Florentino Perez vows to develop more Super League plans in bid to 'save football'

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has remained steadfast in his belief that a Super League is needed to save football and has claimed UEFA's Champions League reform will not help.

Perez was elected chairman of the much-maligned Super League, though with just four clubs yet to withdraw from the closed-off competition - Milan, Juventus, Barcelona and Perez's Real Madrid - it looks like being a role which no longer needs to be filled.

In an interview with AS, the Real president has claimed that the Champions League reform which will see the competition expanded to include 36 teams in 2024 will not help save football, while hinting at the possibility of pushing ahead with the Super league plans despite only four teams remaining committed to the proposal.

"I [do not] think that the changes which UEFA have made are a real solution to the problem because what has been proposed isn't even an improvement on the current model," he said.

"Also, we cannot wait until 2024. But in any case, we must have done something badly. We are going to try to turn this around and develop more ideas. Maybe the solution is for the top four teams in every league to play."

Two of the biggest criticisms of the Super League were that it would have a negative impact on the health of domestic leagues across Europe and that the 15 founder members could not be relegated, thus taking away the element of competition.

Perez denied both accusations, claiming the breakaway event would help save clubs from going into administration, while insisting football needs saving.

"It is not a plan which excludes club and nor is it designed to go against other leagues," he said. "The Super League project is the best possible solution, and it has been created to help football get out of the crisis.

"Football is severely damaged because its economy has been ruined and it has to adapt to the new era we are living in. The Super League does not go against domestic competitions and its objective is to ensure that more money is available for all sections of football. The concept is to generate more interest for the games."

"Let's look at the data: a recent report by KPMG - in the first three months of the pandemic alone last season, the 12 clubs in the Super League reported losses of 650 million euros."

"By the end of this season, with the pandemic still ongoing, the losses will be between 2000 and 2500m euros. Girondins [Bordeaux] have recently gone into administration. Either we do something soon or many more clubs will go under."

Since the Super League's collapse, attention has turned to the possible sanctions being faced by the clubs who committed to the plans, though Perez was adamant no punishment could be handed out when asked of the impact this could have on Real Madrid.

"In the democratic Europe which we live in, that is something which I don't think would cross anyone's mind," he said.