VIENNA: The Super League project “is over once and for all or at least for 20 years,” UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said on Wednesday.
“I don’t like to call it Super league because it’s everything but Super League,” said the Slovenian after the Congress of the governing body of European football in Vienna.
Twelve of Europe’s biggest clubs signed up to the proposed new competition last April but it collapsed within days following a fierce backlash from their own players and fans, as well as governments and football’s governing bodies.
Nine clubs distanced themselves from the project but Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus remain on board with the concept.
Ceferin — speaking the day after UEFA announced a revamp of all their club competitions including the flagship Champions League — said the trio had no chance of reviving it.
“For me, this project is over once and for all or at least for 20 years. I don’t know what will happen later,” Ceferin told a press conference.
He declined to comment on UEFA’s disciplinary proceedings against the three hold-outs.
A Madrid judge in April upheld a UEFA appeal and lifted the protection from punishment the Superleague clubs obtained from another Spanish court a year earlier.
Proceedings before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) are also underway in response to a query last year from a Spanish judge on whether UEFA is abusing its “dominant position“
“We have to respect the courts and wait for the final decision. We are not in a hurry,” said 54-year-old Ceferin, a sports lawyer before entering football administration.
Ceferin’s “open” model of football received support in Vienna from Margeritis Schinas, the vice president of the European Commission, who attended the Congress.
The CJEU should give its answer at the end of the year.
“They claim we have monopoly and I said many times that nobody has to play in our competition,” Ceferin said on Wednesday.
“No Federation has to be a member of UEFA. They have all the rights to create their own UEFA, they have all the right to play their own competition but of course, in our regulations, if you play another competition you cannot play our competition.
“And this is far from being a monopoly.”
The Super League clubs insisted they wanted to remain in UEFA to continue playing in their national leagues.
Ceferin said he was confident UEFA could deal with the continuing fallout.
“Now, this is a bit of a mess but we will solve it,” he said.
UEFA head Ceferin says Super League ‘is over’
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UEFA head Ceferin says Super League ‘is over’
- "I don't like to call it Super league because it's everything but Super League," said Ceferin
- Nine clubs distanced themselves from the project but Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus remain on board with the concept
Arbeloa backs five Real Madrid stars he ‘always’ wants playing
- Los Blancos have sometimes struggled for balance when too many of their attacking talents play together
- “I always want to have the best players on the pitch, and the more minutes they can be available to the team for me, the better,” Arbeloa said
MADRID: Real Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa insisted Saturday he would stand by the team’s star players and give them as many minutes as possible, despite debate over whether the team can function effectively with them all on the pitch.
Los Blancos, who were beaten at Benfica in the Champions League on Wednesday to drop into the play-off round, have sometimes struggled for balance when too many of their attacking talents play together.
Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior have completed each of the last four games for Arbeloa, along with goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, while midfielder Fede Valverde started all four and been substituted once.
“I always want to have the best players on the pitch, and the more minutes they can be available to the team for me, the better,” Arbeloa told a news conference, when asked if those five players were “untouchable.”
“These are players who can shake up a match at any moment. There will be people who aren’t Madrid fans who don’t want them on the pitch, but I imagine Madrid supporters want their best players always available, always on the field.
“I think the five players mentioned are among the top ten in the world, and so they have my full trust. And it’s not just my trust — their performance is what’s putting them on the pitch.”
Real Madrid host Rayo Vallecano on Sunday in La Liga, looking to bounce back from the defeat by Benfica and put pressure on leaders Barcelona.
French superstar Mbappe criticized the team for their inconsistency and Arbeloa said Madrid are working on solving that issue.
“Look, we’re working to find the consistency we want in our game and at all levels, and I think right now it’s neither a time for disappointment nor a time for euphoria,” said Arbeloa.
“It’s a time for work, nothing more.”
