UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has brushed off some of Marco van Basten’s radical proposals to transform the game.

Ceferin, elected as European football’s top administrator last September, claims there is no need for world governing body FIFA to “revolutionise” football.

Van Basten, the former Holland forward now serving as FIFA’s technical director, recently suggested a series of rule changes.

The more eye-catching included scrapping offside, introducing sinbins, bringing in orange cards and replacing penalty shoot-outs with eight-second run-ups.

“We don’t need to revolutionise the game; it’s fantastic as it is. Offside is an important part,” Ceferin told Die Welt.

“You know, I didn’t come here so that everyone says, ‘Ceferin changed this and that, he was very important’. Why should we change the most beautiful game in the world?

“Hearing all these suggestions, we can only hope that FIFA leaves us the ball. Or at least that the ball remains round.”

Asked about the shoot-out suggestion, Ceferin said: “For me that’s a joke,” and was similarly unimpressed with the sinbin idea. “Also a joke,” he added.

One change that has been made by FIFA is for the World Cup to be expanded from 32 to 48 teams from 2026.

The main beneficiaries are likely to be Asia and Africa but Ceferin hopes Europe, which currently has 13 World Cup places, will gain three more at the very least.

“UEFA was the only confederation that didn’t want it, but we had no chance, so we’ve decided to fight for as many European slots as possible,” the Slovenian said.

“The quality is in Europe and South America. We’re calling for at least 16 slots. That would be the worst-case scenario.”

Ceferin feels UEFA represents the sport’s strongest region.

He said: “We don’t want to be arrogant, but in terms of quality, revenues, etc, Europe is number one. We’re not just a continental confederation. You can’t simply outvote us every time.

“If that happens, there could be serious problems between FIFA and UEFA, but FIFA knows it.”

Ceferin’s triumph in last year’s election to replace the banned Michel Platini came as a surprise and he admits the scale of his job has taken him aback.

He said: “It’s a lot of work and, to tell you the truth, that took me rather by surprise. I was naive and thought I could do the job part-time and come to the office two or three days a week. I wanted to continue working as a lawyer. It’s impossible.

“If you want to do it seriously, you have to be there. There are many challenges – new competitions, talks about the future of the Champions League, the relationship with the clubs, sponsors, broadcasters, structural reforms.

“And so I’m in the office every day from eight in the morning until eight in the evening.

“Or I’m travelling, which is necessary but time-consuming. There’s so much work – it’s crazy.”

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