Real Madrid Seek €80m Super League Payment from Premier League Six
Real Madrid are seeking to place the cost of establishing the European Super League project on the six Premier League clubs that joined its original company agreement in April 2021. The proposed bill could reach €80 million (£67.3 million), with Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham named among the clubs Madrid believe should meet the liabilities.
What changed for the club
Madrid are now the only club still attached to the breakaway proposal after every other member of the original 12-team group withdrew. The English contingent pulled out during the first collapse of the project, while Barcelona, Juventus, AC Milan, Inter and Atletico Madrid subsequently also ended their involvement. Barcelona’s formal exit in February left Florentino Perez’s club isolated.
The club are also moving towards appointing Bernd Reichart as head of business operations. Reichart previously served as chief executive of A22, the Madrid-based company created to manage the Super League plans.
Perez has consistently argued that the initial agreement prevented the founding clubs from simply walking away. As the Premier League sides left the project in 2021, he said the arrangement was binding and that the clubs could not depart at will.
He later maintained that the organisers had the right to launch a new competition, while also pursuing substantial damages from UEFA. Perez said Madrid would continue to seek both compensation for losses and the ability to organise a future tournament.
Competition context
The Super League has been repeatedly reshaped since its initial launch was abandoned. A22 presented a proposal in December 2023 for an open competition involving 64 teams across three divisions, with promotion and relegation built into the model.
That plan was replaced 12 months later by the proposed 96-team Unify League, which would have four tiers. The revisions were intended to answer criticism of the original closed competition, but they have not brought former founding clubs back into the project.
- Original English signatories: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham.
- Potential setup-cost claim: up to €80 million (£67.3 million).
- Madrid’s position: the sole remaining club committed to the breakaway plan.
The six English clubs have since returned fully to the established UEFA competition structure, but Madrid’s intended pursuit of costs means the dispute remains unresolved.
What is scheduled next
There is no new Super League tournament date in place. The immediate question is whether the six Premier League clubs will contest or accept Madrid’s reported demand for their share of the project’s creation costs.
Madrid’s expected appointment of Reichart would add an executive with direct experience of A22’s revised formats, while Perez’s public position indicates the club intend to continue exploring both compensation claims and a future alternative European competition.
