The European Super League after last year’s debacle continues to exist as Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, defended the project last Sunday. Perez’s comments were followed by his Juventus’ Andrea Agnelli and then Barcelona chief Joan Laporta. A court decision in 2023 will be crucial regarding the project's future.
Perez was one of the founding members of the Super League, which included 12 major European clubs in April 2021 but was soon closed down a few days after it was announced after pressure from fans and authorities. The only clubs that have tried to keep alive the Super League and have considered the ESL as direct competition for the Champions League are Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus.
In a recent meeting with the Madrid assembly, Florentino Perez compared the ESL to tennis where star players go head-to-head a lot more in comparison to football teams from different leagues.
The UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin responded to Perez and stressed the importance of smaller teams in the sport. "Once again he has shown that his idea is to close everything off, without games against smaller teams," he told a news conference in Rome. In response to Ceferin, Agnelli reaffirmed his "commitment" to the ESL and proposed "establishing a direct link with sponsors who dare to take business risks, and control of economic resources."
Similarly, Barca President John Laporta talked about the tournament and described it as a better version of the Champions League. "A Super League would be an improved Champions League, with a better format, it would surely be the most attractive competition in the world," said the Barcelona president. However, Laporta stated that he would prefer a closed format for the competition. "We have to have an open Super League, where there's meritocracy," he said.
"I think that the big clubs always playing each other would be tiring," he added. "Those who like football among us would end up tired. It's healthy and beautiful that a smaller team can beat a bigger team. To back the underdog is very nice. You see a Euros won by Greece, and it's beautiful. And when Leicester won (the Premier League) in England it was special."