Super League rebels CANNOT quit doomed project even if they want to, claims Real Madrid ringleader Perez

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez – also chairman of the controversial breakaway European Super League – has insisted the project is still alive and that wantaway clubs are trapped by a binding agreement.

Perez was the figurehead for the doomed new project which collapsed within days of being announced last Sunday.

Triggered by an exodus from six English clubs, the only teams not to have formally announced they are pulling out are Real, Barcelona and Juventus – although the chairman of the latter, Andrea Agnelli, has said the project could not proceed.  

Real ringleader Perez, however, has asserted that public statements on quitting the project are one thing, but the legal complications of walking away are another thing entirely.

“The entity exists and the members who make up the Super League are there too,” Perez told AS on Saturday.

“What we’ve done is given ourselves a few weeks to reflect on the hostility with which certain people who don’t want to lose their privileges have manipulated the project…

“I’m not going to take my time to explain what a binding contract is here. But the fact is, the clubs can’t leave.

“Some, because of the pressure, have had to say they’ll leave. But this project, or something very similar, will happen, and I hope it’s in the near future,” Perez added.

After launching the project, the 74-year-old billionaire proclaimed it was necessary to “save” football and address glaring financial issues rife in the game.

Most observers, however, saw it as a cynical power-grab by the European elite to form a closed-shop league in which they would expand their wealth to the detriment of domestic leagues and smaller clubs around the continent.

Perez claimed the narrative around the league had been “manipulated” as he hit out at governing bodies UEFA and FIFA for their opposition to the plan.

“It is not a plan which excludes clubs, nor is it detrimental to other leagues,” Perez said.  

“The Super League project is the best possible solution, and it has been created to help football get out of the crisis.

“Football is severely damaged because its economy has been ruined and it has to adapt to the new era we are living in.

“The Super League does not go against domestic competitions and its objective is to ensure that more money is available for all sections of football. The concept is to generate more interest for the games.”

The Super League plot was hatched among the 12 ‘founding’ members while some figures such as Juve boss Agnelli simultaneously worked with UEFA on changes to the Champions League format which would be introduced in the 2024-25 season.

Perez claimed those alterations – which include expanding the Champions League from 32 to 36 teams and following a ‘Swiss model’ which would mean more matches – were not enough to sustain clubs.  

“Nor do I think that the changes which UEFA have made are a real solution to the problem because what has been proposed isn't even an improvement on the current model,” Perez claimed.

“We cannot wait until 2024. But in any case, we must have done something badly. We are going to try to turn this around and develop more ideas.

“Maybe the solution is for the top four teams in every league to play. I don't know, but something needs to be done because today's youth, those between 14 and 24 years of age, are abandoning football because they see it as being boring compared to the other forms of entertainment that they prefer. 

“There are four billion football fans all over the world and half of them are fans of the clubs in the Super League. Football is the only global sport.”

The Super League planned to include 15 teams as ‘founder members’ who would retain a permanent place in the competition, with a further five teams being included on a yearly basis depending on merit.

The teams would be split into two leagues of 10, where each team plays the others home and away. Based on league positions, the tournament would then progress to a knockout stage starting from the quarterfinals.

Fans, pundits and even government officials responded furiously to the idea, claiming it would lead to a franchise-style system such as in major US leagues, where the notion of promotion and relegation is largely alien.

It was argued that domestic leagues would suffer as a result, while some suggested that original 12 Super League signees could be kicked out of competitions in their respective homelands.

UEFA also threatened that any players taking part would be banned from international competition.

After fan protests, Chelsea and Manchester City were the first to back out, followed by fellow ‘Big Six’ English clubs Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham, and Liverpool.

Spanish club Atletico Madrid have also pulled out, as have Italian giants AC Milan and Inter Milan.   

German giants Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund both declined to sign up to the project as founders, as did French champions Paris Saint-Germain.