What’s happened?
Spanish soccer giants Real Madrid have followed domestic rivals Barcelona in withdrawing from the controversial European Super League breakaway competition, putting an end to a five-year saga involving the biggest teams and governing bodies.
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European soccer’s UEFA announced yesterday that Real Madrid had ended its ‘legal disputes’ with the governing body, with the pair reaching a new agreement.
The move effectively ends the project, with Real Madrid being the last member remaining after Barcelona withdrew last week.
In a statement, Real Madrid said they had reached an agreement “for the good of European club football,” adding: "This agreement of principles will also serve to resolve their legal disputes related to the European Super League, once such principles are executed and implemented."
The move comes after years of legal wrangling between the remaining three members – Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Juventus – who had clung onto hopes the project would be revived after an initial exodus from the original founding clubs shortly after the project was announced, and UEFA, alongside its ally, Spanish soccer’s top-tier LaLiga.
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By GlobalDataA22 Sports Management, the company that was set up to assist with the launch of the ESL, brought the case against the Spanish soccer federation (RFEF), Spanish soccer's top-flight LaLiga, UEFA, and FIFA, who all played a significant role in blocking the ESL.
Only four months ago, Real Madrid was seeking “substantial damages” from UEFA after a court in Madrid, Spain, found the governing body and LaLiga had been practising anti-competitive behavior and abusing their dominant position by banning clubs from joining the breakaway league.
At the time, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez stated the 15-time European champions would “tirelessly pursue” their right to organize a competition outside UEFA’s umbrella.
However, Barcelona’s withdrawal last week signaled the end to the ailing project, leaving Real Madrid as the sole backer of the competition.
At the time, Barcelona president Joan Laporta said the club would now aim to build closer ties to UEFA, bringing an end to the fighting.
He said: “Barca has a clear position, and those affected and those responsible already know it. We’re in favor of peace because there’s room to explore together for the clubs in the Super League to return to UEFA. We feel very close to UEFA and the EFC.
"This is at the point of reaching an agreement with UEFA. Both Aleksander Ceferin and Nasser Al-Khelaifi are in a position to promote the agreement and welcome us to UEFA and the EFC. We are determined to take this step because it benefits European football and clubs. It’s a very broad framework because it also benefits the players."
The beginning
In April 2021, European soccer faced arguably the biggest schism in its history after 12 leading teams moved to launch a semi-closed breakaway competition that would supplant the established UEFA Champions League.
By the end of the day, when the bombshell news dropped, 12 elite European clubs had confirmed that they had signed up for the new competition, with three more expected to join ahead of the inaugural season in 2023-24.
The founding clubs were to be England’s ‘big six’ of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur, plus AC Milan, Inter Milan, and Juventus of Italy, and Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, and Real Madrid of Spain, all of which would be permanent members.
The Super League would be chaired by Florentino Perez, the president of Real Madrid, with Andrea Agnelli, the chairman of Juventus, and Joel Glazer, the co-chairman of Manchester United, as vice chairmen, with the move reflecting the desire of the top teams to have greater control over the commercial direction and proceeds of the elite European clubs' competition.
The group envisaged the competition would comprise 20 clubs in all, including five qualifiers, split into two groups of 10, and playing home and away fixtures, leading to an eight-team knockout phase.
There were evident financial benefits for the founding members, which would share an upfront sum of €3.5 billion ($4.2 billion), presented as support for infrastructure investment plans and to offset the impact of the coronavirus pandemic that had brought sport to a halt a year before.
The organizers had also pledged “solidarity payments” for European soccer of over €10 billion over the course of the initial commitment period of the clubs, and the creation of a corresponding women’s league when practicable.
The source of funding was not disclosed at the time, but it was reported that investment bank JP Morgan was leading US-based financiers prepared to invest $6 billion into a new clubs competition.
The group of clubs explained the rationale in a statement that read: "The pandemic has shown that a strategic vision and a sustainable commercial approach are required to enhance value and support for the benefit of the entire European football pyramid.
