Javier Tebas Accuses Real Madrid and Florentino Pérez of Re-Writing Super League Narrative After Exit Decision

Madrid—LaLiga president Javier Tebas has launched a fresh broadside at Real Madrid and club chief Florentino Pérez, alleging that the Spanish giants are attempting to recast their abrupt withdrawal from the European Super League as a calculated triumph rather than an enforced retreat.

Real Madrid confirmed on Wednesday that they have formally abandoned the breakaway project, leaving the competition without a single remaining founding member. The announcement followed Barcelona’s decision to step away last weekend, a move that left Madrid as the competition’s lone standard-bearer before they, too, relented.

The Super League, initially unveiled in 2021 with 12 of Europe’s heavyweight clubs, had been whittled down to just the Clásico duo after a wave of withdrawals sparked by fan protests, political pressure, and UEFA sanctions. Despite repeated vows to revive the tournament, the exits of Barcelona and now Madrid appear to sound the project’s definitive death knell.

Pérez, who had championed the league as a financial lifeline for elite clubs, insisted as recently as November that negotiating with UEFA amounted to capitulation. Tebas seized on that rhetoric in a pointed social-media post, writing:

“Less than 90 days ago, Florentino Pérez was claiming that striking a deal with UEFA was little short of a capitulation. Now the usual phase begins: building the narrative, so that a backtrack looks like a strategic victory. The problem isn’t changing. It’s denying that a change has happened. When one has real leadership, there’s no need to rewrite what was said 90 days ago. A competition of one against oneself was impossible.”

The LaLiga chief, a longtime critic of the Super League concept, has frequently clashed with Pérez and Barcelona president Joan Laporta over what he terms a threat to domestic competition structures. Wednesday’s statement offered no let-up in that animosity, framing Madrid’s exit as the culmination of an ill-fated solo crusade.

With both Spanish powerhouses now distancing themselves from the project, the Super League’s remaining ambitions appear extinguished, even as organizers A22 Sports continue to float alternative formats. For now, Tebas and Europe’s football establishment are claiming the final whistle has blown.