Barcelona president Joan Laporta wants UEFA to get on board with a European Super League because football “needs it” to stop Premier League clubs running away from the rest.
Barca, Real Madrid and Juventus remain standing from the 12 founder members of the Super League project in their pursuit of a new competition for Europe’s top clubs.
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They argue UEFA’s governance of European football constitutes an illegal monopoly under EU competition, but an advisory opinion from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) last week sided with UEFA.
A final ruling is expected in 2023, though, and Laporta said he remains “optimistic” and told UEFA it is not too late for the governing body to change its stance on the creation of a new competition.
“We have to reform how European football works,” Laporta told Barca TV in a wide-ranging interview to mark the end of 2022 on Thursday.
“The Premier League will pass from €5 billion to €7bn in television rights — and LaLiga from €2bn to €1.7bn. LaLiga teams cannot compete with Premier League sides. [Barca] compete because of our history, but [English sides] have more and more resources all the time. This has to change.
