Ceferin: "It's hard to fall asleep at night. You would be quite irresponsible if you could fall asleep immediately"
Wednesday 20 May 2020 06:55, UK
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin admits he is having trouble sleeping because of the coronavirus pandemic, with European football's governing body set to lose "millions and millions of dollars".
European leagues and UEFA competitions have either been suspended since March or had their seasons cut short due to the coronavirus outbreak.
While the German Bundesliga resumed over the weekend, it is unclear when, or if, other major leagues such as the Premier League will restart, with the season set to spill over into August when the 2020-21 campaign is set to kick off.
Euro 2020, which was due to be staged in 12 cities across Europe this summer, has also been postponed until 2021 and Ceferin admits the pandemic has caused him to have sleepless nights.
"There is so much information [to take in] and so many calendar issues. So many millions and millions, dozens of millions of dollars, that we will lose," Ceferin told The Guardian.
"It's then hard to fall asleep at night. You would be quite irresponsible if you could fall asleep immediately.
"The situation for UEFA is not that alarming, we're not in a dangerous situation, but we still care about the clubs and the leagues and the stakeholders so it is a lot of work."
Ceferin said he did not expect football to change once the situation returns to normal but added Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations could be adapted to the "new times".
"If they don't follow the rules they will always be sanctioned, but of course we're thinking about how we can improve our regulations," he said.
"This will not happen very soon but we're thinking of improving [FFP], modernising it and doing something more about the competitive balance.
"We're also considering some sort of 'luxury tax', if it's possible."
