Real and UEFA reach agreement on European Super League

Less than five years ago, European football was struck by lightning. The news read: the continent’s biggest clubs were “breaking away” from UEFA to create their own competition — the Super League. The news now circling the globe reads: the Super League is officially dead! The last club that remained its defender, the one that had been the driving force and protector of the idea all along — Real Madrid — has admitted defeat.

Today, the world’s biggest football club signed an agreement with UEFA, definitively putting an end to the idea and story of founding the Super League.

“After months of discussions, conducted in the best interest of European football, UEFA, the European Club Association, and Real Madrid announce that they have agreed on principles for the benefit of European club football, respecting the principle of sporting merit with an emphasis on the club’s long-term sustainability and improving the fan experience through the use of technology. This agreement on principles will also serve to resolve their legal disputes related to the European Super League once those principles are implemented and the changes are made,” the statement published on the UEFA and Real Madrid websites reads.

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In essence, it is a collection of not particularly clear or understandable terms meant to present it all as a “shared” victory, so that no one feels defeated in this battle. But the truth is that Real had to raise the white flag, especially since Barcelona officially acknowledged a few days ago that it is no longer part of the Super League project.

“We have very good cooperation with the Spanish Football Federation. As with UEFA, we have returned to the football family; we have definitively left the Super League. It is a project that could not be implemented and gradually collapsed. It served as a driving idea for UEFA to change the formats of its competitions,” said Barcelona’s (outgoing) president Joan Laporta in an interview with the club’s website a few days ago.

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So, the story is over — UEFA has won. It did have very strong allies in that fight, because on that April evening in 2021, when an earthquake hit European football, top Western politicians stepped in to “persuade” the clubs to withdraw from the project. Many were convinced. Real and Barca resisted the longest, but in the end, they had to admit defeat.