Super League clubs confirmed: 15 European teams are finally named, while the whole of La Liga would be interested in joining – bar one club… as Barcelona president Joan Laporta hopes the competition can be launched NEXT season

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has revealed the 15 clubs that are ‘ready to join’ the European Super League project and is hopeful that the league can be launched next season. 

It comes after A22 management co-founder Anas Laghrari recently claimed that 20 teams around Europe had already agreed to join the breakaway competition. 

After talk of the European Super League had gone quiet over the past year, A22, the company spearheading the ambitious project, announced their plans for a revamped 64-team competition in December. 

It came following a ruling from the European Court of Justice which found that UEFA and FIFA had acted against competition laws in their attempts to block a European Super League. 

But Barcelona president Laporta has named 15 clubs are reportedly interested and told Catalan radio station RAC 1 that the competition ‘may exist next season or 2025-26.’

He added: ‘If not I will think about it because UEFA is also interested in keeping Barça in the ECA (Association of European Clubs).’

Laporta indicated that the European Super League could start as early as next season

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez (left) and Barcelona president Laporta (right) have continued to push for the creation of the Super League despite various legal challenges

The new format, revealed by A22 CEO Bernd Reichart, was immediately snubbed by several Premier League clubs including Manchester United while Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham also reaffirmed their loyalty to UEFA competitions. Bayern Munich also distanced themselves from the shock plans. 

‘Whether or not the English come, I don’t care,’ Laporte said firmly during the interview. ‘They already have a Superliga with the Premier League.’

According to RAC 1, Laporta believes that the list of clubs included in the European Super League would make the breakaway competition strong enough to pose level competition with the English top-flight.  

Laporta subsequently noted the teams who could be involved in the new competition. 

‘In addition to Barca and Madrid, there would be the Italians: Inter, Milan, Napoli and Roma. Also French teams such as Olympique de Marseille, and the three Portuguese, Sporting, Benfica and Porto, who would be delighted to come.

‘And there are the Dutch teams (Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV) and Bruges and Anderlecht from Belgium. A 16-team competition would be better.’

He added: ‘Any team in La Liga, except Atletico Madrid.’

Multiple Premier League clubs have snubbed the new Super League format despite a landmark ruling 

Laporta (right) revealed that all LaLiga clubs, bar Atletico Madrid, are keen to join the proposal 

The Barcelona president also added that AC Milan and Inter Milan were among several Italian clubs who were interested in joining

Portuguese sides Benfica and Porto are also, according to Laporta, keen to play in the Super League 

Despite their turbulent start to the 2023-24 campaign, having crashed out of the Copa del Rey while dropping to tenth in LaLiga, 10 points off league leaders Real Madrid, Barcelona have advanced to the knockout stages of the Champions League. 

They’ll take on Napoli in the Round of 16, with the Blaugrana set to travel to the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium for the first leg of that tie on February 21. 

Despite that, the Barca president was critical of UEFA and the current Champions League format claiming that the Spanish giants were being left short-handed by the competition.

He said: ‘The players, the agents, UEFA and the state clubs are getting rich, they are playing wherever they want, while the clubs are ruining us. We are not getting enough, from the Europe’s top competition.’

The new Super League format will also introduce promotion and relegation across the table and will also create a women’s competition. 

For the men’s tournament, there will be three leagues ranked as star, gold and blue, with star being the strongest and blue the weakest. 

The gold and star leagues will have 16 teams separated into two groups of eight while the blue league will have 32 clubs split across four groups of eight. 

Each team is set to play a minimum of 14 matches, playing against their opponents home and away on midweek dates. 

The top four clubs from both groups in the gold and star leagues will then advance to the knockout stages of the competition.   

A22 co-fonunder Laghrari had previously stated that he had not wanted to ‘expose’ the names of the clubs who had expressed an interest in the competition. 

‘I don’t want to say their names because I don’t want to expose them,’ Laghrari told French newspaper Ouest-France, as quoted by El Espanol.

Fans turned out in full force to protest the announcement of the ‘closed’ league in April 2021

A22 co-fonunder Anas Laghrari had previously not wanted to reveal the names of the clubs involved in the project

‘Since December 21, we have spoken with around 50 different clubs. About 20 of them are very, very motivated by the project. We already have enough clubs to start a competition.

‘We are very busy talking to different clubs, fan associations, players and people who are involved in football on a day-to-day basis. They all call us to better understand this project because, since it is possible and legal to propose an alternative, the actors want to work. We can work together to improve football.’