FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta has reaffirmed his club's support of the European Super League project, claiming it is needed because of 'state clubs' such as Manchester City.
The infamous Super League project shook the footballing world in April 2021, when 12 of Europe's leading clubs announced they had agreed to join a breakaway league to rival the UEFA Champions League.
However, the project received widespread opposition from fans, managers, players and other clubs, largely due to the way it's closed-door nature would damage the rest of the footballing ecosystem. Within days nine of the founding clubs - including City - pulled out of the project due to the backlash, but Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus remain committed to the cause.
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President of the Super League Florentino Perez - also president of Real Madrid - argued that the Super League was necessary to ensure the economic futures of Europe's biggest clubs, as he claimed that UEFA's financial model was not earning them enough money.
As was the case 18 months ago, the motive for reviving the project are still very much financial. Speaking at Barcelona's General Assembly on Sunday, Laporta pitched the project to the club's members as a way to secure Barca'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."
When Laporta said 'state-run clubs', he was referring to teams like City and Paris Saint-Germain. While neither are technically owned by states, both have connections with the ruling powers in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar respectively.
City are owned by the Abu Dhabi United Group, headed by Sheikh Mansour, the deputy prime minister of the UAE. He is the brother of the president of the UAE, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Three days after the Super League was announced it suspended its operations while a case between UEFA and the Super League clubs takes place at the European Court of Arbitration. It will rule on whether UEFA are monopolising the market and essentially decide the legal basis of whether the Super League can proceed uninhibited by UEFA themselves.
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