UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has issued a warning to Juventus and Milan over their decision not to officially withdraw from the controversial European Super League. Cash-strapped Serie A heavyweights remain hopeful of launching a competition with limited access to solve their financial issues.
Although UEFA managed to tear apart the prospect of the breakaway league in less than 48 hours, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, and Milan have yet to abandon the idea of forming the new competition. The four co-founders are still looking to see out the project.
However, their actions will draw some consequences.
The Premier League ‘Bix Six’ deserted the competition on Tuesday after backlash from supporters and pundits, with Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan following in their footsteps the next day.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid supremo Florentino Perez, who was the chief official of the Super League, is refusing the give up the idea of exiting the Champions League for a new hermetic football society. The Spaniard continues to defy UEFA and is hell-bent on reviving the Super League.
According to Ceferin, the European governing body for football is assessing sanctions for leading figures of the clubs involved in a desperate attempt to establish a new order in European club football.
“It’s crystal clear that the clubs will have to decide if they are Super League or they are a European club,” Ceferin said, as quoted by ESPN. “If they say we are a Super League, then they don’t play Champions League, of course … and if they are ready to do that, they can play in their own competition.
“We still are waiting for legal expertise, and then we will say, but everybody faces some consequences for their decisions, and they know that,” he continued.
“For me, it’s a very different situation between the clubs that admitted their mistake and said, ‘We will leave the project.’ The others mainly know I would say that this project is dead, but they don’t want to believe it, probably.“