Real Madrid and UEFA have announced an “agreement of principles” to resolve their legal disputes related to the failed April 2021 Super League project.
In October 2025, Madrid set out to seek a reported €4.5billion (£3.9bn; $5.2bn) in damages from UEFA. The Spanish club believed the breakaway project promoted by Madrid president Florentino Perez would have been worth a “substantial” amount to the club, had it been successful.
Madrid’s potential legal case against UEFA was based on an understanding that Madrid’s rights had been seriously damaged based on a 2023 European Union Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling that UEFA, European football’s governing body, had infringed the EU’s rules on free competition with a threatening response to the initial Super League project.
Talks between senior figures at UEFA and Madrid have taken place over recent months to resolve the situation, with a breakthrough coming in a statement released by both the governing body and La Liga club on Wednesday afternoon.
“Following months of discussions conducted in the best interests of European football, UEFA, European Football Clubs (EFC), and Real Madrid CF announce that they have reached an agreement of principles for the well-being of European club football, respecting the principle of sporting merit with emphasis on long-term club sustainability and the enhancement of fan experience through the use of technology,” the statement said.
“This agreement of principles will also serve to resolve their legal disputes related to the European Super League, once such principles are executed and implemented.”
The dispute began after Madrid were one of 12 English, Spanish and Italian clubs attempting to launch a new competition to rival the Champions League in 2021. Those plans collapsed almost immediately after fan outrage, especially in England, and threats of heavy sanctions from UEFA.
Most of the original 12 clubs involved backed out of the project within a few days. Juventus remained involved until June 2024 and Barcelona only formally left the idea on February 7.
Super League organisers A22 and Real Madrid took a legal case against UEFA to the ECJ, which ruled in 2023 that “the FIFA and UEFA rules making any new interclub football project subject to their prior approval, such as the Super League, and prohibiting clubs and players from playing in those competitions, are unlawful”.
Madrid-based A22 has continued to work on different versions of a Super League, which was renamed the Unity League, with a proposal for all games to be streamed online for free to all fans. A22 also released the same statement as UEFA and Madrid on Wednesday afternoon.
The agreement was welcomed by European Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport Glenn Micallef who said: “A win for sporting merit and unity. Congratulations to UEFA on today’s agreement of principles which will serve to resolve their legal disputes related to the European Super League.”
‘A clear win for UEFA and a potentially embarrassing moment for Madrid’
Wednesday’s joint announcement allows both sides to claim a measure of victory, but this development looks clearly like a win for UEFA and a potentially embarrassing climb-down by Madrid and the Super League.
Senior contacts at UEFA and Madrid were keen to frame the agreement as something positive for football, a declaration of peace after a tense period, and the two sides said that they would continue to discuss ideas for further reform and potential changes to the Champions League format.
Sources familiar with the thinking of the Bernabeu hierarchy have claimed credit for the new Champions League league-phase format introduced for the first time in the men’s game last season, which has arguably brought more drama and tension to the early months of the tournament.
These sources also said that the Super League’s idea of streaming all games for free would also now be considered by UEFA, even though a bumper new rights deal up to 2031 along the current existing model was announced last November.
However, it is difficult to see Madrid’s move from claiming €4.5bn (£3.85 bn; $6.1bn) in damages to announcing peace and hoping for further dialogue as anything other than an acceptance that they have lost the war over the Super League.
Perez is Madrid’s president (David Ramos/Getty Images)
Madrid and promoters A22 did win some battles along the way, and there was a measure of vindication for their side in the 2023 ECJ ruling that UEFA had overstepped its authority.
The writing has still been on the wall for the breakaway project for a long time now, and at times Perez and his allies have appeared like marooned soldiers fighting on in a remote location while unaware that their war has long been over everywhere else.
Barcelona’s formal exit last weekend came as no surprise, given how club president Joan Laporta had moved much closer to UEFA chief Aleksander Ceferin and his EFC counterpart, the Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, recently. Ceferin and Al-Khelaifi are currently together at UEFA’s Executive Committee in Brussels, and walked in 20 minutes late to a meeting as Wednesday’s news broke.
This announcement also comes at a tough time for Perez, who is currently facing tough fights on a number of different fronts.
There were chants of ‘Florentino resign’ at the Bernabeu just last month, with fans unhappy at the team having lost to Barcelona in the Spanish Supercopa final in the last game of Xabi Alonso’s short spell as coach, before then being eliminated from the Copa del Rey at the hands of second-tier Albacete in new coach Alvaro Arbeloa’s first game in charge.
Perez, 78, has also announced a controversial change in Madrid’s member-owned structure, allowing private investment for the first time, although a vote on the issue proposed last November appears to have been postponed for the time being.
Legal issues around the recent expensive renovation of Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium are also proving problematic. Peace on the Super League front at least leaves Perez and his close circle of advisors and senior executives freer to concentrate on those battles closer to home.
