Agnelli opens up about Juventus, European League and Premier League dominance
Former Juventus president Andrea Agnelli opens up about what transpired in the last seasons he was in charge of the club.
Having spent 13 years as the president of Juventus, where he managed to bring back the Old Lady to the summit of Italian and European football, Andrea Agnelli has a lot to say about his experiences at the club.
Agnelli resigned from his position at
Juventusamidst investigations into their financial dealings. Juventus was hit with 15-point deduction ban shortly after his resignation.
One of the key players who was in charge of the European Super League idea, Agnelli still believes in the competition.
“UEFA’s monopoly must be broken in order to give clubs a financially stable future. A future in which clubs do not fall if they do not qualify once for European competitions. This is a problem for any club.” Agnelli said.
“With such uncertainty, it’s not possible as a club to make long-term sustainable and sound decisions. That is why I am in favour of a league system in top European football, with more financial and sporting opportunities for everyone.”
Agnelli worked closely with UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin prior to the forming of the Super League. He spoke about how there were plans to change the format of the Champions League but Ceferin caved in the last minute.
“In 2019 we were ready, Aleksander and I. The top clubs from all ECA sub-divisions (then around 130 European professional clubs, ed.) had agreed on a new format.
“The medium-sized clubs in the big leagues, the managers of the big leagues and some national associations saw the new format as a threat and so Ceferin withdrew. When UEFA decided to block the project, plans emerged from outside UEFA to organise a new league with all the clubs in the ECA.
“Whether the project gets off the ground will depend on the European Court of Justice. Internally it was a war that I could not win.
“Although I know that the current system does not offer a future to Ajax, Anderlecht, Celtic, Benfica, Panathinaikos and Red Star Belgrade. So you don’t stand still, but take other paths to what you want to do for European club football.”
Then opened up about how English dominance is threatening the European football in general.
“The Premier League collects about €4 billion euros per year, Spain about half, Germany €1.5 billion and the Netherlands €100m. English dominance also threatens European football.
“In the Champions League, starting with the quarter-finals, it is all about English clubs and three or four others such as Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, PSG and Bayern Munich, with an occasional outsider like Ajax in 2019.
“The Premier League uses the parachute system for this purpose. Relegated clubs receive financial compensation for a number of years.”
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