Barcelona confirms exit from European Super League
It is official now. FC Barcelona confirmed on Saturday that it has formally withdrawn from the European Super League, notifying both the European Super League Company and the clubs that were still tied to the project. Even if it stopped feeling like a secret a long time ago, this was the final nail in the coffin for Barcelona’s commitment to the project.
The statement was barely three lines long and deliberately dry: “FC Barcelona informs that today it has formally notified the European Super League Company and the clubs that have formed part of it of its withdrawal from the European Super League project.”
No reasons were offered. None were really needed.
Barça’s involvement in the Super League dates back to April 2021, when the idea of a closed competition backed by Europe’s biggest clubs detonated across the sport and then quickly fell apart. Public opposition, coupled with political pressure and UEFA resistance, pushed club after club to back away. Over time, Atlético de Madrid, Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan, and the entire English contingent all exited. Now, only Real Madrid remains. Barcelona was the last holdout and even that was more symbolic than real.
Joan Laporta will step down on Monday to launch his re-election campaign ahead of the March 15th vote, and his relationship with Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez could be seen as a liability rather than an asset. This makes the timing of the announcement very relevant.
Before the Spanish Super Cup final last month, Laporta did not sugarcoat it. “Relations between Barça and Madrid are bad, they are broken. There are various issues that have distanced us,” he said.
The Super League was the last visible thread tying the two presidents together. It is gone now, but it wasn’t always so.
Almost five years ago and just days after Lionel Messi left the club, Laporta, Pérez, and former Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli appeared side by side in Barcelona, presenting a united front around the Super League vision. Back then, Laporta spoke openly about its economic upside and about a competition where elite teams would face each other every week. But support evaporated faster than expected and staying attached to it meant open confrontation with UEFA.
That confrontation came at an awkward time for Barça. The club was already under scrutiny for Financial Fair Play breaches and had been fined 60 million euros by UEFA, of which 15 have been paid while appeals continue. This made it even trickier to continue the confrontation over the Super League. According to reporting in the Catalan press, Laporta gradually accepted that the cost of isolation outweighed whatever leverage the Super League still offered.
The shift toward UEFA did not happen overnight. But there have been signs. Last October, Laporta attended the annual European club assembly in Rome, where he positioned himself as a bridge between the Super League and UEFA.
“You know we are on the path of building bridges between the Super League and UEFA. Barça has a clear position, and those affected already know it,” he said.
Later, at an event for the Cruyff Foundation, he reinforced the message: “We are for pacification and for the clubs in the Super League to return to UEFA. We feel very close to UEFA and the EFC [European Football Clubs association.]”
Laporta reportedly rebuilt ties with Aleksander ÄŒeferin, president of UEFA. He has also grown closer to Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, Paris Saint-Germain’s president and now the president of the EFC (formerly known as the ECA). Barcelona had been excluded from the EFC, so that was important.
The revamped Champions League format, with more matches and higher revenues, helped make the decision easier. That made the Super League no longer look like the future, but an idea that had worn out its welcome.
There was also a practical detail. Barcelona’s exit carries no financial penalty, despite earlier talk of a potential 300 million euro sanction. Reportedly, that has already been settled by Laporta, and it has allowed the club to walk away even more easily.
According to La Vanguardia, one of the next objectives for the Catalan club is to regain a prominent role within the EFC, a step that will coincide with Laporta’s resignation and that of club treasurer Ferran Olivé, both of whom held positions linked to the Super League.
Source: barcablaugranes.com
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