MADRID — Real Madrid president
Florentino Perez says the 12
clubs who were to found the European Super League cannot abandon it due to
binding contracts, and he promised the project would return after a period of
reflection.
اضافة اعلان
Perez was one of the leading figures in the breakaway
competition, which was unveiled last Sunday only to fall apart within days when
all six English clubs involved withdrew and others followed.
But Perez, whose club is one of three teams along with
Barcelona and Juventus yet to abandon the project, said it was not so simple
for clubs to leave.
"I don't need to explain what a binding contract is but
effectively, the clubs cannot leave," Perez told Spanish newspaper AS on
Saturday.
"Some of them, due to pressure, have said they're
leaving. But this project, or one very similar, will move forward and I hope
very soon."
The Super League was dealt another blow on Friday when
JPMorgan, who had provided a 3.5 billion euro ($4.2 billion) grant to the
founding clubs, said it had "misjudged how the deal would be viewed".
Perez, however, said the bank was still on board.
"It's not true they've withdrawn. They have taken some
time for reflection, just like the 12 clubs. If we need to make changes we will
but the Super League is the best project we've thought of," he added.
"The partnership still exists as do the members who
comprise the Super League. What we have done is taken a few weeks to reflect in
light of the fury of certain people who don't want to lose their privileges and
have manipulated the project."
Devised in secret among club bosses and financiers, the
project has effectively imploded, however, after a ferocious backlash from
fans, pundits and politicians.
Perez reiterated the need for the new competition to boost
clubs struggling to cope with losses from the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that
the 12 Super League clubs had lost a combined 650 million euros last year and
stood to lose up to 2.5 billion euros this year.
He was also not convinced by
UEFA's next reform of the
Champions League, which will see the competition expanded to 36 teams from
2024.
"The Super League is the best possible project to help
football come out of the crisis. Football is gravely hurt and we have to adapt
to the era we live in," he added.
"I think that the Champions League reform isn't the
best it can be, and what's more we cannot wait until 2024."
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