UEFA President, Aleksander Ceferin has slam report that the Saudi Arabian Clubs would be playing in the champion’s league this season. Speaking to L’Equipe newspaper today, Ceferin said, “Only European clubs can participate in the Champions League, the Europa League or the Conference League.” The news is coming at the heat of Champions league group stage draw that has been slated for Thursday this week, according to report.
Although Saudi Arabian league has been acknowledge to have gained the financial muscle to struggle for position just like the European clubs, with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Sadio Mane recently, but UEFA president does not see the Saudi league anything close to the European league football.
Ceferin argued, “We had a similar situation with China, which bought players at the end of their careers and offered them a lot of money.
“The result was that Chinese football didn’t develop after that,” Ceferin recalled.
“As far as I know, (Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian) Mbappe and (Manchester City striker Erling) Haaland are not dreaming about Saudi Arabia,” Ceferin added.
Ceferin said that the approach used by Saudi Arabia “is not the right way” and that the Saudi league “should work on the education of players and coaches, but that’s not my problem.”
