Icon: enlarge
Real star Toni Kroos: "Just leave certain things as they are if they are good"
Photo: www.imagephotoagency.it / imago images / Gribaudi / ImagePhoto
National player Toni Kroos is critical of football competitions such as the possible Super League or the Nations League, which has already been introduced, but feels powerless as a player.
"At the end of the day, with all these additional things that are invented, we as players are just the puppets of Fifa and Uefa. Nobody is asked," said Kroos in the podcast "Simply Luppen", which he and his brother Felix operates.
If there was a players union that could decide on these matters, "we would not play the Nations League, nor a Spanish Supercup in Saudi Arabia or a Club World Cup with 20 or more teams," said Kroos.
These tournaments are planned "to suck everything out financially, of course to suck everything out of every single player physically - and beyond".
The Nations League is a competition introduced by the European association Uefa in 2018/2019, which was often criticized in Germany - but was well received internationally.
It partially replaces qualifying games and should ideally mean that smaller nations can hope to participate in the finals and larger nations increasingly contest duels on an equal footing.
Which worked well.
There is no Super League yet.
It is seen as a simulation game for major European clubs and would probably not be a UEFA competition, but an exclusive tournament for the best club teams.
If the Super League came, the Champions League would be history.
Such a super league would be "a very, very interesting sporty thing" for Kroos and would have "top ratings" on television.
But: Smaller clubs looked "into the tube", the gap between small and large would become even greater, according to the midfielder from Spanish record champions Real Madrid.
His conclusion: "It's also good to just leave certain things as they are when they are good."
With the existing leagues and international competitions such as the Champions League, EM and World Cup, you have "top products".
Icon: The mirror
bka / sid
