“I was participating in a podcast [Men in Blazers] in the United States and a journalist asked me if a Champions League final could be played in New York in the next 20 years. I said: “’t is possible.’ If someone had asked me about Indonesia, I would have answered the same thing. In 20 years, I won’t be here. But the next day, I read: ‘2026 [Champions League final] in the United States.’ We’ve never talked about it at UEFA. Only European federations can apply for a final, not even clubs. We would have to change all our rules, and we don’t want that. Serious media ask us to clarify when they have a doubt. But some do not check because otherwise they lose their beautiful story.”

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