Italian clubs participating in the Super League will be excluded from the championship

In reaction to the attempt to create a Super League, the Italian Football Federation adopted a new rule on Monday April 26 which will prohibit teams which enter a private competition from participating in the national championship. A club that would join “Competitions not recognized by the federation, UEFA [Union des associations européennes de football] and FIFA [Fédération internationale de football] automatically lost its affiliation to the championship, announced the president of the Italian federation, Gabriele Gravina, after a federal council.

At the very beginning of last week, 6 English clubs, 3 Spanish and 3 Italian, among the richest in Europe, had launched a semi-closed competition project, where 15 of the 20 places would have been reserved every year for the same 15 founders. . Faced with the media and political outcry and the indignant reaction from supporters, the six English clubs – Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal – were the first to back down on Tuesday night.

Read our editorial: Super League project: the victory of the money, the contempt of the public

Juventus and AC Milan persist

Inter Milan announced their withdrawal on Wednesday after the departure of the six English clubs, but Juventus Turin and AC Milan were less clear, acknowledging the failure of the formula without specifying whether or not they were leaving. the project.

Juventus, whose president Andrea Agnelli is one of the main instigators of the Super League with their Real Madrid counterpart Florentino Perez said last week to stay “Convinced of the validity of sporting, commercial and legal hypotheses” of the project and “Committed to the search for building long-term value for the club and for the football movement as a whole”.

AC Milan, controlled since 2018 by the American investment fund Elliott, also ruled that a “Evolution is necessary to progress” and advocated “A sustainable model for the world of football”.

The three Italian “secessionists” are in the sights of Serie A: eleven clubs wrote this weekend to the Italian Football League to demand an urgent assembly in order to“Analyze the serious acts of clubs [impliqués dans le projet de Super Ligue] and their leaders and the resulting consequences ”, according to La Repubblica.

UEFA promises slingers sanctions

In addition, the president of UEFA, Aleksander Ceferin, assured Sunday, in the newspaper Mail on Sunday, that there would be sanctions against clubs that attempted to launch this dissident Super League. “Everyone must suffer the consequences of what they have done and we cannot pretend that nothing has happened”, he estimated.

The European football leader set the six English clubs apart, as they were the first to fall into line. “For me, there is a big difference between the English clubs and the other six. They pulled out first, they admitted their mistake. It takes a certain greatness of character to say, “I was wrong.” “

However, they will not escape all consequences, but they will be less severe, even if Ceferin refused to specify the range of possible sanctions. “Everyone will be held responsible (…). Will it be disciplinary? Will it be by a decision of the executive committee? We’ll see. It is too early to tell “, he simply concluded.

The World with AFP