Florentino Pérez said soccer is “sick” and “losing the global entertainment battle” with American sports, and endorsed the dormant European Super League (ESL) project as the way to maintain its position as the world’s most popular sport. .
The Real Madrid president, who was speaking at the club’s annual general meeting on Sunday, has been one of the most prominent sponsors of the breakaway competition since its attempted launch in April 2021.
– Broadcast on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, MLS, more (USA)
ESL and soccer’s governing bodies are awaiting a ruling from the European Court of Justice, due in December, on whether UEFA’s attempts to block the Super League violated European competition laws.
“To fix a problem, you first have to acknowledge that you have a problem,” Perez said. “Our sport is sick. It is losing its leadership as a world sport… We should not be confused with the impact of Real Madrid’s European Cup [in the Champions League last season] when we were involved in seven matches of the highest intensity and interest.
“That was the result of the draw, and the quality and greatness of our team. It was a show that helped bring the excitement back to the viewers. That is why we believe that European competitions must change, to offer fans year-round top-level matches between the strongest teams, with the best players competing.”
Pérez compared the number of times top European clubs play each other to the number of top-level meetings in other sports.
“In tennis, [Rafa] Nadal and [Roger] Federer have played 40 times in 15 years. Nadal and [Novak] Djokovic have played 59 matches in 16 years,” he said. “In football, we’ve only played Liverpool nine times in 67 years. We’ve played Chelsea four times in European Cup history. What’s the point of depriving fans of all these games?”
Pérez highlighted a recent Forbes ranking that suggested soccer clubs are falling behind teams in the United States.
“We were first in all sports, and now we’ve dropped to 13th,” he said. “We have been overtaken by 12 American sports clubs. They must be doing something very well in the United States and very badly in Europe… Soccer is losing the global entertainment battle against other sports and other platforms.”
Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus are the remaining three of the 12 founding ESL clubs that have maintained their public support for the project, following the withdrawal of its six Premier League members: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United. and Tottenham. — caused its collapse in April 2021.
“We need professional, modern, transparent management, not based on old structures designed in the last century,” said Pérez. “Recently, the president of the European Club Association [Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi] said, speaking of the Super League, that Real Madrid is afraid of the competition. Maybe the ECA president You have to remind them of who we are, Real Madrid. Competition is in our DNA”.
At the annual general meeting, the members approved Real Madrid’s accounts for the 2021-22 season, which showed a narrow profit of 13 million euros, and confirmed the appointment of club legend Amancio Amaro as its honorary president after the death of Paco Gento.
Members also voted in favor of a plan to revive the club’s third team, known as Real Madrid C, which was dissolved in 2015, through the absorption of Club RSC Internacional FC de Madrid.
The move is intended to provide a more seamless transition between the club’s academy teams up to under-19 level and the reserve team, Castilla.
