'Overseas league games could break football' - Ceferin

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Europe's top club's risk breaking football if lead games are
moved overseas, says LUEPHA president Alexander Cepherin. The president is
worried about taking football away from its roots, with two
European lead games to be played abroad for the first time.
LaLiga clubs Valerial and Barcelona are due to face each
other in Miami in December, and in February, ac Milan

(00:24):
will play their sire Our match with Commo in Perth, Australia.
UFA reluctantly approved the games, and Cepherin doubled down on
its opposition. On Wednesday. Milan midfielder Adrienne said the plan
to play his side's match in Perth is completely crazy
and rarely absurd in an interview with Lo Figaro. External
has reported by The Athletic Football is not just about

(00:46):
balance sheets. It's not just entertainment. Its life in our communities,
the streets, the clubs and the fans which shape it.
If we pull it too far away from those routes,
we risk breaking it. Cepherin told club officials at the
European Football Clubs formerly the European Club Association General Assembly
in Rome. In uncertain times Football is our anchor and

(01:09):
gives us a common ground, a joy we can share
in good times and in bad. Football is always there, reliable, lasting,
always there. When euro at faces great, political, economic and
social challenges, we need something which holds us together. Football
has that power and we must preserve it. I believe
it will prosper and inspire. It will do so because

(01:32):
we are strong. Uffer says it consulted stakeholders and found
widespread lack of support for lead matches to be played abroad,
echoing concerns raised by fans, other leagues, clubs, players and
European institutions, but its said world governing body fiffa's regulatory
framework is not clear and detailed enough for it to

(01:53):
block the plans. FIFFER set up a working group last
year to look at the impact of playing competitive domestic
tick matches overseas.