Remaining European Super League clubs Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid on Wednesday dug their heels in against UEFA.
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The remaining European Super League clubs Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid on Wednesday dug their heels in against UEFA. The three clubs said they won’t be pressured into anything by UEFA. They also again defended their bid to ‘reform’ football as a whole. “Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid, all of them more than a century old, will not accept any form of coercion or intolerable pressure, while they remain strong in their willingness to debate, respectfully and through dialogue, the urgent solutions that football currently needs,” the clubs said.
“Instead of exploring ways of modernizing football through open dialogue, UEFA expects us to withdraw the ongoing court proceedings that question their monopoly over European football.
“Either we reform football or we will have to watch its inevitable downfall.”
The three also clubs expressed their “absolute rejection of the insistent coercion that UEFA has been maintaining towards three of the most relevant institutions in the history of football.”
“This alarming attitude constitutes a flagrant breach of the decision of the courts of justice, which have already made a clear statement warning UEFA to refrain from taking any action that could penalize the founding clubs of the Super League while the legal proceedings are ongoing,” the three clubs said.
The holdout clubs said the opening of disciplinary proceedings by UEFA is “incomprehensible and is a direct attack against the rule of law that we, the citizens of the European Union, have democratically built up, while constituting a lack of respect toward the authority of the courts of justice themselves.”
UEFA gave no timetable for the expected disciplinary cases against the clubs. It’s worth noting that these three teams have qualified for the Champions League next season.
Any bans for the clubs would likely lead to appeals at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Thus, there would pressure to resolve the cases before next season’s European competitions.
The Super League project got a public launch late at night on April 18. However, it imploded within 48 hours amid the backlash and threats of legislation by the British government.
The other nine clubs that pulled out of the league accepted UEFA sanctions for their role in the ESL. They will be fined 5% of their prize money for European competitions. That money will then go to grassroots football around Eirope. They also committed to UEFA tournaments for the future.
The Champions League group-stage draw is on August 26 and matches start on September 14.
