UEFA respond to Super League meeting claims
UEFA have hit out at Super League representatives after a meeting, branding the clubs 'disrespectful' and 'greedy'.
Various senior officials from across European football met with representatives of A22, the company behind the Super League, on Tuesday.
A22 failed in their attempts to introduce the competition last year after every club that had previously been onboard pulled out aside from Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus, but they and the three remaining sides remain determined to bring their plans to fruition.
In the aftermath of the meeting A22 CEO Bernd Reichart, in a statement released by the business, accused UEFA of being happy with the way things currently are in football and reiterated his call for change.
“Our takeaway from the meeting was that the status quo is satisfactory to UEFA," he said.
"This position was anticipated as UEFA has been the sole, dominant operator of European club competitions since 1955.
"This monopoly structure is currently being reviewed by the Court of Justice of the European Union which is expected to deliver its conclusions in Spring 2023.”
In the same statement, A22 also said that the meeting had been attended by 'UEFA’s President Aleksander Čeferin and a large group of other executives' amid claims that the European governing body had taken far more people to the meeting than anticipated in a supposed ambush.
UEFA were far from pleased with all of the above and released their own statement in response, not mincing their words in it.
"A22 Sports Management has published an account of their visit to UEFA Headquarters in Nyon today. UEFA is currently checking the recording to see if they are talking about the same meeting," the statement reads.
"The 'other executives' they refer to were not faceless bureaucrats but senior stakeholders from across European football, players, clubs, leagues and fans; people who live and breathe the game every day. To fail to recognise that is disrespectful.
"If there is a 'takeaway' from today, it should be that the whole of European football opposes their greedy plan, as was clearly communicated in our media release. European football has constantly demonstrated its openness to change but it must be for the benefit of the whole game not just a few clubs.
"A22 wanted dialogue so we gave them 2.5 hours of time from all of the game’s stakeholders and each one rejected their approach. As the Football Supporters’ Association said, the UK has had as many Prime Ministers in the last two months as they have supporters of their plans.
"They claim not to represent the three remaining clubs. They refuse to define what their alleged new approach is. They claim to want dialogue. But when presented with the chance, they have nothing to say."