Barcelona have announced that they are officially leaving the Super League project, leaving Real Madrid as the only club still supporting the idea.
The project, which was initially announced in 2021 with 12 teams, had long been reduced to just the "Clásico" duo.
After the departure of the six Premier League teams initially involved, Italian clubs followed suit, then Atletico Madrid, and then Juventus a year later.
Strong fan protests in England prompted the walkouts, and Juventus decided it was not in their interest.
Barcelona have now released an official statement, announcing that they will no longer be part of this competition.
That leaves Real Madrid and the A22 organizers as the only remaining participants. The brief statement gave no other reasons for the decision.
"Barcelona announces that today it has officially informed the European Super League Company and the clubs involved of its withdrawal from the European Super League project," Barcelona said in a statement.
This is the latest step in the growing distance between Real Madrid and Barcelona, and in the case of the latter, the strengthening of relations with UEFA.
At the same time, Real Madrid has been more vocal in demanding punishment for Barcelona in the Negreira case, as the Catalan club faces allegations of sports corruption.
In October, Barcelona president Joan Laporta announced that they would not continue participating in the Super League, emphasizing that they were for peace in European football:
"Barcelona is for the pacification of European football. We want there to be an agreement and we return to UEFA. This is what all the clubs want. We also come here to create good harmony and to reach this agreement," he had said.
In December, Laporta added that his opponent, Florentino Pérez, was only targeting Barcelona in the Negreira case because of their stance on the Super League.
Real Madrid continues to promote a free-to-view Super League, where European competition would include a reduced "league" of 18 teams, with promotion and relegation between three different divisions./Express newspaper/
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