Speaking to reporters in Sydney ahead of Saturday night\u2019s game between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur as part of the Sydney Super Cup, Alonso echoed the sentiments of UEFA and many of the proposals other critics. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think that football has to be for the people, not for private hands,\u201d Alonso said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that the way we love it is in this way\u2026 we have seen a great World Cup\u2026we need to defend the interest for all people.\u201d<\/p>\n
UEFA: European nations to BOYCOTT all FIFA competitions over Infantino\u2019s investment plan & World Cup proposal<\/a> As for UEFA\u2019s stance, he added: \u201cI think that it\u2019s a common feeling of football people that we want something that we keep in the hands of everyone. For all the people.<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully it won\u2019t happen and we will keep the game as attractive and authentic as we like it. That\u2019s why there\u2019s these emotions, these passions, you see in the World Cup, and you see in the Champions League, and Premier League \u2013 because it is for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n Alonso touched on a wide range of topics in his press conference on Friday, openly discussing new signing Maxence Lacroix and what his arrival could mean for the other central defenders on Chelsea\u2019s books, as well as how record recruit Morgan Rogers will fit into the side, and what he hopes to get out of Saturday\u2019s clash against London rivals Spurs.<\/p>\n Read the full transcript of Xabi Alonso\u2019s press conference below.<\/p>\n Reporter: It\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve spoken to you since you\u2019ve signed Maxence (Lacroix) in the squad. Is he someone you\u2019ve been interested in and tracked personally?<\/p>\n Alonso: Good afternoon, everyone. I know Maxence from my time in the Bundesliga, but I think that his progression and his adaptation in the Premier League has been fantastic. Not just on the pitch as well, in terms of personality, but in league as well. He has these attributes (of) a very reliable player that will give us power in the defensive line, that has this assurance to have a direct impact in the team I\u2019m sure, so it\u2019s a great sign for now and for the future.<\/p>\n He\u2019s a strong personality, he\u2019s mature, he wants to win, he has a winner mentality and as well he loves to defend and that\u2019s something I like as well.<\/p>\n SEE THE PREMIER LEAGUE LIVE! Enter our competition to win a gift voucher for Premier League tickets ><\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n \t\t \t\t Football360\u2019s David Weiner: Xabi, just on your week in Australia, it\u2019s a long way to come to prepare in pre-season. What\u2019s the sporting facilities been like and the experience overall? Have you got out of the trip what you wanted?<\/p>\n Alonso: So far, so good. It\u2019s been a great experience to come out here to Australia, a country with bigger sports apart from football, but football is as well popular. It has great support and we have seen that for training sessions, the game and tomorrow we expect a good crowd. We\u2019re getting more and more this energy from the people. <\/p>\n The facilities are good, we see here for Sydney. It\u2019s top level, and we are really happy. <\/p>\n Football360\u2019s David Weiner: It could be 80,000-plus on Saturday night at the Olympic Stadium. What does that do for you in terms of preparation for the season? You\u2019ll be playing again in front of a full house, the type of atmosphere you might get week in, week out with Chelsea.<\/p>\n You want to play good games, even being friendlies, that you have good atmosphere that you hear the noise from the crowd, the emotion from the fans. That makes that you take the feeling of the game and the atmosphere and\u2026 it feels more close to a competition.<\/p>\n Football360\u2019s David Weiner: Did you go to Bondi this week?<\/p>\n Alonso: Bondi Beach? No, I didn\u2019t go. It\u2019s in the back of my head, so I can go next time. <\/p>\n Reporter: Xabi, you spoke when we first spoke to you at Stamford Bridge about Cole (Palmer) having a smile on his face and looking happy. Just having had a bit longer to work with him in training and in a couple of matches, what\u2019s your feeling towards him at the moment and what do expect this year? <\/p>\n Alonso: I see he\u2019s in a very positive mindset. A very good quality, he has a very good mentality, very open to talk about football, talk about what the team needs. He\u2019s running the team, he\u2019s going to be a leader on the pitch. The better Cole we have, the better the chance you (we) will have. That\u2019s for sure. I think that having a proper training, having a proper preparation is going to be important for the team and you see that it\u2019s really focusing to that.<\/p>\n We are connected, we are getting each other and so far I like this position.<\/p>\n Reporter: It\u2019s quite hard for all of us to follow the news from home over here but I\u2019m sure you would have seen what\u2019s happening with FIFA and the World Cup. I just wanted to ask, as someone has won it and your country has just won it again, your feeling towards what\u2019s happening with FIFA and the World Cup?<\/p>\n Alonso: \u201cI think that football has to be for the people, not for private hands. I think that the way we love it is in this way\u2026 we have seen a great World Cup\u2026we need to defend the interest for all people.\u201d<\/p>\n Reporter: It\u2019s quite extraordinary that UEFA is standing up to FIFA the way that it is. Do you think that was necessary to protect the integrity of football in Europe <\/p>\n \u201cI think that it\u2019s a common feeling of football people that we want something that we keep in the hands of everyone. For all the people. Hopefully it won\u2019t happen and we will keep the game as attractive and authentic as we like it. That\u2019s why there\u2019s these emotions, these passions, you see in the World Cup, and you see in the Champions League, and Premier League \u2013 because it is for everyone. The more we keep it\u2026 I know it\u2019s one part but once you start with the 20s, you finish with the 51s and we don\u2019t want that.