The Champions League semi-finals, whose first legs are scheduled for next week, are not in danger, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin assured, referring to the Super League project, which collapsed within 48 hours.
"There is relatively little chance that the matches will not take place, but in the future it will be different," Ceferin said in an interview broadcast last night by Slovenian broadcaster Pop TV.
"The key is that the season has already started. If we cancel the matches, the TV channels will ask for compensation," he said.
As soon as the Super League was born, UEFA had threatened the exclusion from all national and international competitions for the 12 dissident clubs, three of which are still in contention in the current edition of the Champions League (Manchester City, Chelsea and Real Madrid). Madrid host Chelsea on Tuesday, while City play at Paris SG on Wednesday, a club that has remained loyal to UEFA.
Ceferin, who yesterday called for European football to be "rebuilt", also warned that dissident clubs "will suffer the consequences" of their initiative, in the meantime publicly repudiated by 10 of the 12 'founding' clubs. The only ones who have not yet pulled back are Real Madrid and Barcelona.
As for the British clubs, "we will take into account that they have admitted their mistake," Ceferin said. But if others "want to participate in our competitions, they will have to contact us and we will have to solve the problems," he added, referring to ongoing consultations with UEFA's legal department.
