Juventus proposes to Real Madrid and Barcelona to leave the Super League

The Super League may be mortally wounded in the coming days. Juventus of Turin, one of the three clubs of the twelve founders that along with Real Madrid and Barcelona had not yet expressed their desire to leave the rupturist competition, has urged its two Spanish partners to a meeting in which it will explain its intention to leave the project. "Juventus Football Club informs that it has sent a communication to the other two clubs that, like Juventus, has not exercised its withdrawal from the Superliga Project (Fútbol Club Barcelona and Real Madrid Club de Futbol) in order to initiate a period of discussion between the three clubs on the possible exit of Juventus from the Superliga Project. read the statement of the Turin club. The Italian entity, which is listed on the stock exchange, also communicated its intentions to the Italian stock market.

According to sources close to UEFA, the communication of the Italian entity, advanced by the sports website Relevo, included the clause to which Juventus intends to take advantage to renounce its participation in the revolutionary European competition. Those same sources do not rule out that Barcelona also ends up renouncing the Super League.

The step taken by Juventus comes without the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) having yet ruled on whether UEFA and FIFA exercise abuse of dominant position in the organization of international club competitions. The opinion of the advocate general of the European Union issued last June already was a blow to the Super League by recognizing UEFA as the body designated by EU regulations to structure European competitions, although he admitted that the Super League could be carried out as long as it was organized outside the structures of the European body.

This new setback also comes just four months after the Super League rectified its elitist initial format, which was closed by guaranteeing the permanent participation of the 12 founders and the rest of the participants through an invitation. In February, A22, the promoter of the Super League, presented a decalogue with which it aspires to replace the Champions League with a competition that encompasses more than 60 clubs and with a minimum of 14 games. If Juventus' resignation is confirmed, only Real Madrid and Barcelona would support the new plan.

During the afternoon yesterday, sources close to A22 did not deny the information, but they did slip that the threats of sanction from UEFA had caused the movement of Juventus and that they would take "the appropriate legal actions". However, the Turin club denied coercion by European football's governing body in its statement: "Many of the reconstructions reported by the press about the content of the communication (including any reference to alleged threats of possible sanctions from UEFA) are not true."

Sanctions

UEFA is in a position to dictate a strong punishment to Juventus after being sanctioned in Italy with the loss of ten points for altering their accounts. The accounting traps consisted of giving an above-market value to players he traded with other clubs. The capital gains recorded in cases such as the transfer of Pjanic to Barcelona were inflated. This also led to the disqualification for two years of its president Andrea Agnelli, a great ally of Florentino Pérez and Joan Laporta to keep the Superliga project alive after the resignation, two days after announcing its creation, of Manchester United, City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Atlético de Madrid. If the horror of these nine clubs was due to the popular clamor against a competition that did not take into account the sporting merit to access it, that of Juventus is now presented as a political move to try to reduce the possible sanction of UEFA to a single year. With the ten points that have been subtracted, the Italian team has the right to participate next season in the Conference League. Not playing what is considered the third European competition would not be a greater evil for Juventus.

The disappearance of the scene of Andrea Agnelli, who despite being godfather of one of the sons of UEFA president Alexander Ceferin hid from him the birth of the Super League, may lead to a less harsh sanction than expected.

Juventus' new president, Gianluca Ferrero, and new general manager, Maurizio Scanavino, have tried to bridge the gap with UEFA in recent weeks. Both will present at the meeting arranged for next week with Real Madrid their reasons for abandoning a project that aspires to change the structures of European and world football as they are known until today.

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