Barcelona officially announced on Saturday its withdrawal from the European Super League project, which was supposed to revolutionize European football and had the support of Real Madrid. Under popular and institutional pressure, many clubs that had previously agreed to join the project withdrew.

Published on: 02/07/2026 - 17:30 Last updated: 02/07/2026 - 17:30

On Saturday, Spanish club Barcelona officially withdrew from the European Super League, the project that was supposed to revolutionize European football and had the public support of its local rival, Real Madrid, and its president, Florentino Pires.

In this regard, the Catalan club stated in a statement: “FC Barcelona would like to inform the public that today it has officially informed the European Super League company and the clubs concerned of its withdrawal from the European Super League project.”

This announcement constitutes a new development in this file, several months after the decision of the Madrid Court of Appeal, which confirmed that the European Union (UEFA) had “abused its power” by trying to prevent the establishment of this alternative competition to the Champions League in 2021.

Barcelona President Joan Laporta said in October 2025 that the Catalan club wanted to reconnect what was broken with UEFA, moving away from the project launched by 12 clubs in 2021 before it quickly collapsed under the weight of enormous pressure from the fans and institutions.

Under popular and institutional pressure, many clubs that had previously agreed to join the project withdrew, but the Spanish football giants Barcelona and Real Madrid did not do so, so the latter now finds himself alone in this battle, which he considers “essential” in order to “save European football.”

According to a source familiar with the file, the Royal Club and Super League organizer E22 Sports decided at the end of October 2025 to file a lawsuit to demand compensation of more than 4 billion euros from the European Union for the game.

Based on the judicial decisions in its favor, the representative of the promoting company considered that the company was “authorized to create a competition” and that UEFA no longer had any means to prevent it.

For its part, UEFA confirms that the extent of the appeal ruling issued at the end of October 2025 is unclear, as it concerns rules that were in effect in 2021, but were subject to amendments in the following year.

France 24/AFP

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