UEFA ‘reconcile’ with 9 of 12 Super League clubs, including Chelsea

UEFA announced yesterday that they have reconciled with 9 of the 12 clubs involved in the attempted Super League breakaway, imposing financial penalties and deferred punishments but nothing more serious than that. The three clubs who have yet to renounce the Super League, Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Juventus, remain on UEFA’s naughty list and could be in line to receive more stringent punishment.

The 9 other clubs who are all very sorry — including Chelsea and all other Premier League teams, as well as Inter, AC Milan, and Atlético Madrid — will be subject to a 5 per cent cut of their UEFA revenue for one season and are required to make a (combined) €15m donation to grassroots football efforts in their respective countries. Further deferred sentences are imposed in the form of a €50m fine and a €100m fine should they break this commitment and attempt to ever do something like this again. The clubs will also be required to rejoin the European Club Association (ECA), now helmed by PSG as opposed to Juventus, and cut any and all remaining ties with the Super League.

All-in-all, a rather reasonable set of measures, in line with the olive branch offered up by UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin a couple weeks ago, saying that it was not too late for the clubs to change their minds.

“I said at the UEFA Congress two weeks ago that it takes a strong organisation to admit making a mistake especially in these days of trial by social media. These clubs have done just that [they have] recognised their mistakes quickly and have taken action to demonstrate their contrition and future commitment to European football.

“The same cannot be said for the clubs that remain involved in the so-called ‘Super League’ and UEFA will deal with those clubs subsequently.”

-Aleksander Čeferin; source: UEFA

Will be very interesting to see just how hard UEFA (date to) come down on the remaining three, especially two of the three are the two most popular clubs in the world.

For Chelsea, we can probably close the books on this silly episode, though there’s still a chance that the Premier League or The FA will cook up some sort of punishment as well.