\u201d<\/p>\n Reporter: Just to get back to Cole (Palmer), the other night I watched Joao Pedro and we detected that hunger was (from) what happened with the World Cup. Was Cole similar, and he detected that he had a point to prove (after) his injury late last season?<\/p>\n Alonso: My feeling is that he loves the game and he wants to enjoy it. So once he enjoys it, that\u2019s the way he shows it, he transmits it. So the proof is to enjoy his game and to show his aspect of it. He has shown it and I\u2019m sure this year he will (show) his desire and his goal to have a great season.<\/p>\n Reporter: Nicholas Jackson has joined up with the squad today. Has he got a part in your squad?<\/p>\n Alonso: Yes, Nico joined yesterday in the squad of all the players and Nico is part of the squad and we welcome him and we start with him from today.<\/p>\n Reporter: With Maxence\u2019s signing, I think that\u2019s ten centre-backs now on Chelsea\u2019s books. How many centre-backs would you want ideally in your squad?<\/p>\n Alonso: Four or five (pause). It\u2019s accurate, no?<\/p>\n Reporter: I wasn\u2019t expecting a direct answer!<\/p>\n Reporter: (The reporter asked a question about Moises Caicedo, but we could not hear exactly what he asked)<\/p>\n Alonso: When I saw him (Caicedo) yesterday, I didn\u2019t miss in my materials because I really admired from outside. You see his quality, his heart, his mentality. I know the Ecuadorian players, they are different. I have heard a lot, I spoke with him on phone but it was the first contact. (He\u2019s a) top player, one of the best holding professionals in the world. And now he\u2019s here, it\u2019s time to start working and to help him improving and to be very better.<\/p>\n Reporter: Just back onto UEFA\u2026 they\u2019ve obviously threatened to boycott the World Cup. Is that a position that you support? And obviously as Spain they just won it, it would mean they wouldn\u2019t be able to defend their title. <\/p>\n Alonso: Because of the time difference, I have read the news, but I don\u2019t have the whole full information. I like the way it is in football, so I don\u2019t have the whole information to go into the detail on everything. So I prefer not to talk too much, to make mistakes. Once I know it, I will have a more clear opinion about it.<\/p>\n Reporter: There will be more than 80,000 fans at Accor Stadium tomorrow. What does that mean to see the support behind Chelsea and I guess the global reach of the Premier League?<\/p>\n Alonso: That\u2019s the beauty and the special charm of the Premier League. Wherever you go in the world, Australia or New Zealand, we go next week to Hong Kong and we feel the support. We have great welcome, great reception and we are expecting a great atmosphere tomorrow. That\u2019s why the Premier League is so special in the world and that\u2019s why it\u2019s so engaging for all the football fans.<\/p>\n Reporter: I\u2019m sure people have filled you in about Chelsea\u2019s kind of recent dominance over Spurs the last few seasons. Does that make it all the more important even though it\u2019s a pre season game, that Chelsea gets a win?<\/p>\n Alonso: It\u2019s a good game. It will be an exciting game. We want to play a good game and it\u2019s still precision. There will be circumstances where are already planned because it\u2019s a friendly game that probably in a competitive moment you don\u2019t have already planned. So there will be minutes for many players but it\u2019s going to be exciting for sure.<\/p>\n Reporter: In terms of Cole (Palmer), how much do you think he needs freedom on the pitch or how much do you think you need to sort of give him planning coaching?<\/p>\n Alonso: I think that discipline gives you freedom. And I think that with clear patterns, clear duties, then you have the capacity to have the freedom to show your decision making, to show your talent, to show your qualities. But there are these principles that all the players, they need to respect to make a good team.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sure that all the players that believe it because it\u2019s the way football is nowadays and Cole, Joao (Pedro), Morgan (Rogers), Jamie (Gittens), Dastan (Satpayev), all the attacking players, they need to get involved in this mindset. <\/p>\n Watching your favourite European football has never been easier. For over 15 years, thousands of Australians have trusted Champions Travel for official tickets. As official ticketing agents of 10 Premier League clubs, plus European giants like FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich and AC Milan, they make getting to the game simple. Premier League tickets for the 2026\/27 season are now on sale at www.champions-travel.com<\/a>. Use the code Football360AUG to get $20 off today!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso has issued a stern riposte to FIFA president Gianni Infantino\u2019s controversial plan to create…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[26384,63910,7061,247,11861,54796,53887],"class_list":["post-62227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sydney","tag-chelsea","tag-cole-palmer","tag-fifa","tag-sydney","tag-sydney-super-cup","tag-tottenham-hotspur","tag-xabi-alonso"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
LOCAL RESPONSE: Asian football president slams FIFA move as \u2018unacceptable\u2019, Football Australia responds to Infantino\u2019s World Cup plans<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285596723-scaled-e1784685029432-1590x844.webp\")
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\n\t\tWill Xabi Alonso Turn Chelsea Around?<\/p>\n