UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has admitted how "we forget how dirty this industry is", while vowing to follow through with any sanctions for big clubs should they fail to cooperate with Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.
This comes after news Manchester City have allegedly breached these rules, which could result in Pep Guardiola's side being temporarily expelled from the Champions League if found guilty
While La Liga president Javier Tebas is unconvinced Europe's football governing body will go through with punishing City, Ceferin was critical of the motives of the Spanish league's president.
As quoted by The Telegraph, he said: "He’s loud,” Ceferin said. “I think it’s part of his tactics to operate like that. But I don’t think it’s very productive.
"Look, one way of operating is shouting, ‘The rich will take everything!’ And this is typical of the populist shouting in European politics."
During the interview, Ceferin explained he wouldn't comment on the current case involving City while it was ongoing, but rejected any notion that UEFA would shy away from imposing any sanctions on the domestic treble-winning side, with the outcome of the case set to be announced this week.
City themselves have declared their innocence over the course of the case, claiming they are "confident of a positive outcome" in a case where "entirely false" allegations have been labelled against them.
UEFA themselves have come in for criticism recently over both their ticket allocations for the Champions League and Europa League final, as well as deciding to play the latter final in Baku.
Speaking to the New York Times, as quoted by The Telegraph, he said in response: "Sometimes, we forget how dirty this industry is," as he hopes to clean up European football during his tenure as UEFA's president.
Source :
90min
