The issue of FFP and violation of the regulations has come to the fore in recent weeks. This summer has seen Paris Saint-Germain agree to spend over €400 million on Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, who has joined on a season-long loan from Monaco before a €180m purchase is due to be taken up in 12 months.

Monaco vice-president Vadim Vasilyev earlier this week said he was struggling to see how PSG could remain on the right side of FFP regulations, which allow for only a €30m deficit over three years, while La Liga president Javier Tebas said that the French club and Manchester City are abusing the rules.

PSG were sanctioned with a fine for a breach of FFP regulations four years ago and are currently under investigation again, and, speaking to ARD, Ceferin said that UEFA does not look at the reputation of a club before punishing it.

"No, of course not," he said when asked whether he feared excluding big clubs from the Champions League. "Believe me, the regulations are the same for the big and the small."

Ceferin did not want to comment on individual cases like PSG, but sent out a warning that clubs already sanctioned for the breach of FFP regulations could face more severe punishment.

"I am a lawyer. I know that if you sanction with a fine once, you have to impose a different sanction the second time," the UEFA president said. "I do not talk about any specific club because our investigations are still ongoing.

"But one thing is clear: If you don't take heed of a punishment, then nothing will happen. We will remind all involved to follow the rules. And if that does not work out, there will be severe punishments which show that we are the governing institution."

Ceferin added: "It's one of the crucial moments. Financial fair play was established to increase stability in football, and it was successful. But times change.

"We have to adjust it and modernise and do something about the balance of the competition, because the gap between the small club and big clubs gets wider and wider. I don't think we can stop that development, but we can slow it down. And we need to act now."