Superliga's Last Dance: The Winners, Losers and Face-Saving Retreat
As Real Madrid, UEFA and EFC bury the Superliga project with a surprise agreement, we look at who really won and lost in this high-stakes football power play.
The European Super League dream is officially brown bread after yesterday’s surprise agreement between Real Madrid, UEFA and the European Football Community.
The judges left in the lurch
While everyone involved is busy claiming victory, let’s find the real losers in this saga - starting with the judges who’ve had their legal football fantasy ripped away from them:
- Commercial Court Judge Ruiz de Lara, the Super League’s first major defender, who elevated the case to the EU Court of Justice believing UEFA was abusing its dominant position
- The Provincial Court, which also sided with the Super League
- The EU Court of Justice itself, which must now settle for watching the Champions League like the rest of us mere mortals
These legal eagles have essentially been left hanging, the only apparent losers while everyone else somehow claims victory. Bit of a liberty, innit?
The elephant in the room
Here’s the million-pound question (or should I say 4.5 billion?): If the Super League was supposedly more fair, backed by justice, and could have seen Madrid pocket billions in damages, why are all clubs happily playing Champions League matches - a competition supposedly abusing its position?
The average punter sitting in front of their telly each week must be wondering why we’re continuing with the Champions League if the courts took issue with it. Has the danger suddenly vanished? Or is it that European clubs and fan concerns are light years away from what judges are bothered about?
The reality check
Let’s be honest - Madrid’s damage claim against UEFA was always a bit dodgy. They might have won legal costs (perhaps €50 million given the size of the claim), but it seemed properly far-fetched that a single remaining club from what started as a twelve-member society would triumph over 700+ other clubs “for football’s interest.”
We’ll need to see the fine print of this agreement, but don’t expect revolutionary changes. The most significant ones have already happened - more money for everyone and a long-term deal to exploit competitions.
As for free football that was promised? Remember, nothing in life comes without a price tag.
Madrid’s retreat might have been the smartest play all along. Sometimes you’ve got to know when to fold ‘em.