Florentino Perez, during the Ballon d’Or ceremony, October 17, 2022, at the Théâtre du Châtelet, in Paris. FRANCK FIFE / AFP
Without anyone expecting it, the project to create a Football Super League – put on hold for two and a half years – returned to the debates on Saturday November 11. In a speech given during the general assembly of Real Madrid, Florentino Perez, boss of the “White House”, once again insisted on the importance, in his eyes, of creating a private league between the best European clubs.
“Football is going through an unprecedented institutional crisis. (…) European football does not belong to the UEFA president and Spanish football does not belong to the La Liga president. The Super League is more necessary than ever”declared the president of Real Madrid, before warning: “Either we react now or football will not survive.”
In April 2021, Mr. Perez was already at the origin of the initiative – which he had justified by the desire to “save football”. Twelve European clubs, including Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Juventus Turin, AC Milan, and the two Manchester clubs then attempted to create a private and semi-closed European competition which would compete with the Champions League, governed by UEFA.
This attempt quickly fizzled when several English clubs, including Manchester City, withdrew in the face of pressure from supporters or important players in the world of football. “ Sport is not a sport when the relationship between effort and reward does not exist”, had notably argued Pep Guardiola, the coach of Manchester City.
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“Making access to televised football cheaper”
But Florentino Perez had not said his last word. Perhaps motivated by the African continent, which has just set up its Super League, the 76-year-old man returned to the charge in front of the Real Madrid members, tackling the new formula of the Champions League. He called it “economic disaster” and claimed that « this project was absurd.”
The president of Real Madrid no longer hides his multiple disagreements with UEFA. Aleksander Ceferin, president of the European Union of Football Associations, had also openly congratulated Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, boss of PSG, when he did not wish to join the Super League in 2021: “He is a great man who respects football and its values”, he said then.
Florentino Perez also explained that he was relaunching the closed league project to preserve the wallets of football fans: « It is insane to charge more than 100 euros per month for football on TV when the minimum wage [en Espagne] barely exceeds 1,000 euros », he said Saturday morning. European clubs have, according to him, “the obligation to offer supporters the best possible show”in “making access to televised football cheaper”. “The Super League was designed to solve all these problems. »
Mr. Perez announced that he was firmly waiting for December 21, the date on which the Court of Justice of the European Union must deliver its verdict on the viability of the Super League project.
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