It was almost five years ago that some of Europe’s biggest soccer clubs banded together to announce they would be forming a breakaway European Super League, only for the venture to crumble almost immediately.
LaLiga giants Barcelona and Real Madrid were the last ones still clinging to the vain hope of getting a lucrative new competition off the ground, but on Saturday, Barça officially confirmed once and for all that they were ending their involvement in the moribund project.
But why now? And what does their belated exit mean for the two Clásico rivals and their relationship at the summit of Spanish soccer? ESPN’s Madrid correspondent Alex Kirkland and Barcelona correspondent Sam Marsden break it down.
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RIP, European Super League. Again.
As you might remember, 12 founding clubs joined the Super League on its launch in April 2021: half of them from the Premier League (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur) three from LaLiga (Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid) and three from Serie A (AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus). Now only Real Madrid remain. The six English clubs left days after the project’s unveiling — deterred by the strength of opposition to the idea. Atlético, Inter and AC Milan soon followed. Juventus took longer to depart, finalizing their withdrawal in June 2024. And on Saturday, Barcelona, in a 28-word statement, belatedly confirmed that they’re leaving too.
Madrid’s isolation comes at a time when, in some ways, the idea of a Super League is on a stronger ideological and practical footing than ever. In December 2023, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) found that UEFA’s previous rules on breakaway competitions were an unlawful monopoly. In May 2024, a Madrid court — following that verdict — agreed that the sport’s governing bodies had abused their dominant position when they threatened to punish clubs who joined the Super League.
In the meantime, Super League promotors A22 Sports Management unveiled a new, more PR-friendly model for the proposed competition, stressing that it would be «inclusive and meritocratic» and saying that games would be broadcast on a new, free-to-air streaming service called Unify, funded by advertising. More recently, Madrid said they would be taking legal action to seek «substantial damages» from UEFA over its handling of the Super League saga, citing the ECJ and Madrid court rulings.
Just three months ago, Madrid president Florentino Pérez, who has been one of the most vocal proponents of the ESL — and also one of UEFA’s most outspoken critics — told the club’s annual assembly he was «more convinced than ever» of victory in the Super League row.
«Real Madrid are the only club that has the institutional strength and wealth to take on this battle,» he told club members. «Not many are brave enough to raise their voices. … We still insist [the Super League] is an essential project for football. We’ve had the right to create our own competitions recognized. And we can claim multimillion-euro damages for UEFA’s conduct. We have two rights: to be compensated for our losses, and to arrange a competition in the future, and we will tirelessly pursue both.»
That’s all very well, but it left Madrid pursuing a new, viable competition replacing the Champions League as the only official member. A22 CEO Berndt Reichart — the Super League’s smooth-talking spokesman, who has taken the lead as its public face since Pérez’s disastrous initial presentation on late-night Spanish TV show «El Chiringuito» in 2021 — argues the project has more support behind the scenes than you might think.
Even UEFA admitted last October that a series of informal meetings had been held with A22, to discuss whether a possible compromise, acceptable to both parties. European soccer’s governing body insisted that «no formal outcomes resulted from these conversations» and that «there are no plans to change the format of the Champions League.»
When those talks ended unsuccessfully, Madrid made their demand for damages known. And for now — with not a single club other than Madrid offering public support for the Super League — that legal action will have to remain the extent of their ambitions. — Alex Kirkland
Madrid back on the offensive
The relationship between Real Madrid and Barcelona has always been more complicated than you might initially imagine. On the face of it, the two Clásico rivals are arch-enemies, but there is also an acknowledgement that, at times, they both need each other.
That had never been more obvious than during the past five years as Madrid and Barça sided together against UEFA and LaLiga over various issues, mostly stemming from the failed launch of the European Super League in 2021.
That same year, both clubs, along with Athletic Club, shunned an investment deal from private equity firm CVC into LaLiga. The president of the league, Javier Tebas, later claimed if Barça had signed up to the deal, they could have avoided the departure of Lionel Messi. Barça president Joan Laporta, though, did not believe the CVC deal was the answer to the Catalan club’s financial problems and preferred to stay closer to Madrid chief Pérez, who was front and center of the Super League project, and the possible money that could be made from the new competition.
It led to a truce between the two clubs over the following years. Madrid even remained relatively quiet in positioning themselves when the investigation into Barça’s payments to companies related to José María Enríquez Negreira, the former vice president of the refereeing committee in Spain, initially broke in 2023. Madrid did join the case as a claimant, although that was largely seen as a move to appease members rather than to fully condemn Barça for the payments, which totaled over €7 million between 2001 and 2018.
However, Madrid have turned up the heat in recent months as it has become increasingly apparent they have lost Barça and Laporta’s support for the Super League. In October, Laporta traveled to Rome, where he laid the foundations for Barça to return to the European Football Clubs (EFC), formerly the European Club Association (ECA). Both Clásico clubs left the EFC when the Super League launched. He has also improved relations with UEFA, LaLiga and Tebas. As a result, Madrid have put the focus back on the Negreira case.
«It isn’t normal that Barcelona paid over €7 million to the vice president of referees over 17 years,» Pérez said at the club’s assembly last November. «That coincided with the best results in Barcelona’s history.»
Former Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso queried the case in December as well, with new manager Álvaro Arbeloa also preferring to focus on the Negreira issue on Saturday when asked about Barça’s decision to ditch the Super League.
«On the Negreira case: I think nobody understands that right now, the biggest scandal in Spanish football history, still hasn’t been resolved,» Arbeloa said. «I think that should worry a lot of people.» — Sam Marsden
