The outgoing president of FC Barcelona, Josep Maria Bartomeu, has revealed that the Spanish giants have accepted to join the controversial European Super League. The embattled football administrator stated this in a press conference where he announced that he has stepped down as the club’s president.
The proposed European Super League was reported to be funded by an American financial institution, JP Morgan which is yet to confirm or debunk the claim that the bank has made available $6 billion to run the league. It was also reported that the super league would only consist of the biggest clubs in the biggest leagues in Europe.
Also Read: FIFA backed the proposed $6 billion European Premier League
Since the report came out, clubs that were mentioned in the report are yet to directly affirm or deny their involvement in the proposed league. But UEFA issued a statement recently to insist that such a league would be boring.
While the world football governing body, FIFA, which was said to be in support of the league distanced itself from the plan. Fifa first gave a bad light to the plan when the president of the body, Gianni Infantino, said he was not interested in such a plan.
Also Read: Fifa president Gianni Infantino is not interested in European Premier League
On Wednesday, October 28, FIFA itself issued a press statement to distance the governing body from the proposed European Super League, echoing the stands of Gianni Infantino which was that FIFA will favor more of a global league that will accommodate both popular and less popular clubs.
“The topic of a so-called ‘European Super League’ comes up now and then and FIFA has no wish to comment further on this since there are already well-established football institutional structures to deal with it,” Fifa said in a statement.
“Generally speaking, and as stated again last week by the FIFA President, the focus for FIFA is on global football development and the new Club World Cup, and not any European super league.”
But Josep Maria Bartomeu who has commenced the process of leaving FC Barcelona said the approval the club gave to the proposed European Super League was available for the incoming board of the club.
“I can announce some news that will in an extraordinary way change the club’s revenue prospects for the coming years,” Bartomeu said.
“Yesterday (Monday, October 27), the Board of Directors approved the acceptance of the requirements to participate in a future European Super League, a project promoted by the big clubs in Europe.
“The details of the proposal will be at the disposal of the next Board of Directors and the decision on participation in the competition will have to be ratified by the General Assembly. We (Board of Directors) also agreed on the new format of the new Club World Cup.”
Bartomeu’s comment about the European Super League has given credibility to the report and this could mean that such a proposed league is in the pipeline.
