(Football news) UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin has spoken to the European Commission about bringing in a salary cap in European football and has said that all teams have agreed to the measure. In March, FIFA president Gianni Infantino spoke about the possibility of a salary cap as well which has been on the radar since quite some time now. Ceferin was re-elected as UEFA president for a third time in April and will remain in the role until 2027.
Speaking to US media outlet Men In Blazers, Ceferin said “Surprisingly, everyone agrees. Big clubs, small clubs, state-owned clubs, billionaire-owned clubs, everybody agrees. In the future we have to seriously think about a salary cap. If the budgets go sky-high then our competitive balance is a problem. It’s not about the owners, it’s about the value of the competition, because if five clubs will always win then it doesn’t make sense any more.
“But it has to be a collective agreement – every league and Uefa. Because if we do it and the other leagues don’t, then it doesn’t make sense. I hope it can be made as soon as possible. For now, we have the new rule after 2024 that you can spend up to 70% of your revenues for salaries and transfers, but that’s not enough because if your revenues are five billion, 70% is quite a lot. So this is the future here, and I’m not afraid of the club owners being too powerful or anything. Uefa is leading the European competition and we have great relations with the European Club Association now.”
Ceferin also discussed the possibility of having a Champions League final in the United States but said it could only happen after 2026. He said “We have started to discuss that, but one year it was the World Cup, 2024 is Euros, this year [the final] is in Istanbul, 2024 is London and 2025 is Munich and after that, let’s see. It’s possible. Football is extremely popular in the United States these days.
“Americans are willing to pay this amount [gestures] for the best and nothing for the less. So they will follow European football as basketball lovers in Europe follow the NBA. It’s a very important promising market for the future. The thing is that we are selling rights very well. Sponsorship is so-so for now from the US, but here commercialisation is completely different than in Europe.
“They are much more talented than us. What shocked me actually is that our Euro [2020] finals, Europe national team finals, were watched by more people in the United States than NBA Finals. What shocked me is that out of the 30 matches of the Euros, every match viewership was a Super Bowl viewership. So I think we are doing well.”
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