The European Super League was a highly controversial proposal when first announce in April 2021, with Europe's elite football clubs announcing the breakaway league which would have provided more powers to the clubs in place of the Champions League.
The move has been led by some of Europe's biggest clubs, with Juventus's Andrea Agnelli and Real Madrid's Florentino Perez becoming particularly vocal advocates for the proposed competition. All of England's so-called 'Big Six' clubs joined the breakaway, with the clubs including Manchester City and United withdrawing their commitment within days due to fans' objections.
What is the latest?
Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid have yet to officially withdraw from the competition and bosses at those three clubs have appear to be persisting in order to challenge the financial dominance of England's Premier League. Representatives of those clubs have all spoken out in recent weeks regarding their commitment to the competition.
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Not all of Europe's elite clubs chose to get involved with the controversial league, with both Bayern Munich and Paris Saint Germain both choosing to keep themselves out of the proposals in particular.
What has been said?
Madrid President Perez has continued with his commitment to the league, and last week chose to address the Real Madrid conference and express his views.
"There are no football clubs among the ten richest entities in the world, we must be doing something very wrong in old Europe," Perez told the Madrid's members assembly. "What is the point of depriving the fans of the big matches? Nadal and Federer met 40 times. Nadal and Djokovic, 59, is it boring? Liverpool and Real Madrid have faced nine times in 67 years.
The move would see the end of the Champions League, meaning that the UEFA President Alexander Seferin told a press conference in Rome that the move would 'close off' European football, saying: "Once again he has shown that his idea is to close everything off, without games against smaller teams."
Barcelona president Joan Laporta, meanwhile, claims the Super League project is needed because of 'state-run clubs' such as City.
"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."
Also, last Thursday, Juventus' Agnelli also wrote a letter to shareholders, stating that a Super League is still part of his plans for the club and explained the benefits, by "establishing a direct link with sponsors who dare to take business risks, and control of economic resources.".
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