Barcelona announced, this Saturday (7), that it has officially withdrawn from the European Super League project, a tournament originally designed to rival the UEFA Champions League.
The decision leaves Real Madrid as the only defender of the competition, which was created in 2021 by 12 of the main European clubs (Arsenal, Atlético de Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Milan, Real Madrid and Tottenham).
“FC Barcelona announces that today it has formally communicated to the European Super League Company and the clubs that were part of it its withdrawal from the European Super League project”, says the statement from the Catalan association.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta had signaled in January that the club was ready to abandon the idea and asked clubs interested in the Super League to “return to UEFA”.
Conceived in April 2021, the project aimed to reshape professional European club football for the benefit of the biggest and richest.
But the concept of a closed elite competition faced huge fan protests, government resistance and strong opposition from governing bodies, leading nine of the founding clubs to disembark from the project two days after its announcement.
Barcelona’s withdrawal realigns the club to UEFA’s current competition structure.
The Superliga project had been shrinking over the years. When Juventus, another founding member, left in July 2023, only Real Madrid and Barcelona remained from the original clubs.
Organizers attempted to revive the idea in December 2024 with a new concept, the “Unify League”, with 96 clubs divided into four leagues. However, this proposal also failed to gain significant support as it faced resistance from major leagues such as LaLiga and the Premier League.
Real Madrid, now the last club standing, continue to fight for the concept while seeking compensation from UEFA for blocking the launch of the original Super League.
