Thursday April 22, 2021
Real boss Perez hands out violently
“As if the Super League killed someone”
The billion dollar project of the European Super League is considered to have failed. Only one of the once twelve clubs still believes in them: The President of Real Madrid warns the dropouts and attacks all critics violently. UEFA boss Ceferin strikes back immediately.
After only three days, there is not much left of the pompous Super League plans of some European football giants. Nine out of twelve clubs have already canceled their participation, and on Thursday Manchester United fans blocked their club’s training ground in protest against the billion-dollar project. Only one person still believes in the idea and the delayed introduction of “his” new league: It is only “on standby”, said Real Madrid and Super League boss Florentino Pérez the Spanish radio station Cadena Ser.
To the address of the clubs that had already dropped out, the contractor said: “It is clear in the contract that you cannot leave.” And he countered all critics of the Super League plans that it was “completely wrong” to think that this project is already dead: “We are working on it. Something will come out that the world thinks is the best . “
Pérez combined these statements with a criticism of everyone who had resisted the introduction of the Super League in the past few days: the fans, the European association UEFA, the Spanish league. “It was like we killed someone. It was like we killed football. But we’re trying to work out a way to save football,” said the 74-year-old. “I’ve been in football for 20 years and I’ve never seen threats like these.”
UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin gave an answer to this just a few hours later on Slovenian television – and it was no less clear. “Pérez is the president of a super league that didn’t exist and currently he’s the president of nothing,” said the Slovenian. “He would like a UEFA President who obeys him, listens to him, does what he wants.”
“The owners have decided”
Ceferin emphasized the support of the club bosses of Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain, who did not want to participate in the Super League: “Without him (the PSG boss), Bayern general director Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Borussia -General director Hans-Joachim Watzke would have been much more difficult. “
Everyone sees the problem. The major European clubs such as FC Barcelona or Juventus Turin have recently made losses in the hundreds of millions. “This year the clubs will make two billion euros lousy, money that they don’t even have,” warned Pérez. But what can be done about it – opinions differ. The President of Real Madrid considers the model of the Champions League to be no longer attractive. The reform planned for 2024 is far too late. “If Rafael Nadal plays against the 80th in the world rankings, nobody would go either,” said Pérez, drawing a comparison with tennis.
Critics counter that it was the top clubs themselves that triggered their major economic worries through the explosion in transfer spending and player salaries. Just pumping more money into this system would not solve the problem.
In addition, the Super League plans were sometimes not even discussed in detail within the clubs concerned. Italy’s football legend Paolo Maldini admitted as head of sport at AC Milan in an interview with Sky that he was “never” involved in the discussions about the Super League. “I saw the news on Sunday evening with the statement from the clubs. The owners made the decision, not me.” Maldini’s conclusion of the past few days: “I want to apologize to the fans. We have to take that as a lesson.”
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