks by suspected Kremlin-supported hooligans on England fans at the last Euros staged in one country, in 2016.
Ceferin vowed that ban would remain in force at senior level while the war continued but said he wanted it relaxed for youth teams – plans to do so last year were thwarted by a backlash – to try to avoid Russian children being brainwashed into hating the West and being punished for something for which they were not to blame.
His current security concerns will almost certainly extend to this season’s Champions League final at Wembley, which is staging its biggest match since the climax of the last Euros two-and-a-half years ago.
That could have ended in tragedy following the carnage to engulf the final at the national stadium, which Ceferin warned faced being banned from hosting future Uefa matches were there to be a repeat.
Expressing confidence the UK authorities had “learnt” from a litany of security lapses that saw Wembley come under siege before England’s biggest match since the 1966 World Cup final, Ceferin agreed any rerun would be “a big problem for hosting any competition” there.
That would inevitably threaten its status as the centrepiece for the British Isles’ upcoming staging of Euro 2028.
As well as the biggest game in club football being at Wembley this season, Uefa’s second biggest annual fixture, the final of the Europa League, will be held in Dublin.
Liverpool are the favourites to reach what would be their first European final since the 2022 Champions League final in Paris, which like Euro 2020, might have ended in tragedy.
Ceferin said Uefa, which took a sizeable share of the blame for the chaos outside the Stade de France two summers ago, was ready to make good on its promise that there would be no repeat.
“Look, I cannot imagine that something like that can happen again,” he added.
He was also braced for the inevitable complaints if a club like Liverpool – with a much larger following than most European teams – reached this season’s Aviva Stadium showpiece that the 50,000-seater venue was too small.
“Uefa always ‘does everything wrong’,” he said, stating such decisions were made years in advance but resisting any urge to point out the 2022 Champions League final debacle took place after the game had been moved to Paris at short notice.
He added: “Now, the voice of fan representatives is heard an acknowledged in both match preparation and delivery.”
Any fears Ceferin might have about security for his organisation’s biggest events were not mirrored when it came to another of two of the biggest issues in football currently.
The Uefa president said he did not think Saudi Arabia buying its way to the very top of football and other sports was cause for concern and vowed that he would never allow it to add the Champions League final to its ever-expanding portfolio.
“I’ve heard some people saying they would be very happy if they can get it,” he said, also ruling out the fixture being staged outside Europe during his presidency. “But nobody spoke with me about it, concretely. And, of course, it will not happen.”
Ceferin, who has previously ruled out Saudi clubs playing in the competition, was equally dismissive of the impact of the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Jordan Henderson being lured to teams there.
Proclaiming football fans do not “follow the player to the moon”, he pointed out that one – meaning Henderson – had already come back.
“I’m not worried at all. Because European football has so strong roots. This is part of culture, of our history. You cannot buy this. You cannot.”
Henderson repeatedly denied going for the money, insisting he was attracted by the challenge of developing Saudi football.
Ceferin said: “They go because the contracts are big. And I don’t blame them for that. If they are close to the end of their career, maybe it’s a new adventure and you earn a lot of money. I don’t want to blame them or something like that.
“But to say that you are going somewhere to help, it’s more or less a joke.”
Ceferin said one reason he had ruled out the Champions League final being staged outside Europe was the fallout from the Super League crisis.
“Fans showed so much respect to the game that we would never do that to them,” he said in what was his first major interview since last month’s ruling on the doomed competition by the European Court of Justice.
The announcement of that ruling briefly sparked panic at Uefa after the body’s rules blocking breakaway leagues were deemed “unlawful”.
“The press release was misleading,” Ceferin said. “There’s nowhere in the decision of the court that we abused our monopoly. That’s one thing that’s very important and we complained to the court because of that but you can’t change the first effect.”
Having had time to study the full judgment, the Slovenian declared it “not bad for football”.
“What is most important for me is that all the football community rejected this. No court could force the football world to play this silly competition. No-one.
“I still insist that this would never happen because it would ruin football. And we will not allow it – nobody will allow it from football. You cannot buy football.”
He added: “It’s an insult for football to even speak too much about it. For me, this story is over. And for the football community, it’s over.”
Ceferin, who when the Super League was first launched branded the likes of Manchester United’s now-former executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward “snakes” and “liars”, even singled out the club for praise for being the first to denounce it publicly after last months’ ECJ verdict.
He had no fears teams might use the judgment as leverage in future negotiations with Uefa, which cannot now arbitrarily block breakaway competitions and he vowed that he would not be party to any venture that prevented teams qualifying for the Champions League solely on their domestic results.
Ahead of the launch of the competition’s new format next season, which will guarantee each club at least 10 matches in a single group based on chess’s ‘Swiss model’, he added: “I can say the new system of Champions League will stay now and we are not planning to do anything more. And we will not do it because, now, players’ burden and everything, it’s up to the limit.”
That burden has arguably been compounded by Fifa’s launch of a new 32-team Club World Cup, which will take place every four years starting next year.
“I was against the proposal that it would happen every year,” Ceferin said. “Because it doesn’t make sense.
“I don’t think it makes sense every four years. But clubs want it.
“You know, all 12 European clubs will win [against the other teams].”
Dismissing the new event’s threat to the pre-eminence of his own flagship club competition, he added: “Champions League is Champions League and Champions League will stay Champions League. And, every four years, doesn’t bother me.”
Whether it is the coronavirus crisis, the Super League crisis, the Russia-Ukraine crisis, or the Israel-Palestine crisis, Ceferin’s presidency has been beset by issues of which he said “one per cent” did not happen in “60 years of Uefa before”.
His latest predicament is a major row over plans to change the organisation’s rules next month over term limits in what opponents see as an attempt by him to cling onto power beyond the usual 12-year cut-off.
Ceferin brought in those limits in 2017 after he was first elected the year before, including a clause in the rules he says exempts the term he completed when predecessor Michel Platini was banned during the Fifa scandal.
There are those who are challenging that interpretation and believe Ceferin should also be setting an example by standing down in 2027.
Ceferin told Telegraph Sport the proposed change was not an attempt to extend his term limit but to rectify an invalid provision that had never been properly approved by Uefa’s member associations.
He added: “This is a matter of fact, not a legal issue. I have not yet decided whether I want to run for office again or not. To be honest, I am very tired.”
The row threatens to completely overshadow the organisation’s annual congress in Paris next month, at which members will be asked to vote on a new clause that would end any debate over whether Ceferin could be eligible to stay until 2031.
Ceferin speculated he could end up serving a partial third term so he did not stay longer than 12 years.
But when asked if he would commit to that, he replied: “I don’t commit to anything. Not to run. Not to not run. Let’s wait.”
