Speaking in an exclusive interview with AS, Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez concluded a bust week by offering more thoughts on the European Super League, of which he is also president.
The main criticism of the Super League is that it goes against domestic leagues and gives the impression of being a private club that no team can enter on their own merits. What would you say about that?
“Neither argument is true, but like everything, these things get manipulated. It is not a plan that excludes the club and is designed to go against other leagues. The Super League project is the best possible solution, and it has been created to help football get out of the crisis. Football is severely damaged because its economy has been ruined and it has to adapt to the new era we are living in. The Super League does not go against domestic competitions and its objective is to ensure that more money is available for all sections of football. The concept is to generate more interest in the games. I don’t think that UEFA’s changes are a real solution to the problem because what has been proposed isn’t even an improvement on the current model.
“We cannot wait until 2024. But in any case, we must have done something badly. We are going to try to turn this around and develop more ideas. Maybe the solution is for the top four teams in every league to play. I don’t know, but something needs to be done because today’s youth, those between 14 and 24 years of age, are abandoning football because they see it as being boring compared to the other forms of entertainment which they prefer.”
You say football is dying?
“Just look at the data. A recent report by KPMG showed that in the first three months of the pandemic alone last season, the 12 clubs in the Super League reported losses of 650 million euros. By the end of this season, with the pandemic still ongoing, the losses will be between 2,000 and 2,500 million euros. Bordeaux have recently gone into administration. Either we do something soon or many more clubs will go under.”