#uefa-criticism

#uefa-criticism

The table is so tight that the title race and the fight to survive relegation looks like going to the wire, with teams battling for Europe still also looking over their shoulder at the relegation zone.

"You're going a bit too far with Julian Alvarez. He's an Atletico player and has a long-term contract with Atletico Madrid," Cerezo said, as quoted by SPORT.

The ongoing discussions regarding future structural changes to the game, such as the introduction of new tournaments (eg. Fifa Club World Cup), further intensify this challenge. These changes have the potential to significantly reduce the downtime available to elite players, affecting their recovery and overall well-being.

FIFA holds a monopoly over ticket sales for the 2026 World Cup and has used that power to impose conditions on fans that would never be acceptable in a competitive market.

The club's use of slogans such as 'forever pure', and the repeated chanting of ethnic slurs such as 'terrorist' directed at Arab players, are not isolated incidents but rather form part of a systemic pattern of conduct that offends the basic rules of decent behaviour and brings the sport into disrepute.

For the first time, players are formally represented at the highest level of decision-making in European football. It also recognises that players are a core stakeholder in the game and that decisions affecting their work, health, and careers must be taken with their legitimate representatives not only present but actively involved. "This step ensures that players are no longer outside the room. Their position is now part of a formal process: it is recorded, debated and integrated into governance. That is where real change begins.