The president of Real Madrid Florentino Pérez on Sunday vehemently accused the professional football authorities, UEFA and Fifa, and reaffirmed his support for the Super League, a competition project supposed to compete with the Champions League.
In a speech lasting almost an hour and a half at the opening of the General Assembly of the Spanish giant, the emblematic Madrid president directly accused UEFA and Fifa of prioritizing money over spectacle.
“FIFA has increased the number of international breaks and UEFA has increased the number of matches in its existing tournaments”accused the leader with the viewfinder. the Club World Cup, a project supported by the world body.
“Ten years ago, it (UEFA, Editor’s note) organized 488 matches, today it organizes 760, and all this to earn more money. They don’t care about the players. They don’t think sport should be sustainable.”he declared.
The Spanish businessman judges the two entities responsible for the increase in injuries in major championships:
“This season, we will be able to play up to 82 matches! There are 63% more matches organized by UEFA and FIFA: from 22 to 36. There have already been nine cruciate ligament ruptures this season, as many as in all of last season. Specialists point to fatigue as the main cause. In addition, matches are getting later and later, which prevents players from resting”he cursed in front of more than a thousand « partners ».
Florentino Pérez also judged “unfair” the new format of the Champions League, “with more matches, but less value”believing that the value of each match had “fallen by almost 30%” and that the solution was the creation of the Super League, supposed to compete with the Champions League and “restore its greatness to football”.
“The Super League’s proposal to offer football for free… Yes, it’s innovative! Today, I am more optimistic than ever. The European Court’s ruling, which is historic and will be studied in universities, put an end to UEFA’s monopoly. We never said it would be easy. It was titanic, with pressure and threats”he revealed before being cut off by applause.
“I have said for a long time that football is seriously ill. He has never been in such a delicate situation. All championships are suffering »he added, giving the example of Ligue 1, passed “from a billion euros to barely 500 million in television rights”.
