The men’s football calendar is full and “we cannot play one more match”, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has told Sky News.
Amid concerns about workload for players, and fears of burnout, the boss of European football said expanding the Champions League was essential to help clubs in financial difficulties as costs escalate and to spread more cash across the continent.
Image: Aleksander Ceferin speaking to Sky News’ Rob Harris
In a rare interview, Mr Ceferin also said:
• Financial regulations could be changed again if clubs are finding it hard to comply • There are no longer plans to stage the Champions League final outside of Europe • UEFA would welcome Saudi sponsorship • Politicians should stop interfering in football • England fans should stop being angry after losing back-to-back men’s European Championship finals.
But elite clubs have helped to shape a radical transformation of the Champions League with more teams, additional games, and a more complex format.
Players’ unions have warned that their members are at “breaking point” as competitions grow – an issue acknowledged by the UEFA leader.
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‘Players don’t want to play more matches’
Mr Ceferin told Sky News: “There are too many matches, probably today, already.
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“The thing is that from one point of view, we have clubs saying we cannot afford paying the players and coaches anymore. They are in financial difficulties.
“From the other point of view, players, of course, don’t want to play more matches, but I think with these interesting matches, this will be a benefit for everyone.”
Image: Mr Ceferin told Sky News he would welcome Saudi sponsorship
Especially when the Champions League prize fund is soaring by almost 25% to €2.5bn (£2.1bn) – a welcome boost, according to Mr Ceferin, even for clubs in the wealthy Premier League.
“Practically all the clubs because of different reasons have some financial problems,” Mr Ceferin said.
“The calendar is full and it’s so full that nothing can change anymore,” Mr Ceferin said, not wanting to discuss the Club World Cup.
“I think we cannot play one more match, but for the rest, I think that everybody wants to win the European competitions.”
Europe will remain the place where Champions League finals are staged.
In his first interview after being elected in 2016, Mr Ceferin told me he was open to moving them abroad, but that is now no longer the case.
“We are not planning to host a Champions League out of Europe,” he said. “And it’s not about changing the system. It’s about the fact that the Champions League is a European competition, that fans deserve to have matches in Europe.”
Image: Newcastle fans celebrate the club’s Saudi takeover in 2021. Pic: Reuters
Saudi influence
There was a fear a year ago that Saudi Arabia could attempt to usurp European football but the spending spree has not been repeated by their clubs in this summer transfer window.
“I don’t think that the big spending or overspending of Saudi influenced much,” Mr Ceferin said.
“I know that some clubs even benefited from it because they sold players for a lot of money and anyway they wanted to sell them.
“I think [Saudi Arabia] understand now that they have to invest into infrastructure, into coaching, because they have very young people who are super talented for sure, and they have to develop their own players.
“If you buy players that are slowly finishing their career, this doesn’t help developing. But of course that’s not my problem.”
The Saudis are spending lavishly on sponsorship in football which UEFA would embrace.
“Every sponsorship is welcome,” Mr Ceferin said. “We distribute altogether 97% of all the money back to football and we redistribute 93.5% of all the club revenues to the clubs.
“For me, I would be super happy if we get even more sponsors, even bigger deals for broadcasting which will not be easy, but of course the co-operation with everyone is welcome.”
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A concern is meddling by politicians – a notable comment at a time as Sir Keir Starmer’s new administration plans legislation for the introduction of a regulator for English football, reviving Conservative plans.
Speaking generally ahead of the new European season, Mr Ceferin said: “In this crazy world where we have wars every day, we have a very tense situation.
“We have politics interfering into football quite a lot everywhere. But we are ready. We are ready. We are strong and I am positive.”
‘Too much anger’
And he has a message for England fans to be positive rather than complaining about the men’s team not winning a trophy since 1966 and losing the Euros finals in 2021 and again this July.
The next men’s Euros is being staged in Britain and Ireland with the final at Wembley in 2028.
“There’s too much anger in the society,” he said. “England reached the finals of the Euros. They were close to winning both.
“I thought that should be a success. That should be a huge success. I understand the disappointment because for a country like England or France or Spain, it’s always only the winning of the competition that is important.
