Super League 'flat-earthers' in UEFA president's sights

UEFA president Ceferin has responded furiously to the Super League proposal

UEFA president Ceferin has responded furiously to the Super League proposal

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has refused to rule out a ban from next season's Champions League for all 12 clubs involved in trying to set up a breakaway European Super League.

But Ceferin also told Britain's Mail on Sunday that the six English clubs -- Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester United -- deserve greater leniency as they were the first to back out.

In the space of 48 hours beginning last Sunday, UEFA, aided by fans and politicians, quelled a mutiny by English, Spanish and Italian clubs attempting to form a quasi-closed tournament designed to supplant the existing Champions League.

But Ceferin, who thanked British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for his opposition to the Super League, said disciplinary action remained an option for UEFA, European football's governing body.

However, the Slovenian lawyer, elected UEFA president in 2016, added: "But for me it's a clear difference between the English clubs and the other six. They pulled out first, they admitted they made a mistake. You have to have some greatness to say: 'I was wrong.'" 

The irony is that UEFA were on the brink of enacting changes that would have entrenched the position of many of the established Champions League powers behind the Super League. 

jdg/reb

...