Barcelona withdraws from European Super League project

Monday 09 February 2026 - 13:50

By: Dakir Madiha

Barcelona withdraws from European Super League project

Barcelona has formally ended its involvement in the European Super League, leaving Real Madrid as the only major founding club still backing the controversial breakaway competition.

The Catalan club said it had officially informed the organizing company and the remaining participants of its decision to withdraw. The move marks a clear departure from Barcelona’s long-standing alignment with Real Madrid, which had continued to defend the project after most other clubs abandoned it.

The European Super League was unveiled in April 2021 by 12 of Europe’s biggest teams as a closed competition designed to rival the UEFA Champions League. The proposal triggered immediate and widespread opposition from supporters, national governments and football authorities, prompting most participating clubs to pull out within days.

Barcelona and Real Madrid, however, continued to support the initiative, arguing that European football required structural reform to ensure financial sustainability for elite clubs. Their stance kept the project alive despite its loss of broad backing across the continent.

Barcelona’s position began to shift in late 2025. In October, club president Joan Laporta publicly signaled an intention to mend relations with UEFA and to move away from the Super League. His remarks followed a ruling by a Madrid appeals court which found that UEFA had abused its authority in attempting to block the project in 2021.

That decision encouraged Super League organizers to press ahead, but Barcelona has now chosen a different path. By withdrawing, the club has distanced itself from ongoing legal and political battles surrounding the proposed competition.

Real Madrid now stands alone among the original elite clubs in pursuing the project. Alongside the organizing company A22 Sports, the club has filed a lawsuit seeking more than $4 billion in damages from UEFA, arguing that it has the right to establish a new tournament.

UEFA maintains that the court ruling applied only to regulations in force in 2021 and says those rules have since been updated. Barcelona’s exit underscores the growing isolation of Real Madrid and raises further questions about the credibility and future viability of the Super League concept.