"In recent months, extensive dialogue has taken place with football stakeholders regarding the future format of European competitions. The Founding Clubs believe the solutions proposed following these talks do not solve fundamental issues, including the need to provide higher-quality matches and additional financial resources for the overall football pyramid."
Concerted opposition
However, the concept was widely rejected by a vast majority of European soccer’s range of stakeholders, with one of the main bones of contention being the proposed closed-shop format, without promotion or relegation.
As reports of the breakaway emerged, UEFA had responded sharply to the proposal, which comes at an inopportune time with the governing body's executive committee meeting on Monday to endorse a proposed restructuring of the Champions League, to come into effect for the 2024-25 season, but one which no longer commands the support of many of the top clubs.
Although the Super League teams intended to continue participating in domestic competitions and reach an accommodation with UEFA and FIFA over the new competition, they faced sanctions, including bans from national leagues and the exclusion of their players from international tournaments.
The widespread condemnation led to the collapse of the plans within 72 hours, with nine of the clubs pulling out.
Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Juventus were the only clubs to remain committed to the project and took legal action against sport’s leading bodies. Juventus, however, eventually withdrew from plans to form ESL last year.
In December 2024, A22 Sports Management, the firm in charge of reanimating the ESL, proposed an alternative club competition to the controversial project, claiming that it had “initiated the process” for the official recognition of its newly rebranded Unify League by FIFA and UEFA.
Naturally, the revamped proposal immediately drew widespread criticism. Tebas was the heaviest critic of A22 and its various attempts to challenge FIFA and UEFA’s dominance, previously calling the company “deceitful”.
A22 stated that 96 clubs would compete in the Unify League, with all potential matches to accommodate the domestic leagues and be shown on a free-to-air streaming platform.
What next?
The deal between Real Madrid and UEFA effectively consigns the project to the history books, with the top teams unlikely to sign up to a similar project any time soon, given the backlash from fans and governing bodies.
Within Real Madrid’s statement, meanwhile, is an acknowledgement of its lawsuits against UEFA, which will seemingly be resolved soon. Both parties will then work towards drawing a line in the sand over the whole saga.
Conrad Wiacek, head of analysis and consulting at Sportcal (GlobalData Sport), said: “The European Super League was a power grab from some of the continent's biggest clubs, attempting to wrestle the control of the finances of European soccer away from UEFA and give themselves a bigger share of the pie, thinking that they somehow deserved a greater share.
“However, as soon as the English clubs withdrew in the face of overwhelming fan pressure, the idea was doomed.
“While Barcelona and Real Madrid have attempted to keep the threat going, perhaps to exert some pressure on UEFA, the ESL gamble has unequivocally failed. While some format changes were introduced to appease the bigger clubs, the likes of Real Madrid will have to continue sharing the money with the minnows, a situation they wanted to circumvent in their new closed shop."
The possibility of a Super League has raised its head on many occasions over the last few decades, often as a bargaining tool by top clubs seeking to extract concessions from UEFA when negotiating reforms to the Champions League, but this is by far the furthest the plans have developed.
With a growing list of American soccer team owners whose preference for closed leagues to ensure a commercial monopoly, it may be only a matter of time until the top clubs have their heads turned once again.
There will also be a lot of soul-searching within UEFA about the ongoing threat to their power, while Real Madrid and other founding clubs will look to rehabilitate their reputation within the wider soccer community, who will not forget the part they played any time soon.
Responding to the news, Tom Greatrex, chief of the Football Supporters’ Association, said: “Florentino Pérez’s European Zombie League has shambled along dead on its feet for years while Real Madrid and Barcelona tried to pretend it had a future.
“It’s taken Pérez almost five years to understand what fans instinctively knew – the European Super League would be widely despised, and it was never going to work.
“Let’s not forget that six English clubs originally backed the competition as well. Football’s top executives must never again try to stitch up things in secret – supporters have to be heard on the big issues.”
