Joan Laporta, president of Barcelona, has announced that the Superleague is talking to UEFA to agree to reforms from the Champions League. An agreement could possibly throw away the SuperLeague project, which consists of Barcelona, Real Madrid and the organizing company A22.
The Superleague had announced that they intended to start the competition next month, and despite the claiming of buy-in of 60 teams of the 100, there seems to be no sign of an imminent competition that was composed. Part of the reason may be that UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin and Laporta are talking about changes in the Champions League that would see the 'necessity' as it was called by the Real Madrid President Florentino Perez.
“I have always tried to play a role in building bridges between the Super League and UEFA,” Laporta told MD in an interview.
“We are now in a situation where the Super League has discussions with UEFA. Aleksander Ceferin has appointed some people from UEFA to speak with representatives of the Super League. He also spoke with Bernd Reichart, CEO of the Super League, and his entire team, including Lawyers who are in Princi.
Laporta noted that the area where the parties are closest to an agreement is the adoption of the proposed streaming platform of the Superleague that would offer free access to content over the world.
“I see a lot of willingness on the part of the UEFA president. And I am insisting that Ceferin is a capable and reliable man, and we are working on that.”
Laporta further explained that the idea was that the Superleague and UEFA would reach an agreement about a single competition, while previously the Superleague had been determined that they would form an escape that would reduce UEFA's involvement.
“We have always been to the same point, because when we arrived at the Super League, we said we wanted an open competition. We wanted meritocracy, and we are happy with the size that is the most profitable for the clubs. Of course there is now the issue of governance on the table that we don't want to improve as much as possible.”
The two central problems have been control and money. The ECA (European Clubs Association) is a membership organization governed by Europe's richest clubs, which has a voice in UEFA. Paris Saint-Germain President Nasser al-Khelaifi is currently the president. Laporta continued discussing the improved finances of the new Champions League format.
“Now, for example, the Champions League format has improved performance by 20% more than the previous format. Everything can be improved; it is constantly evolving. We believe that we can have an important voice in improving the format. UEFA is not closed for this issue. It is good to open. To reach an agreement.”
The fierce criticism of UEFA and the Champions League comes from Real Madrid and President Florentino Perez, who have accused the administrative body of European football of stealing part of the club's income and acting against the interests of Real Madrid. Yet Laporta says that Los Blancos is part of the conversations.
“We discussed this at the super League headquarters, and of course we are all on the same page. Maybe we think, because we do not collide so frontally, it is easier to deal with UEFA. But we are working here in Lockstep. What we want is that an agreement is reached that all parties are satisfied.”