“But still if I speak about the English national team, you have fantastic players. You have a chance to win it in 2028. It might even be sweeter to win at home – going home at home.”
A league table of foreign criminals and their offences is set to be published for the first time.
The plans, due to be announced on Tuesday, will reportedly focus on those offenders awaiting deportation from the UK.
The latest data shows there were 19,244 foreign offenders awaiting deportation at the end of 2024, a rise from 17,907 when the Conservatives left office in July and 14,640 at the end of 2022.
Despite more offenders being deported since Labour came to power, the number waiting to be removed from the UK has been growing.
Factors are understood to include the early release of inmates due to prison overcrowding, instability and diplomatic problems in some countries and a backlog of legal cases appealing deportation.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the decision to publish the nationalities of foreign criminals showed Labour had “buckled” under pressure from the Conservatives to disclose the data.
The latest government statistics show there were 10,355 foreign nationals held in custody in England and Wales at the end of 2024, representing 12% of the prison population.
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The most common nationalities after British nationals were Albanian (11%), Polish (8%), Romanian (7%), which also represented the top three nationalities who were deported from the UK in 2024, according to Home Office figures.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is understood to have ordered officials to release the details by the end of the year, according to The Daily Telegraph.
The newspaper reported Ms Cooper overruled Home Office officials, who previously claimed it was too difficult to provide quality data on foreign criminals.
A Home Office source said: “Not only are we deporting foreign criminals at a rate never seen when Chris Philp and Robert Jenrick were in charge at the Home Office, but we will also be publishing far more information about that cohort of offenders than the Tories ever did.”
The source added that ministers wanted “to ensure the public is kept better informed about the number of foreign criminals awaiting deportation, where they are from and the crimes they have committed”.
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Foreign nationals sentenced to 12 months or more in prison are subject to automatic deportation, but the home secretary can also remove criminals if their presence in the UK is not considered desirable.
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick welcomed the news, saying: “We will finally see the hard reality that mass migration is fuelling crime across our country… Frankly, the public deserved to know this [detail on foreign criminals] long ago.”
Rachel Reeves will pledge to “stand up for Britain’s national interest” as she heads to Washington DC amid hopes of a UK/US trade deal.
The chancellor will fly to the US capital for her spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the first of which began on Sunday.
During her three-day visit, Ms Reeves is set to hold meetings with G7, G20 and IMF counterparts about the changing global economy and is expected to make the case for open trade.
The chancellor will also hold her first in-person meeting with her US counterpart, treasury secretary Scott Bessent, about striking a new trade agreement, which the UK hopes will take the sting out of Mr Trump’s tariffs.
In addition to the 10% levy on all goods imported to America from the UK, Mr Trump enacted a 25% levy on car imports.
Ms Reeves will also be hoping to encourage fellow European finance ministers to increase their defence spending and discuss the best ways to support Ukraine in its war against Russia.
Speaking ahead of her visit, Ms Reeves said: “The world has changed, and we are in a new era of global trade. I am in no doubt that the imposition of tariffs will have a profound impact on the global economy and the economy at home.
“This changing world is unsettling for families who are worried about the cost of living and businesses concerned about what tariffs will mean for them. But our task as a government is not to be knocked off course or to take rash action which risks undermining people’s security.
“Instead, we must rise to meet the moment and I will always act to defend British interests as part of our plan for change.
“We need a world economy that provides stability and fairness for businesses wanting to invest and trade, more trade and global partnerships between nations with shared interests, and security for working people who want to get on with their lives.”
A woman who was stabbed to death in north London has been named by police – as a man was arrested on suspicion of murder.
Pamela Munro, 45, was found with a stab wound and died at the scene in Ayley Croft, Enfield, on Saturday evening, the Metropolitan Police said.
A 29-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder on Monday and is in custody, the force added.
Detective Chief Inspector Neil John said: “Investigating officers have worked relentlessly across the weekend to investigate the circumstances around Pamela’s death.
“We continue to support her family who are understandably devastated.”
Image: Police at the scene at Ayley Croft in Enfield
The Met Police has asked anyone with information or who was driving through Ayley Court between 6.30pm and 7.30pm on Saturday and may have dashcam footage to contact the force.