The vehement opposition to the Super League project initially stemmed from the organizers’ plan to have permanent members as part of a semi-closed competition. This was anathema to European football stakeholders, particularly the fan groups, for whom the Continent’s merit-based qualification system and promotion and relegation are sacrosanct.
“I’m sick and tired [of] these comparisons with American sports … Because European football is much stronger than anybody else,” the UEFA president added, according to a full transcript of the meeting seen by POLITICO and independently verified.
The meeting was attended by 31 representatives from UEFA and European football leagues, clubs, players and fan groups, as part of a cacophony of animosity toward plans for a Super League.
European football’s most powerful club boss, Paris Saint-Germain’s Qatari chief Nasser al-Khelaifi who also runs the European Club Association (ECA), repeatedly accused the Super League trio of telling “lies,” and said they wanted to “kill the domestic leagues.”
“This is about trying to impose what [Real Madrid President] Florentino Pérez thinks and what he wants for European football,” added Spain’s La Liga President Javier Tebas.
Much of the hostility came from Čeferin himself, as the UEFA boss clashed with A22 CEO Bernd Reichart on several occasions. At one point, Čeferin corrected him to say “we call it women’s football, not women’s soccer.”
