Florentino Pérez, president of Real Madrid. /
Controversial project
The European Parliament calls for solidarity and inclusion in sport
After a vote, the European Parliament announced on Tuesday its opposition to “dissident” sports competitions, such as the suspended project of the Football Super League, calling for solidarity and inclusion in sport.
In a text that received 597 votes in favor (36 against and 55 abstentions), the MEPs meeting in plenary session in Strasbourg “firmly oppose ‘dissident competitions’ that go against these principles and endanger the stability of the global sports ecosystem ”.
The European Parliament, in this non-binding text, called for “European sports culture to be aligned with the values of the EU; solidarity, durability, inclusion for all, open competition, sporting merit and equity ». The rapporteur for the text, Polish MEP Tomasz Frankowski (PPE), considered that the main challenge was “to promote the European model of sport and protect it from threats like a Super League.”
Twelve major European football clubs announced in April the creation of a private competition, an almost closed tournament that sought to take the place of the Champions League. It received a lot of criticism, from fans to politicians, and nine of these teams withdrew from the project, with the exception of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus, who are maintaining their fight.
“The European Super League was never conceived as a ‘dissident’ league. On the contrary, it was contractually always subjected to full compatibility with the participation of the clubs in their national competitions, “the financiers Anas Laghrari and John Hahn, presented as ‘sponsors’ of the project, defended themselves in a statement received by AFP.
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