Agnelli claims the Super League against the "monopoly" of UEFA

Andrea Agnelli at the Olympic Stadium in Rome. Daniele Badolato - Juventus FC (Juventus FC via Getty Images)

The football industry conference organized by the

was expected to culminate on Thursday with the presentation of the revised Super League project by Andrea Agnelli.

Rumors circulated that last year's fiasco would be repaired with a clause in which the founding clubs would not be guaranteed unalterable permanence in a tournament that, instead of being closed to the richest, would open a loophole to competition based on principles of sporting merit.

It's time for the

However, the president of Juventus and great ideologue of the secessionist tournament together with Florentino Pérez appeared on the podium to declare that he was not there to talk about the Super League but about the need to save the football business from monopolistic oppression. UEFA as well as the "desperate situation" to which the pandemic had precipitated it.

Like his Real Madrid partner, the Italian president justified the need for a bold project to save football from the economic ruin that, according to him, threatens it.

“If we look at club football between 2010 and 2019, revenue was €23bn but losses were €4.5bn,” he said.

“Since the covid, operating profits fell 7,000 million and the need for financing rose to 8,500 million.”

"Today UEFA has held meetings with banks to finance itself," said Agnelli, referring to Aleksander Ceferin, his counterpart at the helm of UEFA, who accused him in the morning of living in a parallel world.

“We live in a complicated ecosystem.

That's the real world."

"It was not a failure," he replied, when asked why the Super League presented on April 19, 2021 failed and was abandoned by nine of its 12 members three days later.

"We've been seeing breakaway league projects since I was a teenager," he recalled.

“2021 was the first time that 12 clubs made an important statement.

A cry of alarm against the system.

We must do something to create a sustainable industry before we go under.

We are awaiting a ruling from the High Court of Justice of the European Union.

It will define whether this industry is transparent or its regulator is monopolistic”.

"I have a lot of confidence in the courts," he said, referring to the complaint that Real Madrid, Juventus and Barça have filed against UEFA for abuse of a dominant position in the market.

"The true guardians of European identity are the judges," he said.

“Articles 1.1 and 1.2 of the EU Foundation Treaty are clear.

It is important in any industry to freely enter the market.

Anyone should be free to promote a product without being kicked out by regulators."

Agnelli, 46, was charming and somewhat tense on the defensive in the hostile environment of England, where the Super League found its main stumbling block.

“I represent a family that has owned a club for 99 years,” he said, as if to remind the audience that he was no upstart.

"This is a unique case in a sports franchise."

"Can you imagine a Super League without English clubs?" Asked the BBC envoy.

"You talk about the Super League more than I do," he replied.

“What I ask is that it be understood that we need profound reforms.

If I were a journalist I would investigate the governance structure [of UEFA] where we have a regulator who is a monopolistic commercial operator and at the same time who authorizes who can and who cannot create new competitions.

So many functions together do not add up to a transparent government”.

Agnelli is the subject of a judicial investigation in Italy, where the Finance Police is investigating a possible case of accounting fraud at Juventus.

"Between 2010 and 2019 the company was very healthy," he said, when asked about it.

“We made a capital increase of 300 million in 2019 to try to be competitive internationally.

That was added to the more than 500 million invested between 2018 and 2019. We were expanding and the pandemic arrived.”

"Do you see Juve playing in the Champions League in the next five years?" they asked.

Andrea Agnelli smiled: "I see Juventus playing in the most prominent competitions."

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