Barca Ends Super League Involvement, Rejoins UEFA Amid Perez Tensions

Barcelona have officially severed their ties with the European Super League, leaving Real Madrid as the last founding club still attached to the controversial breakaway project. The LaLiga leaders announced on Saturday that formal notice of withdrawal had been sent to the European Super League Company and all remaining participants, closing a three-year chapter that began with the competition’s ill-fated launch in 2021.

The Catalan giants’ exit signals a decisive pivot back toward European football’s established governing bodies. Club president Joan Laporta has spent recent months rebuilding bridges with UEFA and the European Football Clubs organisation, culminating in October’s high-level meeting in Rome where he outlined Barça’s intention to re-engage with the continent’s traditional structures.

Relations between Laporta and Real Madrid counterpart Florentino Pérez, once united in their belief that a new elite tournament could counter the Premier League’s financial dominance, have cooled markedly. The rift widened when Madrid pressed for sanctions against Barcelona in the ongoing Negreira case, which centres on payments made by the club to the former vice-president of Spain’s refereeing committee between 2001 and 2018.

Barcelona’s statement on Saturday was brief but unequivocal: “Barcelona hereby announces that [on Saturday] it has formally notified the European Super League Company and the clubs involved of its withdrawal from the European Super League project.”

The Super League was initially unveiled in April 2021 with 12 heavyweight signatories, but collapsed within 48 hours after furious fan protests forced Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham to pull out. Atlético Madrid, Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus subsequently withdrew, leaving only Madrid and Barcelona to front a relaunched version rebranded as the Unify League in 2024.

Promoter A22 Sports sought official recognition from UEFA and FIFA for the revised competition, citing a December 2023 European Court of Justice ruling that found the governing bodies’ rules on new tournaments to be “arbitrary” and an abuse of dominant position. UEFA responded by introducing regulatory reforms it believes satisfy EU competition law, while also expanding its flagship Champions League to a 36-team Swiss model that has been broadly welcomed by clubs across the continent.

With Barcelona’s departure, the Unify League project now rests solely on Real Madrid’s shoulders. Whether Pérez continues the fight alone, or the final domino falls, the landscape of European club football appears to have reverted firmly to UEFA’s control.