Official: Barcelona confirm decision on Super League participation
Official: Barcelona confirm decision on Super League participation
Official: Barcelona confirm decision on Super League participation
“FC Barcelona announces that it has reached an agreement with eleven other major football clubs in Europe to form a new competition, the Super League, which will be governed by its Founders Club and is intended to be the best sports competition at the level of clubs in the world,” Barcelona’s official statement reads.
“The Founding Clubs hope to hold talks with UEFA and FIFA soon in order to find the best solutions for the Super League and for world football as a whole,” it adds.
As a reminder, Real Madrid’s president Florentino Perez will be the chairman of the newly-established competition. Andrea Agnelli (Juventus) and Joel Glazer (Man United) will act as vice-chairmen.
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Previously, UEFA and the Football Associations of England, Spain and Italy had released an announcement stating that the clubs agreeing to take part in the European Super League would be banned from all of the remaining competitions.
How it all began
Talks of a new European Super League gained pace towards the end of 2020 and the former board chaired by Josep Maria Bartomeu were among those pushing for this new format.
On Sunday night, it was officially confirmed that the new competition was established and the Real Madrid president Florentino Perez would hold the chairman’s role.
Who are the participants?
The participation of the clubs like Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig is said to be possible but not confirmed yet.
UEFA and top leagues threaten to ban
As expected, the UEFA, the FA, Premier League, La Liga and others have joined hands to prevent this from happening.
In a joint statement, they’ve threatened to ban the clubs who participate – which includes Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid – from all competitions hereafter.
What Barca presidents said
Joan Laporta (January 2021 to COPE): “I don’t support the European Super League. There are other ways of income, not this tournament that would disrupt the sport. I think the European Super League represents everything that is wrong with football. It’s all about the money, you lose the essence of the beautiful sport.”
Josep Maria Bartomeu (October 2020 at the farewell presser): “Barcelona have accepted a proposal to play in the European Super League. This would guarantee the financial viability of the club going forwards.”
What the Super League could look like
A 20-team league competition which will have 15 top clubs as ‘permanent members’ while the other five teams vary each season.
The 15 clubs will call all the shots and get a share worth €3.5Bn – the top six teams will each get approximately €350mn.
The competition will divide the 20 teams into two groups and the top four from each group will play a quarter-final stage and proceed further.
Each of the group and knock-out games will be played midweek, causing a hindrance to fixtures in other competitions and even domestic leagues.
This proposal, as per the BBC, hopes to generate an annual sum of an eye-watering €4 billion from broadcasters alone.
Following the joint official statement from UEFA and some of the top European leagues, La Liga’s president Javier Tebas sent a personal message to those who are pushing forward the idea of creating the European Super League.
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“Finally, the “gurus” of the superleague PowerPoint are exiting the darkness of the bar at 5 AM, intoxicated with selfishness and a lack of solidarity. UEFA, the European Leagues and La Liga have been preparing and they will get their answer,” the official has tweeted.
News broke out on Sunday that 12 top clubs have signed an agreement to establish the European Super League, with Barcelona being one of the three Spanish clubs set to take part in it.
Meanwhile, UEFA and the Football Associations of Spain, England and Italy have released an official statement threatening to ban the clubs from all of the competitions in case they agree to play in the European Super League.
Source: tribuna
