UEFA credibility up... then down

FOR a day, it seemed like a degree of sense, almost nobility, had broken out in one of football’s governing bodies.

It seemed like UEFA had finally found some sort of heart and had belatedly realised the beautiful game was not just about the bucks.

Its president, Aleksander Ceferin, (below) tore into FIFA’s idea of a 24-team World Club Cup.

“I cannot accept that some people, who are blinded by the pursuit of profit, are considering to sell the soul of football tournaments to nebulous private funds,” he said.

“Money does not rule. I will not let anyone sacrifice its structures on the altar of a highly cynical and ruthless mercantilism.” Hear, hear. But then, a little later, Ceferin refuses to discount the idea of a Champions League Final being played outside Europe in, for example, somewhere such as New York or the Middle East.

So what Ceferin actually meant in his blistering attack on the FIFA idea was that, if anyone is going to sell the soul of football tournaments, it is going to be us. MANUEL PELLEGRINI reckons West Ham need four or five new players and the same will probably be said by Marco Silva when he takes over at Everton.

One day, a manager is going to arrive at a club, say he doesn’t need to spend the owner’s money and HE, not pounds, will make the difference.

LYON beat Wolfsburg 4-1 in extra time, after 90 minutes of the Women’s Champions League Final did not produce a goal. It should have, replays suggesting Amandine Henry’s header had crossed the line before being cleared by Wolfsburg’s Noelle Maritz....