Infantino says clubs must live with consequences

Fifa president Gianni Infantino said yesterday that breakaway Super League clubs cannot be “half in, half out” of the established football system as the first legal shots were fired in a battle for control of the European game.

European football’s governing body Uefa has threatened to ban the 12 clubs, who include Manchester United and Real Madrid, from domestic and international competition, with Infantino adding his voice to the backlash.

“We strongly disapprove ... if some go their own way then they must live with the consequences of their choice, either you are in, or you are out. You cannot be half in and half out,” Infantino told Uefa’s congress in Montreux, Switzerland.

Amid continued condemnation and threats, Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin offered an olive branch to the breakaway dozen. Yet the prospect of compromise looked slim as the company set up to run the Super League applied to a Madrid court for an injunction to stop regulators punishing clubs and players.

The court said in a ruling seen by Reuters that Fifa, Uefa and all its associated federations must not adopt “any measure that prohibits, restricts, limits or conditions in any way” the Super League’s creation.