The “Super League” project officially came to an end today. UEFA officially announced the decision to terminate the project after reaching an agreement with Real Madrid. The project was presented as an opportunity to showcase the best of European football as an alternative to UEFA’s Champions League format. The catch? Excluding the “smaller teams” and jumping straight into the action. Florentino Perez believed that the general public was losing interest in the ongoing format of the European club competition. 

While viewership decline can be attributed to social media access, the formula continued to work in general lines. The official announcement of the Super League marked the beginning of the end for the project before it began. The move completely backfired and ended up uniting both the fans and the legislative bodies that called out the move by Florentino Perez and the participating members. 

The backlash reached such a level that members like Bayern Munich, Chelsea FC, Juventus, and Manchester United left the project to avoid negative publicity. The move prompted UEFA to act quickly to end any Super League comebacks. They quickly created one more tournament that allowed competitiveness among all tiers of the main European Leagues. With the creation of the Conference League and an updated format to both the Europa League and Champions League, it secured a new way to regain attention for the competitions. 

Personally, I think that the new “League style” format makes the competition longer than it needs to be. However, it has given way to more unexpected matchups and upsets in comparison to the classic format. Unfortunately for Florentino Perez, until recent weeks, only FC Barcelona was the last founding member remaining in the Super League project. They decided to leave the project just before their electoral period began. Logistically speaking, it was the right thing to do as Barcelona were looking to have a fresh start.

The project was ambitious, but making it a “Members Only” competition did put a writing on the wall. On a more independent level, the project’s failure adds another stain to Real Madrid’s misfortunes in recent seasons. Luckily for them, they always find a way to bounce back from a negative stretch. The Real question now is if Florentino Perez continues with Real Madrid Beyond this season.