According to Real boss Perez, the Super League is not history yet
In the opinion of Real Madrid President Florentino Perez, the Super League has not yet failed. “You are completely wrong,” he said in the direction of the critics, who consider the project to be done, in a radio interview broadcast by SER on Thursday morning. He doesn't think the other football clubs have left the Super League. “It's clear in the contract that you can't leave,” said Perez.
Juve boss Andrea Agnelli, on the other hand, responded on Wednesday to the question of whether the project could be continued now: “To be honest and honest, no, that is obviously not the case.” According to the announcement, Perez is chairman of the Super League, while Agnelli is one of his two deputies. UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin once again received massive criticism of Perez in particular.
“Perez is the president of a super league that didn't exist, and right now he's the president of nothing,” the 53-year-old told the Slovenian television broadcaster Pop TV. “He would like a UEFA President who obeys him, listens to him, does what he wants,” said Ceferin. The super league never existed. “It was an attempt to create a phantom league of the rich that would not follow any system that ignored the pyramid structure of football in Europe, its culture, tradition or history.”
The six participating teams from England (Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester City and United), the three from Italy (Juventus Turin, Inter Milan and AC Milan) and Atletico Madrid announced their withdrawal from the project on Tuesday evening and Wednesday . There is no corresponding announcement from Real and FC Barcelona. The latter, however, has already announced a vote among the members, the majority of whom are likely to be against the Super League. The twelve clubs had only revealed themselves as founding members of the Super League on Monday night, thus launching an attack on UEFA and its Champions League, which had caused massive criticism.
“It was like we killed someone. It was like we killed football. But we're trying to figure out a way to save football,” said Perez. “I've been in football for 20 years and I've never seen threats like these.” The project may not have been well explained, “but they didn't give us the opportunity to explain it either”. He is sad and disappointed because you worked on the project for three years.
Perez also again made his dissatisfaction with the Champions League clear. “The Champions League format is old and only interesting from the quarter-finals,” said the 74-year-old. When asked why he had not asked the members of Real for their opinion, he replied: “Do I have to ask them which players we are signing?”
If Perez is safely in the saddle at Real, the pressure on another co-initiator of the project increases. Italian media speculate about the future of Juventus boss Andrea Agnelli. With the advance with the Super League, the 45-year-old had given up his position as a key UEFA sports official. A resignation at Juve seemed unlikely. Nonetheless, several media outlets brought Agnelli's cousin, Alessandro Nasi, into play as a possible successor. Agnelli belongs to a famous family of entrepreneurs in Italy. She co-founded the Fiat car brand.
While the Super League is history, the fan organizations felt like winners and now want to achieve a massive change of direction after the failure of the Super League. “We call on all football fans: The time has come for even more consistent and louder resistance. The events of the past few days have shown what is possible,” said a joint statement by nine alliances and initiatives on Thursday, which also included “A withdrawal of the resolved Champions League reform towards a more even distribution of joint revenues” was called for.
