Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez has extensively discussed the failure of the Super League on Wednesday night. In the radio program El Larguero from Cadena SER he insisted that the new league could have ‘saved’ football. The fact that there was immediately a lot of criticism of the arrival of the Super League has, according to Pérez, due to the fact that the plan was not properly presented. “The founding clubs believe in this project. It’s not dead. We will continue to work ”, Pérez promised.
Less than 48 hours after the twelve clubs came out with the founding of the Super League, the six English clubs withdrew: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur pulled out. It led to a domino effect, because Atlético Madrid, AC Milan, Internazionale and Juventus also announced that it was the end of their story. The clubs took the decision after fierce resistance from the football world. Supporters, players, coaches, UEFA and FIFA were against the arrival of the Super League. “UEFA put on a show that surprised me completely,” said Pérez. “It was like dropping a nuclear bomb. What have we done wrong? Maybe we presented it poorly, but why didn’t they let us talk about it? ”
UEFA chairman Aleksandar Ceferin threatened to ban players who are under contract with the twelve founding clubs at the European and World Championships. There were even rumors that Chelsea, Manchester City and Real Madrid would be immediately removed from the Champions League due to the plans for the Super League. “I have never seen this kind of aggression from the president of UEFA and that of the unions. It seemed orchestrated. Accusations, threats … As if we killed football. We were just trying to save football ”, responded Pérez. “It is not fair that in England six clubs lose and fourteen clubs win, that big clubs in Spain lose money and the small clubs make money,” Pérez continued. “Football is like a pyramid; if there is money at the top, then the money drifts down and everyone shares in it. When Nadal plays Federer, everyone watches. If Nadal plays against the number eighty in the world, nobody is watching. ”
The president of the Royal sees it as a setback that the Super League is canceled. He is convinced that a final and different proposal will be put on the table, which will make the format of football look different. “I am sad and disappointed,” Pérez continued in the radio program. “We’ve been working on this for three years, just to see how we could do things better with football in mind and from an economic perspective. The leagues are scared. What we can change are the midweek matches. The Champions League is outdated. It only gets interesting from the quarter-finals. ” The Super League has released a statement that the project will be ‘reconsidered’, most now founding clubs have withdrawn. “We are open to a different option than the Super League.”
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Pérez watched passively as the Super League soon came to an end at the hands of the Premier League clubs. “There was a club in the English group that was not very interested. The other clubs were ignited by this. There was fear. One of the English clubs has never really been convinced ”, Pérez explained. “That club, whose name I am not going to mention, has signed a binding agreement.” The Real chairman suggested he could take legal action against the Premier League clubs. Which they will be and what possible follow-up steps could look like, Pérez did not let go. “The contracts were binding,” he emphasized. “With contracts you can’t just get out like this. All twelve clubs have signed exactly the same contract, not a comma more or less. ”