Barcelona president makes a subtle dig at Manchester City in latest Super League pitch
FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta has reaffirmed his club’s support for the European Super League project, claiming that it is required due to’state clubs’ like Manchester City.
The infamous Super League project rocked the football world in April 2021, when 12 of Europe’s top clubs announced their intention to form a rival league to the UEFA Champions League.
The project, however, was met with widespread opposition from fans, managers, players, and other clubs, owing largely to the way its closed-door nature would harm the rest of the footballing ecosystem.
Due to the backlash, nine of the founding clubs, including City, withdrew from the project within days, but Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Juventus remain committed to the cause.
The Super League’s president Florentino Perez, president of Real Madrid, argued that the Super League was required to secure the economic futures of Europe’s biggest clubs, claiming that UEFA’s financial model was not earning them enough money.
The motivation for reviving the project is still primarily financial, as it was 18 months ago. Laporta presented the project to Barcelona’s General Assembly on Sunday as a way to secure the club’s future.
“European football is suffering in order to attract young people and if you add into that, the state-run clubs, there is an evident destabilisation,” said Laporta.
“The previous board tried to compete with the state clubs, something which is impossible to do. These clubs are financially doping with support from outside. That means that clubs like ours have to choose between having stars or suffering economically. And here nobody wants to stop.
“It is for that reason that we want to support the Super League. A more equal competition that will help confront these problems. The clubs are going to govern their own destiny. It makes me laugh when state clubs say that the teams of the Super League say we are the rich.”
Laporta was referring to teams like Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain when he said “state-run clubs.” While neither is technically owned by a state, both have ties to the ruling powers in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
City is owned by the Abu Dhabi United Group, which is led by Sheikh Mansour, the UAE’s deputy prime minister. He is the younger brother of UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Three days after its announcement, the Super League suspended operations while a case between UEFA and the Super League clubs is heard at the European Court of Arbitration.
It will decide whether UEFA has a monopoly on the market and, in essence, whether the Super League can proceed.
It will decide whether UEFA has a monopoly on the market and, more importantly, whether the Super League can proceed without interference from UEFA.
Barcelona president makes a subtle dig at Manchester City in latest Super League pitch
