Professional football is walking a fine line between commercial expansion and staying true to its roots. In this high-profile DLD Sports session, UEFA CEO Martin Kallen and LOBECO founder Lorenz Beringer discuss the rapidly changing landscape of the world’s most popular ball game, also known as soccer.
“We are more for sold out than for selling out”, Kallen says, referring to packed stadiums, when asked whether the commercialization of football has gone too far.
UEFA aims to take fan interests into consideration “all the time”, he adds, because otherwise football would lose its appeal to the game’s most ardent followers. If fans feel “not anymore fully involved and they feel the product is too expensive, then part of it will go away.”
Looking ahead to the EURO 2028 championship, fans won’t need to worry about inflated ticket prices, Kallen assures his listeners. “We have very cheap tickets for ’28”, he says. “This is what UEFA wants to give to the fans.” While some tickets will come at a premium, “over 60% of the tickets” will be at a low price point, according to Kallen.
“For us here, the money is not important”, the UEFA CEO says. “The fans are much more important, that they can really follow the game and cheer up the emotions for the teams and for the people following the matches.”
Kallen also rejects the idea of creating even more tournaments, as reportedly brought into play by global football body FIFA. “We are clearly at the limit”, he says. “Of course, there are always some people who like to have more matches, more competition, etc.”, he adds – but the message from clubs, players, and commercial partners was clear: there should be “rather less than more [competitions] because otherwise it becomes not interesting anymore.”
Watch the video to explore this insightful conversation in detail.
