13 World Cup Teams React to UEFA President's Comments on Matches

A group of 13 World Cup teams spoke out on Sunday against UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin. This was over his reported remarks that this year's expanded tournament would have many "completely uninteresting" matches.

In a joint statement, the 13 football associations, which include World Cup newcomers Cape Verde, Curacao, and Uzbekistan, said they "respectfully but firmly reject" Ceferin's comments. These comments were reported in the Slovenian newspaper Delo.

The statement read, "For our countries, there is no such thing as an unimportant World Cup match." They added, "To suggest that these matches are somehow less important is deeply disappointing and fails to recognise the efforts, sacrifices and aspirations of players, coaches, clubs, football leaders and supporters across the world."

Before the tournament, Ceferin reportedly said that expanding the World Cup to 48 teams this year from 32 in 2022 would lower the quality of the matches. He was quoted saying, "We have a lot of matches that are completely uninteresting."

But another Slovenian outlet reported Ceferin also said, "On the other hand, even small countries can participate and feel the pulse of the World Cup, which is a big thing." This shows a different side to his view on the tournament.

The 13 teams in their statement emphasized that all nations at the World Cup "deserve respect." They stated, "Every team has earned its place on merit. Every supporter has the right to dream. Every match carries meaning for millions of people around the world."

The statement concluded with, "We therefore reject the UEFA President's comments."

Other football federations that signed the statement include those from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Ghana, Senegal, the Ivory Coast, and South Africa.

When AFP asked UEFA for a comment, a spokesperson did not deny Ceferin's comments. Instead, the spokesperson pointed to an interview Ceferin gave last week. In that interview, he did not mention the World Cup expansion.