Super League key for football’s survival: Madrid chief Perez

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez once again insisted the creation of a European Super League was necessary for football to “survive” on Saturday.

Los Blancos and rivals Barcelona are the only teams still pulling for the idea of the breakaway project designed to rival the Champions League.

In April 2021, a dozen of Europe’s biggest clubs signed up to the European Super League (ESL) but it crumbled after a strong backlash from supporters and football’s governing bodies.

In December, the European Court of Justice will deliver its final verdict on the validity of the European Super League project.

The ESL and its backers complained that UEFA, the European football governing body, were breaking competition law by threatening to punish clubs involved in the project.

“Either we react now, or football will not survive,” Perez told Madrid supporters at the club’s annual general meeting.

“Football is going through an unprecedented institutional crisis … the Super League is more necessary than ever.”

Perez said fans were paying too much to watch low-quality football on television.

“It makes no sense to have to pay 10 percent of the minimum wage to have access to football, the Super League was designed to solve all these problems,” said Perez.

“(Currently) we are offering them an increasingly poor spectacle.”

Perez labelled the new Champions League format, starting from next season, “an absurd project”.

The current group stage will be abandoned, with four additional clubs — 36 in total—all in the same league.