Nearly 5 years ago, some of Europe's biggest clubs announced the establishment of the European Super League - a secessionist league - but this project quickly collapsed almost immediately.
Barcelona and Real Madrid were once the last two "flags" in La Liga still clinging to the hope of restarting a new profitable league. However, Barca has officially confirmed that it will end their participation in the project that is on the verge of bankruptcy.
Why is this time? And how will Barca's late withdrawal affect the relationship between the two arch-rivals of El Clasico, as well as the balance of power at the peak of Spanish football?
Back in April 2021, the Super League was announced with 12 founding clubs: 6 teams from the Premier League (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham), 3 teams from La Liga (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid) and 3 teams from Serie A (AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus). Currently, according to the developments that the project has gone through, only Real Madrid is the team that publicly stopped.
6 English teams withdrew after only a few days due to a wave of strong protests. Atletico, Inter and AC Milan also quickly followed. Juventus took more time, completing the procedures to leave in June 2024. And by the end of this week, Barcelona - with a short statement of only 28 words - also late confirmed its withdrawal from the project.
It is noteworthy that Real Madrid's isolation is happening in a context where, in some respects, the idea of a secessionist league has a stronger legal basis than before.
In December 2023, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that UEFA's previous regulations aimed at preventing the secessionist league from being illegally monopolistic. In May 2024, a court in Madrid - based on the spirit of that ruling - agreed that sports governing bodies had abused their dominance by threatening to punish clubs participating in the Super League.
Meanwhile, A22 Sports Management - the unit behind the project - announced a "softer" model, emphasizing that the tournament will be "generous and based on achievements", and proposed broadcasting on a free online platform called Unify, operated by advertising.
More recently, Real Madrid also announced that it will pursue legal actions to demand "significant compensation" from UEFA for the Super League handling, citing the rulings of the ECJ and the Madrid court.
Just 3 months ago, President Florentino Perez still affirmed that he was more confident than ever in winning the dispute. He emphasized that Real Madrid is the only club with enough "institutional strength and financial resources" to pursue this battle, and said that the Super League project is "necessary".
The problem is, those statements put Los Blancos in a position to pursue a Champions League replacement project in the role of almost the only official member. A22 CEO, Bernd Reichart, continued to argue that the project received more "underground" support than the public saw.
UEFA also admitted in October last year that there were informal meetings with A22 to discuss the possibility of reaching a compromise. However, UEFA affirmed that there were no official results from those exchanges.
When negotiations did not bring about a breakthrough, Real Madrid switched to demanding compensation. And at the present time - when no other big clubs publicly support the Super League - legal procedures are perhaps also the most realistic limit of ambition they can pursue.
