UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has described Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward and Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli as “snakes” and “liars”.
On Sunday, twelve European clubs announced their intention to form a breakaway competition.
Manchester United, Juventus and AC Milan were joined by Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur of the Premier League, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid of La Liga and Inter Milan of Serie A.
UEFA immediately warned the Super League clubs that legal action would be taken against them and said they would be barred from existing domestic competitions, while their players would be barred from international competitions, such as the World Cup.
And on Monday afternoon Ceferin, the president of UEFA, reiterated that players who competed in the Super League would be banned from representing their national teams, as well as describing Woodward and Agnelli as “snakes”.
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What did Ceferin say?
On Monday afternoon Ceferin spoke publicly for the first time since the Super League was announced and he reserved his strongest criticism for Woodward and Agnelli, the long-time president of the European Club Association.
“I was a criminal lawyer for 24 years but I’ve never, ever, seen people like that,” he said at a press conference.
“Ed Woodward called me last Thursday evening saying he’s very satisfied with and fully supports the (Champions League) reforms and the only thing he wanted to talk about was FFP, when obviously he had already signed something else.”
“Andrea Agnelli is the biggest disappointment of all, I’ve never seen a person that would lie so many times, so persistently as he did. It’s unbelievable.”
Ceferin added: “We didn’t know we had snakes working close to us, but now we know.
“I met many liars in football and many people I trust. If I mention a few. I trust the clubs from France and Germany, who resisted this temptation. Football is not all corrupt. Just a small part, led by greed and people who don’t care about anything else.”
How could UEFA respond?
Ceferin said UEFA remain committed to banning players who take part in the Super League from upcoming UEFA tournaments.
On whether those players will be stopped from competing in Euro 2020, he said: “We’re still assessing the situation with our legal team. It’s a bit too early.
“We will take all the sanctions that we can… and we will inform you as soon as we have a clear answer. My opinion is that, as soon as possible, the players have to be banned from all our competitions.”
How would a Super League work?
The 12 ‘founding clubs’ say they will be joined by three other permanent members and five other teams who qualify each season.
They say the games will be played in midweek, starting in August, with teams playing home and away fixtures in two groups of ten, with the top three in each group automatically qualifying for the quarter-finals.
Teams finishing fourth and fifth will then compete in a two-legged play-off for the remaining quarter-final positions. A two-leg knockout format will be used to reach the final at the end of May, which will be staged as a single fixture at a neutral venue.
The clubs said that a women’s league will also be launched “as soon as practicable” after the start of the men’s competition, but provided no further details.
(Photo: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images, Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images)