Ceferin has been personally involved in the battle against the Super League and has called on the Presidents of the Federations and the English and Italian Leagues to legislate against the unfinished project still at risk of breaching the EU competition directive. The UEFA president demands that the English and Italian clubs sign a non-competition pledge. The clause, which has already been applied by the Italian Federcalcio, is exhaustive: “For the purposes of registering in the national league, the club undertakes not to participate in competitions organized by private associations not recognized by FIFA, UEFA or FIGC. Participation in these competitions organized by unrecognized private associations will lead to loss of membership. “
Meanwhile, the Super League is still in standby mode. Agnelli, president of Juventus, has recognized that “without the English teams, the project is stranded”. But he has also warned that “sooner or later, with one name or another, with one formula or another, the plan will be reborn.”
For his part, Aleksander Ceferin has applied the old 'divide and conquer' tactic. Of the 12 clubs that started the Super League adventure, Arsenal, Atlético, Chelsea, Liverpool, City, Manchester United and Tottenham have publicly backed down. Milan and, to a lesser extent, Inter are resisting the pressure, and Barcelona and Real Madrid are firm. While its president continues to undermine the Club of 12 in order to isolate the two giants of Spain, according to 'ESPN' the rebels they could be sanctioned with two years without participating in European competitions. The Super League remembers that there is an injunction advising on the prohibition of retaliation against clubs, and they are willing to start a legal battle in defense of their rights. On the other hand, it is certain that the value of the rights of the Champions would be much lower without the presence of Madrid and Barça.
The Super League is aware of its mistakes. There were three: form, substance and calculation. The form is already hackneyed and refers to the poor way in which the project was presented. The bottom line has to do with the competition format, which will be reformulated to contemplate sporting merits, promotions and demotions. The calculation was not to measure the reaction of politicians, especially Boris Johnson, who, on the eve of elections, quickly aligned himself with the sole purpose of not losing a single vote.
None of the six English teams that were part of the Club of 12 have an English pattern, but all the owners have economic interests in England beyond football. The Super League has left them out of place, and they yielded to political and popular pressure. The most affected have been the Americans, owners of Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool. The Glazer brothers, who control the majority of ManU, are considering selling the club. The hooligans have started a campaign for the Premier to legislate like the Bundesliga and apply the 50 + 1 law. The rule states that to obtain a license to compete in the Bundesliga, a club must have a majority of its own voting rights. In other words, 50% +1 of the vote must be in the hands of the club and its members.
In this stage, the Super League will wait for the annual accounts to be published to return to the load. Only in the Club of the 12 losses of almost two billion euros are expected. “There will be bankruptcies in a chain”, warns the president of the Superliga, Florentino Pérez, for whom “neither the current format of the Champions nor the one that is to be launched from 2024 will solve the problem … if the clubs can resist until 2024.”