All Things Regarding UEFA

The Cruyff Turn
1

For once, UEFA have done something right:

Some of football’s leading coaches, including Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti and Roma’s Jose Mourinho, will meet as part of a new Uefa advisory board.

The Uefa football board also includes high-profile former players such as Italy legend Paolo Maldini and ex-Wales forward Gareth Bale.

Its first meeting will be on Monday, 24 April.

The agenda includes the video assistant referee (VAR) system, handball and player behaviour.

Uefa says the board is “designed to give an institutional yet independent voice of experience and expertise on fundamental football-related topics, including the laws of the game, refereeing, match calendar, elite youth development and player well-being”.

England manager Gareth Southgate, former England defender Rio Ferdinand and former Liverpool and Everton boss Rafael Benitez are also part of the new body.

European’s football governing body said the “members were selected based on their outstanding club or national team football achievements, impeccable international reputation and extensive experience”.

“Uefa is delighted to see that the very ones who have shaped the game’s history with their talents and philosophy through decades are gathered again around our common goal - to protect the game of football and its essential values,” said Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin.

Uefa football board members:

Jose Mourinho, Roma manager

Eric Abidal, former France defender

Carlo Ancelotti, Real Madrid manager

Gareth Bale, former Wales forward

Rafael Benitez, former Liverpool manager

Fabio Capello, former England manager

Petr Cech, former Czech Republic keeper

Rio Ferdinand, former England defender

Luis Figo, former Portugal forward

Robbie Keane, former Republic of Ireland striker

Jurgen Klinsmann, South Korea manager

Ronald Koeman, Netherlands manager

Philipp Lahm, former Germany defender

Henrik Larsson, former Sweden striker

Michael Laudrup, former Denmark attacking midfielder

Paolo Maldini, former Italy defender

Roberto Martinez, Portugal manager

Juan Mata, Galatasaray midfielder

Predrag Mijatovic, former Montenegro forward

Gareth Southgate, England manager

Patrick Vieira, former France midfielder

Rudi Voller, former Germany striker

Javier Zanetti, former Argentina defender

Zinedine Zidane, former Real Madrid manager

It remains to be seen how much this board will effectively have power to change things, but it’s good to see genuine professionals involved for topics like match calendar, refereeing, player well-being etc.

Rafa is involved in there as well, which is good to see, as I can’t imagine someone better for such a job.

3 Likes
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A lot of egos there

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Rio Ferdinand sort of lets the side down IMO…
What has he got, that he can contribute - May as well have put Matt Le Tissier in there :0)

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Surprised Jermaine Jenas isn’t there.

He’s everywhere else.

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Not a woman in sight.
Outrage alert

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Glad Rafa is there.

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Rafa and Peđa Mijatović - I’m not biased at all! :slight_smile:

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It’s meaningless. They have no input and it ignores that “football people” are actually in the IFAB committees that actually decide these things.

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Rafa might bring up the crowd problem in Paris, and tear them off a strip

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aye…

very good ya bam,

some teams dont even stick to FPP rules

what chance you got with this…

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Good luck with trying to implement that one.

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Well, at least he breaks a taboo.

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The Belgians look to again be fucking up the transfer market

TLDR - Antwerp challenged UEFA’s homegrown rules saying they were unfairly penalized by the small size of their country. The courts rejected the argument, but then said they didnt think the association trained part of the rule made any sense and has now opened the door to that part being challenged.