Alberto Colombo discusses challenges facing European football | OneFootball

Alberto Colombo, Secretary-General of European Leagues, spoke to the Portuguese podcast Ataque Rápido about the current challenges facing professional football in Europe.

The episode offered a comprehensive look at the challenges facing domestic leagues, the growing demands of international competitions, and the governance structures shaping modern European football.

Stakeholders and Governance

Colombo began by explaining the structure of European football: "In the so-called European football family, there’s UEFA, representing federations; European Leagues, representing professional leagues; EFC, formerly ECA, representing clubs; and FISPRO, representing the players’ unions." He stressed the importance of defending the leagues’ interests: "Our interest is to defend and protect the business model of professional leagues, protect the calendar, fight TV piracy and, more than anything, try to push international organisations to implement a governance model that is more inclusive and considers the interests of all stakeholders, especially professional football."

Despite formal representation, Colombo noted leagues have limited influence over international decisions. "On paper, there is representation of domestic leagues in UEFA’s decision-making mechanisms, but in reality our influence is very limited. When we go to FIFA… it’s almost none." he said.

Scheduling and player workload

Scheduling conflicts remain a major concern. Colombo drew a clear line on weekend international competitions: "Competitions on weekends? That is our red line!" He stressed that balancing domestic and international football is the "biggest challenge," adding that new competition formats, including the revamped Champions League, increase matchdays at the expense of domestic leagues: "We’re talking about competitions with more than 50% additional games compared to the previous format. It’s not just the number of matches, it’s the number of matchweeks, and these dates are taken from domestic leagues."

Colombo also explained that European Leagues has proposed changes to ease the domestic calendar: "We made a proposal to UEFA to remove the two weeks where the Europa League and Conference League have exclusive matchweeks, because it doesn’t really help the calendar."

Expanded international tournaments exacerbate the problem. "We’ll have the World Cup in the summer with 48 teams. The problem isn’t just more teams, it’s that the competition needs an extra week. Where does that week come from? Domestic leagues and pre-seasons." He also questioned the growing FIFA Club World Cup, he added: "We have some doubts if it’s a competition that will generate interest. Of course, in the eyes of the big clubs, it creates a lot of interest because it redistributes a large amount of revenue. But there are already rumours of expansion and playing it every two years. That represents enormous pressure on domestic football."

Colombo also highlighted player workload concerns: "Many players play almost 70-80 matches a season. But there are 20,000 professional footballers across Europe who do not play enough. The challenge is establishing balance."

Revenue distribution, competitive balance and TV Piracy

Financial inequality is a recurring problem. Colombo explained that current revenue distribution heavily benefits top clubs: "The current model makes the majority of revenues go to the few clubs that play in the Champions League. That’s what leads to competitive imbalance in domestic leagues." He advocated for broader redistribution: "It would be desirable to have a more democratic system that allows more clubs from more countries to compete at a higher level."

He also reflected on mid-tier leagues introducing formats like playoffs to increase competitiveness but warned that disparities still lead to "games with little interest" late in the season.

TV Piracy was another major topic. Colombo warned that, without European legislation against illegal streaming, football could lose 20-30% of its revenue. Protecting broadcast rights and intellectual property remains a top priority for leagues across Europe.

Reflections on the Super League

Colombo described the Super League situation as "probably the most interesting and challenging days of my career." He emphasised the decisive role of fans: "What defeated the Super League in 48 hours were the fans."

He also highlighted the involvement of political leaders, recalling the strong interventions by (former Italian Prime minister) Mario Draghi and Boris Johnson. "We managed to mobilise governments - I remember at the time, involving Mario Draghi, Boris Johnson, and, above all, the supporters," he said.

Colombo stressed that the issue wasn’t really the Super League itself, but how it was created. "The real question isn’t the Super League itself, it’s how it was born. Now it’s a dead project, but there are clubs that have ambitions and have already managed to apply them within UEFA and FIFA structures. They’ve implemented mechanisms to play more games, generate more revenue, and possibly secure slightly more guaranteed access."