Soccer Super League’s Last Participating Clubs Ready to Rethink

(Bloomberg) -- The last three soccer clubs that pushed plans to form a European “Super League” despite others dropping out say they are ready to reconsider the venture.

“We are ready to reconsider the proposed approach, as necessary,” Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid said in a joint statement on Twitter.

The clubs also denounced “unacceptable third-party pressure, threats, and offenses to abandon the project” and said they were willing to discuss “the most appropriate solutions for the sustainability of the whole football family,” they said in the statement.

Manchester United Owners Rocked by Protest at Super League Plot

The move comes a day after the other nine founding clubs, who later abandoned the project, said it was a mistake and committed to competitions organized by the Union of European Football Associations, UEFA. The initial plan, which undermined UEFA’s existing Champions League competition, would have locked some of Europe’s top clubs into a competition with no risk of relegation.

The Super League prompted outrage and protests by fans, particularly in the U.K. and was criticized by public officials from Prime Minister Boris Johnson to Prince William. Manchester United fans broke into the club’s famed Old Trafford stadium on May 2 to protest the decision by the club’s American owners to back the league and , forcing the postponement of a game with Liverpool.

“We are fully aware of the diversity of reactions to the Super League initiative and, consequently, of the need to reflect on the reasons for some of them.”

Real Madrid President Florentino Perez is chairman of the Super League.

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