Laporta: “The Superleague will end up merging with the Premier League”

Barcelona president Joan Laporta visited the Ràdio Barcelona studios to join the traditional Cap nen sense joguina (No child without a toy) campaign which Cadena SER has organized for the past 56 years to collect toys on Twelfth Night. During his time at the station he was interviewed on the program Què t’hi Jugues! hosted by Sique Rodríguez.

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Speaking shortly after the team’s 3-4 Copa del Rey win against Intercity, the Barça president gave an update on the European Superleague proposal, which he believes will be up and running within the next three years. “I think the Superleague should be able to start in 2025,” he explained. “An open Superleague which, at least at the beginning, won’t involve English clubs. But I think it will eventually end up up with the Superleague merging with the Premier League. The Luxembourg ruling will be as important to clubs as the Bosman Ruling was for players. I believe in an open Superleague. The idea that it should be open isn’t mine though, it’s just that Barça would not be able to enter the Superleague if it wasn’t open. Real Madrid and Juventus accepted it, as did the rest of the clubs, because the English clubs are still there and we want them to be involved. All we are asking for and what we want is that it is governed by the clubs; and I hope that UEFA will be a part of that and will be present at Superleague meetings. Because the meritocracy to be in the Superleague will come from UEFA competitions and the respective national league competitions, those that I believe in. And in 2025, if the ruling is favourable, the Superleague can begin. Obviously it will depend on the outcome of the ruling and the level of victory to know what will happen next. I think, seeing how the Premier League, we will have a European competition that will be able to compete with the Premier League. I think that at the beginning, the English clubs won’t be involved, but it will end up with the Superleague and Premier League merging”.

Differences with Tebas

As for his relationship and differences of opinion with LaLiga president Javier Tebas, Laporta ended: “For me, it’s not that bad. It’s tense, it’s always been tense because it’s complicated. But I think that Tebas should be more concerned about recovering the million and a half club members that have not renewed their season tickets and try to raise more income from international broadcasting rights than discrediting Barça”.