File photo of Juventus players.© AFP
Juventus have been readmitted to the European Club Association (ECA) after the Serie A club’s failed bid to create a continental Super League, the organisation’s chief Nasser Al-Khelaifi said on Thursday. Italy’s most successful club, Juve abandoned the ECA in order to push for the so-called European Super League, which was launched in April 2021 but quickly collapsed after fan anger and threats from governing bodies UEFA and FIFA. “I am pleased to welcome Juventus back to our family. Now, all top division clubs in over 20 countries are ECA members,” Al-Khelaifi, who is also president of Paris Saint-Germain, said during the ECA’s General Assembly in Athens.
Juve, then chaired by Super League crusader Andrea Agnelli, intended to be one of 12 founder clubs alongside the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and a clutch of teams from England’s Premier League.
Since the original Super League project failed, Agnelli has been hit with two lengthy bans from Italian football after the country’s football federation found him and Juventus guilty of a series of financial offences.
The project is still technically alive and being pushed by A22 Sports Management, who are promoting a redesigned version of the breakaway continental competition with 64 teams playing in three divisions.
In December last year the European Union’s Court of Justice ruled that a ban of the Super League enforced by the sport’s existing governing bodies was against EU law.
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