Perez keeps pressure on for Super League saying football has lost global lead

October 3 – Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has reaffirmed his club’s commitment to a Super League, arguing that football in its present form is “sick” and is “losing the global entertainment battle.” 

Speaking at Real Madrid’s general assembly, Perez said: “To solve a problem, you need to start by recognising you have a problem. And our beloved sport is sick. It’s losing its leadership as a global sport … We mustn’t be confused by the impact of Real Madrid’s European Cup run [in the Champions League last season] when we were involved in seven games of the highest intensity and interest.”

Perez said that future generations will focus on a different form of entertainment and drew a comparison with tennis to highlight what he considers as football’s inadequacies.

“Nadal and Federer played each other 40 times in 15 years. So far, Nadal and Djokovic have faced each other 59 times in 16 years. Is this boring? These historic clashes have grown tennis as a whole,” said Perez.

“In football the figures are staggering. It turns out we have played Liverpool, a historic team with six European Cups, only nine times in 67 years. And only three times in Madrid. We have only played Chelsea four times in the history of the European Cup.”

Last year, Madrid was one of 12 clubs, including Premier League sides Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham, to lead a Super League breakaway but following widespread protests and indignation the plans collapsed within the space of 48 hours. But with his words, Perez has firmly backed the ESL plans.

In December, the European Court of Justice will make an interim ruling about whether European confederation UEFA should be allowed to have a monopoly over organising club competitions.

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