Barcelona confirm place in new European Super League
Barcelona released a statement on Monday morning confirming the club’s intention to be part of the new controversial European Super League.
The Catalan giants, Real Madrid and Atletico are reportedly set to join clubs such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Juventus, and both Milan teams in joining the new league.
Here’s what Barcelona have had to say about it (you can read the full statement here).
“FC Barcelona has reached an agreement with eleven other of the most important clubs in Europe to form a new competition, the Superleague which will be run by the Founding Clubs and is born out of the desire to be best sporting club competition in the world.”
“FC Barcelona, AC Milan, Arsenal FC, Atlético Madrid, Chelsea FC, FC Internazionale Milano, Juventus FC, Liverpool FC, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid CF and Tottenham Hotspur have come together as founding clubs and three more clubs will be invited to join before the inaugural season which will begin as soon as possible.
“Going forward, the Founding Clubs look forward to holding discussions with UEFA and FIFA to work together in partnership to deliver the best outcomes for the new League and for football as a whole.”
Obviously, there’s a whole load more with Barca citing the pandemic as a reason for going ahead with the plan and explaining how much (and it’s a lot) they hope to earn from the venture.
Barca also sign off with this:
“FC Barcelona, loyal to its history and its leadership role within the framework of European Football, once again places itself as a leading club with regards to the great changes that are needed in the world of football, thinking always in the how to benefit the club best from a sporting, institutional and financial point of view.”
The plan, for now at least, is for the competition to start in August but there’s a long way to go before then and plenty of opposition to overcome. There’s already speculation that the domestic leagues, Champions League and European League might be suspended. It’s also worth mentioning a certain Florentino Perez is set to be the chairman of the new league.
The European Super League has already received widespread condemnation from fans, former players, politicians, and commentators who believe it’s purely driven by money and will affect the integrity of the game.
