Josep Maria Bartomeu -

Alberto Estévez / EFE / SIPA

No "mic drop" for Josep Maria Bartomeu, resigned president of FC Barcelona, ​​but a declaration of the same effect.

According to him, Barca have agreed to be part of a future European Superleague.

He is the first representative of a big club to let it be known even if everyone behind the scenes agrees that Florentino Pérez as well as the leaders of clubs like Manchester United or Liverpool do not think less.

"The management committee approved yesterday (Monday) the acceptance of the prerequisites to participate in a future European Superleague between football clubs", declared Bartomeu, while specifying that "the decision to participate in this competition will have to be ratified by the 'meeting of representatives of socios (supporters-shareholders)' of Barça.

🚨 Bartomeu, the former president of FC Barcelona, ​​unveils the creation of the European Superleague!


🎙 "FC Barcelona has agreed to participate in a European Superleague" pic.twitter.com/ZQpstkqCpz

- beIN SPORTS (@beinsports_FR) October 28, 2020

Closed league and play-offs

The outlines of the latest version were unveiled by the British press last week.

Sky Sport indeed revealed on October 20 that negotiations for the creation of this new competition, which would be a direct rival to existing European competitions such as the Champions League and the Europa League organized under the auspices of UEFA ( the Union of European Football Associations), would be on the verge of success.

This "super league" is supposed to bring together the 18 best teams from the main European leagues, with play-offs at the end of the season, a bit like the "Final 8" of the Champions League played in August in Lisbon because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

UEFA is against, Tebas too

This project may nevertheless run up against many detractors: first, UEFA, guarantor of a more meritocratic system where clubs must qualify for European competitions via their own national championship.

Then, supporters attached to the tradition or defenders of medium and small-scale clubs who risk being excluded from the continental elite, or who could no longer be able to follow the march of a heavy schedule.

In August, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin brushed aside this idea of ​​a “superleague” in an interview with AFP: “Any Superleague of 10, 12, 24 clubs will become boring.

When you hear the Champions League anthem, you know what it's all about… I don't see how it can be a success, even if they tried to do it, ”he said at the time.

Same position on the side of the president of Spanish LaLiga, Javier Tebas, who confided on Wednesday that "these underground projects only look good when you consider them at 5:00 am after a night spent at the bar".

Tuesday evening, Tebas immediately reacted to the words of the Catalan leader: “Unhappy Bartomeu, who announces on the last day (of his mandate) the participation in a phantom competition, which would lead FC Barcelona to ruin, and who ratifies his ignorance in the 'football industry,' he tackled on Twitter.

Mic drop.

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FC Barcelona: President Josep Maria Bartomeu resigns

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