Report: FC Barcelona quietly abandons Real Madrid in failed Super League project
Barça "hopes the project will slowly die", according to a report from Spain, but they won't publicly abandon it.
It's been almost a year since we heard news about the Super League, the project launched by Florentino Pérez, Real Madrid president, to compete against UEFA and Champions League, as an alternative competition among the top football clubs in Europe, which would play among them much more frequently, and would be broadcast for free.
The name Super League (which was rebranded to Unify League in December 2024, but nothing came out of that) sometimes floats around in interviews, with UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin saying he felt proud about stopping that "elitist competition that would have destroyed football as it is".
This week, with the launch of the European Football Clubs (EFC), a rebranded European Club Association (ECA), the organisation that represents European clubs that is recognised by UEFA, Ceferin made some references to Super League: "There have been attempts from outside to reform our sport, but we will never organize a competition for 12 clubs. Football has to be inclusive, so everyone has a chance to win the best competitions".
Laporta, Barça president, attends the EFC launch
One of the attendees to the annual assembly of the EFC was FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta, which sends a message that the club is getting closer to UEFA, after it was one of the only two remaining clubs signed up for Super League, the other one being Real Madrid.
But, according to radio station COPE, Barça has retired his support from Super League, as they understand that "project with two clubs in all of Europe isn't going to move forward".
However, they cannot legally say that they abandon the project, so they hope to let the project die: "The only reason Barça can't officially announce its departure from the Super League right now, as other clubs have done, is the significant financial penalties Barça would have to pay if it leaves A22. There have been teams that have left, but they left in time; Barcelona didn't do so at the time, and therefore, given the club's current situation, it's not appropriate for Barça to get involved in a legal battle."
Were you a supporter of the Super League, or do you prefer UEFA's way of handling things (including price of TV rights)?
