​UEFA President Aleksandar Ceferin has claimed that English clubs do not do themselves any favours by complaining about their treatment every time. 


In a press conference held at Oxford University, as reported by ​Daily Mail, Ceferin talked about the problems ​Arsenal and ​Chelsea fans faced during the Europa League final in Baku, addressing the ticketing and travel issues specifically. 


He said, "I was supported by 76 per cent of the (European) federations in my first (UEFA) election but not England. England supported the other candidate.


"Whenever we have English clubs, whenever we have complaints, they’re mad! You don’t help yourself in the popularity within European football with that. If somebody asks me why we played in Baku, I would say: 'People live there. Homo sapiens live there.'”

There were several complaints against UEFA for the extremely meagre ticket allocations for fans of each club for the final. Apart from that, travel was an issue as elevated prices meant that fans struggled to make the long trip from London to Baku. 


Further, Arsenal players were prevented from showing support to Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who was left behind due to security concerns, with Armenia's unstable political situation with Azerbaijan causing the club to take that decision.


Ceferin addressed the travel and ticket allocations complaints and defended the decision citing the fact that the sport has to expand and be more inclusive.


"They had to watch the game at 11pm because of the time difference but nobody complained. If we have two Azerbaijani teams playing in London nobody would complain. They would come and play without any problems. We decided a year and a half ago that we play in Baku, which has a modern stadium of 70,000.


"I think there is only one stadium in England that is bigger. So you should see the happiness, the humbleness of people when they see live the superstars they like. We have to develop football everywhere not England, Germany only," he concluded.