News has become relatively quiet on the prospect that the Superleague is coming, despite the fact that CEO Bernd Reichart claimed last year that the competition could take action next month. Barcelona and Real Madrid continue to support the only clubs that publicly support the idea, although Reichart has also said privately that around 60 clubs have supported the idea anonymously.
In 2024, A22, the company that organized and led the Superleague by Reichart, gave a press conference on the format of a potential superleague, with three divisions, including 96 teams and a promotion and degradation system between the competitions. The most important idea that the headlines achieved was the prospect of a free streaming platform, 'Unify', all over the world with which people could watch the games.
Last year, A22 had made a loss of € 200K, but this time the losses of the company were shot to € 5.5 million, with sport explaining that this endangers them to bankruptcy. A22 are one of the three companies Barcelona and Real Madrid are working on the issue, the others are European Superleague Company and European Superleague Marketing.
A22 says that this is due to their investment in the Unify platform. In 2022 they registered a turnover of € 7.2 million and a profit of € 1.9 million, but from today they have no source of income than payments from Barcelona and Real Madrid. Marca says that these payments are not official and do not require a commitment to the part of A22.
A22 is owned by Anel Capital SL, owned by investment banker Anas Laghrari, and John Carl Hahn, of investment firm Providence and formerly Morgan Stanley. Laghrari is a key figure at Real Madrid and advises President Florentino Perez, in particular on the proposed change of model at the club. Given the figures and assets of Laghrari and Hahn to obtain financing, it would be a surprise if they found not to avoid bankruptcy.
Recently Joan Laporta, President of Barcelona, dropped a bomb and revealed that Barcelona and Real Madrid were negotiating with UEFA to form a new competition, making the Superleague superfluous. He also noted that the streaming platform was one of the areas that had advanced the conversation the most.