The President of the European Football Federation (UEFA) – Aleksander Ceferin has denied the possibility of allowing Saudi Arabian clubs to participate in the Champions League. That means, Cristiano Ronaldo no longer has the opportunity to participate in the most prestigious tournament on the old continent.

UEFA does not allow non-European clubs to participate in the Champions League

In mid-August, there was information about the Saudi Arabia Football Federation (SAFF) asking UEFA for permission for the Saudi Pro League champion club to participate in the Champions League  from  the 2024/25 season.

For his part, Saudi Pro League CEO Carlo Nohra also affirmed that SAFF is trying to help the Saudi Arabian National Championship make a difference and attract audiences around the globe.

President Ceferin affirmed that only clubs in the old continent can participate in the European Cup. Photo: Getty.

This information makes many audiences excited at the prospect of stars who were once famous in Europe such as  Cristiano Ronaldo , Sadio Mane, Marcelo Brozovic, Aymeric Laporte (Al-Nassr), Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, (Al-Ittihad), Neymar, Ruben Neves, Kalidou Koulibaly, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (Al-Hilal)… can continue to play in the Champions League.

However, in a recent interview with L’Equipe (France), President Aleksander Ceferin affirmed that UEFA will never allow non-European clubs to participate in the Champions League, Europa League and UEFA Conference. League.

Also according to Mr. Aleksander Ceferin, the Saudi Pro League is not strong enough to compete with major tournaments in Europe, because although it attracts many big names, most of these stars have entered the downhill slope of their careers.

Ronaldo has no chance to participate in the Champions League. Photo: Getty.

From the 2024/25 season, the Champions League will increase from 32 to 36 participating clubs. At the same time, the competition format will follow the “Swiss model” similar to chess. Teams participating in the tournament will be seeded based on previous achievements in Europe’s most prestigious arena.

In the first round of the 2024/25 Champions League, the 1st seeded team will face the 36th team, the 2nd seeded team will face the 35th club, and the 3rd seeded team will face the 34th team. In the 2nd round, the winning teams will 1 meet, tied teams meet and the same thing happens with the clubs that lost round 1. In order to create many fiery heroics, clubs with good records will easily meet in the following rounds.

After 10 matches, the 8 clubs with the best records will win tickets to play in the 1/8 round. The next 16 ranked teams compete in the play-off round to win the remaining 8 tickets to the 1/8 round. 8 clubs lost the play-off round to play in the Europa League.