UEFA drops legal action against Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid for Super League plot



The three clubs were threatened with severe punishment for their refusal to drop out of a plot to create a new competition

Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid will not face further punishment from UEFA for their role in founding the Super League.

The three clubs are the only founding members of the breakaway competition that have so far refused to abandon the project.

UEFA threatened the Spanish and Italian sides with legal action and it was reported they could be suspended from the Champions League, but it was announced in May that proceedings would be delayed after a Madrid court accused the governing body of acting “outside the rule of law”.

What has been said?

The UEFA Appeals Body has now announced that the case will be dropped, meaning the clubs will face no further action for the time being.

A statement from the governing body read: “Following the stay of proceedings against FC Barcelona, Juventus FC and Real Madrid CF, in the matter related to a potential violation of UEFA’s legal framework in connection with the so called ‘Super League’, the UEFA Appeals Body has declared today the proceedings null and void, as if the proceedings had never been opened.”

What is the Super League?

The controversial plot to form a new competition that would challenge the Champions League for supremacy in European football was announced in April.

Nine other clubs – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham, Atletico Madrid, AC Milan and Inter – announced that they would also join the Super League as founding members.

But the plan quickly fell apart as UEFA and the national football associations across Europe spoke out against the idea, while fans of many teams protested outside the clubs’ grounds.

The Premier League teams, Atletico, Milan and Inter all announced they would be pulling out of the plan within days of the initial announcement.

Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, City, Untied and Spurs reached a settlement with the Premier League and agreed to pay a total of £22 million ($31m).

Barca, Juve and Madrid, however, promised to fight back against UEFA’s threats, declaring in a joint statement that they “will not accept any form of coercion or intolerable pressure”.

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