No chance of Super League being revived, says ECA chairman
There is no potential for the European Super League to be resurrected, according to European Club Association chairman Nasser Al Khelaifi.
The breakaway competition collapsed within 72 hours of its official inception last April amid fan outrage and opposition from the football authorities, but its backers at Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus remain convinced the project is not a failure and that the European game is in desperate need of reform.
Al Khelaifi, the president of Paris St Germain who rejected invitations to join the league last year, says the prospect of revenues for clubs up by 40 per cent in the next Champions League cycle from 2024 prove the plotters were "wrong on every single angle".
He said at the ECA General Assembly in Vienna yesterday: "Regarding the non-super League, it doesn't exist. Not the first (version), not the second.
"Everybody is against it from the fans, the media, clubs, small and big clubs. They are three (clubs) only."
The ECA and European football's governing body Uefa have set up a joint venture to sell the commercial rights to club competitions from 2024, which Al Khelaifi has previously described as a "tectonic shift" in the dynamic between clubs and the confederation, giving clubs greater control over their destiny.
Revenue from Europe's club competitions in 2024-27 is understood to be projected at five billion US dollars (£3.8bn) per season, up from 3.6bn US dollars (£2.7bn) per season in the current cycle. Al Khelaifi added: "The strange thing is, they (Barcelona, Real and Juventus) enjoy playing now in Uefa competition. They're enjoying playing in the best competition.
"I don't think there's a way that they potentially can do something like this (resurrect the Super League) because we are here united.
"Here at the ECA, we found our unity in 2021 - how we'll be together, working as one family and looking after each other. I think that's the main goal and we've done it.
"Now we're looking at the potential and what we can in 2022, one of these is the increased value of Uefa competition, proving at every single angle that they're wrong and that we're going to grow bigger and bigger."