Those who were planning to see Cristiano Ronaldo back in UEFA Champions League, face a big blow as UEFA ruled out Saudi teams joining the competition. The SPL’s chief operating officer wanted to see Saudi clubs in the Champions League. They offered UEFA the possibility to add Saudi Pro League teams in the biggest club competition in Europe.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has turned out the offer of the Saudi Pro League and denied the chance of seeing Ronaldo once again in the Champions League. Aleksander Ceferin dismissed all reports made by few media outlets that Saudi Pro League teams could gain a wildcard entry to the Champions League.
The SPL’s chief operating officer Carlo Nohra had made a claim that there is a prospect of Saudi clubs entering the UEFA Champions League by declaring: “We are trying to be different. So any change or improvement that can be introduced to the league will be welcome.”
Ceferin spoke to L’Equipe, “A media outlet talked about this without even asking us. Only European clubs can participate in the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.”
The UEFA president also talked about the UEFA finals in the United States. He denied any chance of seeing the Champions League final being played in the US. He added, “Only European federations can apply a final, not even clubs. We would have to change all our rules, and we don’t want that.”
There was a discussion over the war between European clubs and Saudi Pro League. Saudi clubs offered huge amounts and attracted top clubs from Europe’s biggest leagues. Ronaldo’s signing last winter was just a start. This summer was all about Saudi clubs who changed the entire transfer system. They signed Neymar, Karim Benzema, Henderson, Fabinho, Firmino, Ruben Neves, Sadio Mane and N’Golo Kante.
UEFA president talked about the Saudi influence and said, “It’s not a threat, we saw a similar approach in China, which bought players at the end of their careers by offering them a lot of money.”
Aleksander Ceferin discussed the previous Chinese influence and added China to this topic. Chinese clubs also did the same few years back but they failed to make an impact in world football. He said, “Chinese football didn’t develop and didn’t qualify for the World Cup afterwards. There are players at the end of their careers and others who aren’t ambitious enough to aspire to the ‘top’ competitions.
He added, “As far as I know, (Kylian) Mbappe and (Erling) Haaland don’t dream of Saudi Arabia. I don’t believe that the best players at the pinnacle of their careers would go to Saudi Arabia. When people talk to me about the players who went there, nobody knows where they’re playing.”
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