Of the 12 founding members in 2021, only Barcelona and Real Madrid had remained with the idea of a new European footballing competition
Five years. 58 months. That’s how long it has taken for Barcelona to officially pull out of the European Super League project, leaving Real Madrid as the only founding member out of 12 to sign up for the informal project in 2021.
Barcelona announced last weekend that they were officially withdrawing from the project.
“Barcelona hereby announces that it has formally notified the European Super League Company and the clubs involved of its withdrawal from the European Super League project,” the club said in a statement.
But why now?
Of the 12 founding members, nine withdrew almost immediately after the announcement was followed by incredible backlash back in April 2021. That nine included the six Premier League teams Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, Italian sides Inter Milan and AC Milan, and La Liga side Atletico Madrid.
In 2023, Juventus announced their withdraw, leaving just Barcelona and Madrid. At the time, Barcelona president Joan Laporta still said that he believed it was necessary to found a European Super League project that would compete with the Premier League.
The format has been changed repeatedly since then and the two clubs have clung to the idea. But since 2025 when he made clear his intention to re-establish links, Laporta has drawn closer to Uefa and the European Football Clubs, while his relationship with Madrid president Florentino Perez has become strained.
This is particularly the case in the context of the Negreira case, an ongoing investigation of payments Barcelona made to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, a former vice president of Spain’s Technical Committee of Referees (CTA). The Catalan club have maintained their innocence but Madrid have been pushing for action to be taken against their rivals.
After Barcelona’s announcement on Saturday, Laporta said that the club “have returned to the football family”.
“We have left because it’s a project that could not be implemented,” added Laporta. “It had unravelled. There were only expenses and expenses, no benefits.
“The relationship with Real Madrid is not good and it was a permanently uncomfortable situation. Barca have acted correctly and with complete transparency. We are looking for sustainability in European football and want to contribute to the peace of football.”
