Barca chief names re-launch date of Super League – and four Prem clubs included
Barcelona president Joan Laporta has boldly predicted that the controversial European Super League (ESL) will re-launch in 2025.
Laporta, who headed up the failed breakaway competition along with Real Madrid president Florentino Perez and now former Juventus chief Andrea Agnelli, insists the ESL will become "a reality" and claims that Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham are all keen on joining.
"I think there will be a Super League," Laporta told Spanish radio station Cadena SER. "I would not have entered into this project if it was not an open competition and it was accepted by Real Madrid, Juventus and other clubs that have not yet shown their faces but are very interested in this competition."
READ MORE: Real Madrid and Barcelona plus Juventus lose European Super League sanctions battle
Last month, the European Court of Justice ruling delivered a blow to the prospects of a re-launch by providing an initial non-binding judgment that handed UEFA the power to ban any club or player attempting to join an unsanctioned breakaway competition, but Laporta says he remains convinced the ESL will return.
"[The Super League] will be a reality in 2025, if the resolution is favourable," he added. "If the ruling, which I believe will not happen because what is being called into question is the defence of free competition in the framework of the EU, and I believe that this will be won."
Laporta predicts the ESL re-launch will happen without any English teams, and that the Premier League will eventually merge with the breakaway competition.
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"In a first step, what we will have is a European competition that will compete with the Premier League," the Spaniard said. "I don’t think the English teams are going to enter in the first step.
"We want them to enter and there is a lot of communication with the English clubs Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham. All these clubs, most of which are for sale and some have already been sold, are interested.
"The state leagues would be maintained and this will end up with a merger between the European Super League and the Premier [League]."
Six Premier League clubs; Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal, joined the ESL when it launched back in April 2021, along with Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan.
Fan backlash, particularly in England, killed the breakaway almost immediately, with all six English clubs announcing their intention to withdraw just 48 hours after the competition was announced. Atletico, Inter and AC Milan followed suit shortly after.
A few days later, the remaining members of the league announced they would reshape the project to a more open format.
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