UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin makes Little Red Riding Hood analogy with Superleague

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin has used his re-election to the post as a platform to again attack the Superleague and those behind it. Referring to the clubs as ‘cartels’ for which there is no space in football, the Slovenian was not for holding back.

During his speech he highlighted his close relationship with Paris Saint-Germain CEO Nasser Al-Khelaifi and thanked him for his and the European Club Association’s support when dealing with the Superleague project.

In a long speech, he first prasied the achievements of a number of smaller teams for achieving success on the international stage, such as Denmark, Croatia, Sheriff Tiraspol and Villarreal for their achievements, before speaking to the dangers of a globalisation.

“It is a show of selfishness, greed over solidarity. Shameful lies. Heirs instead of builders. A fight for economic profit instead of fighting for trophies,” Marca quoted.

He continued on the rant, comparing the Superleague and the three teams involved (Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus) to the wolf in Little Reed Riding Hood.

“I am not going to go into the details of the ill-fated plan presented by three club managers, two financiers and a spokesperson. It just doesn’t make sense right now. I think that everything has already been said, by those who love football.”

“Those who promote this project now say they want to save football. Luckily no one has died of shame. In a few months, the Superleague has become a character from Little Red Hood: a wolf disguised as a grandmother, ready to devour you. But no one is fooled. Because here we have two opposing visions of the world. We have cynicism about morality. Selfishness over solidarity. Greed over benevolence. Self-absorption about opening up to others. Self-interest over altruism. The shameful lie about the truth. The heirs over the builders. The cartel on meritocracy and democracy. The stock price on sports merit. The pursuit of profit over the pursuit of trophies.”

Certainly UEFA are keen to twist the knife into the Superleague if they can, while it struggles to gain popular and institutional support. Equally some will say that in many ways UEFA’s plans for the Champions League, in place as of next year, mirror the Superleague in a sense. The move to a league system instead of a group system significantly decreases the chances of a big club being eliminated before the knockout stage.