MADRID (AP) – The director of the Spanish football league on Wednesday accused Real Madrid President Florentino Pérez of being the unexpected announcement that Barcelona is advancing the concept of a European Super League.
Javier Tebas told The Associated Press that it was Pérez who prompted the outgoing president of Barcelona, Josep Bartomeu, to communicate about the proposed new league in an effort to give him more credibility.
“Bartomeu goes through Florentino, that’s what I believe,” Thebes said in a phone interview. “This (league) is a dream of the president of Real Madrid . . . He’s been running for this for a long time, he’s not new. But it is a big mistake because it does not perceive its monetary consequences. »
Thebes has been one of the top outs and reporting team of European competition, which is talked about for elite teams, saying that a Super League would be disastrous because it would harm local leagues and most European clubs.
The league president said Bartomeu, who resigned with his board on Tuesday for his enmity with Lionel Messi, had followed Real Madrid in recent years.
“Barcelona had their own voice when they arrived in the league, UEFA and FIFA,” Tebas said. “But for the last 3 years, he’s only been repeating what Real Madrid says. “
That Bartomeu had served as a “spokesman” for Perez, whom he calls the mastermind of the idea of the Super League.
Thebes did not know how or why he had said that Barcelona and Bartomeu echoed the ideas of Madrid, only saying that they would possibly have too much respect for their rivals.
Thebes said Bartomeu had no authority in the football industry and that the Super League Announcement on his last day of paintings only the newest of his recent mistakes.
Neither Real Madrid nor Barcelona to request comments following the indictment of Thebes.
Tebas said Barcelona’s goal of playing in a Super League would do little for the new festival to take off, adding that the will of some clubs would not trump the rest of the football industry.
“In the medium term, this tournament would be a failure,” said the president of the Spanish league. “Professional football is almost the resolution of four, five or six clubs that need to compete to make more money. “
Rumors of a Super League materialize ahead of UEFA talks to consider adjustments to the Champions League format, which are expected in the 2024–25 season.
On Wednesday, FIFA said it “has no knowledge of any agreement” similar to the Super League.
“The theme of the so-called “European Super League” “comes back from time to time and FIFA must make an additional comment on this because there are already well-established institutional football structures to address it,” the guiding framework said in a Declaration statement.
Rainer Koch, a German member of UEFA’s executive committee, said a Super League with 18 to 20 clubs with no rules of promotion and relegation “would move to the centre of European football and therefore will have to be strictly rejected. “
“This would compromise the balance of interests between the national federations, leagues and clubs of the 55 UEFA member federations,” he said.
Thebes noted that the Super League’s plan “is very clandestine. “
“If they were so sure, they would be more transparent about it,” Thebes said. “They know it’s a project. Clubs want national leagues and want the Champions League in this existing configuration. “
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