Florentino Perez, the president of Real Madrid and the European Super League, went on Spanish TV on Monday night to discuss the 12 teams' plans for the breakaway league.
The 74-year-old was asked about the possibility of Real Madrid signing Kylian Mbappe and whether Sergio Ramos will renew his contract.
These were the ten messages from Florentino Perez on Monday's edition of El Chiringuito.
Football "is dead" if it doesn't change
The European Super League president kept emphasising how much money clubs had lost over the last two years and how a change is necessary now, not in 2024, which is when UEFA plan to implement changes in the Champions League.
"One of the things we are doing this for is to save football, to save football in general," Florentino Perez said.
"We will try to start as soon as possible. We are going to talk to UEFA and FIFA; I don't know why they would be angry.
"When I say save football, I mean save everyone. They have presented a format that nobody understands, and they say they are going to start in 2024... in 2024 we are dead.
"There are clubs that have lost hundreds of millions. Between all of us we have lost five billion [euros]. Madrid, in just two seasons, 400 [million euros]. That the new format starts in 2024 is absurd."
The European Super League will be "open"
Florentino Perez denied that the European Super League will be closed off, despite the fact that 15 of the 20 clubs will be exempt from relegation.
"I don't know why it has been said that it is a closed league; that's what those who must not be very noble say, because football should belong to everyone," he said.
The Real Madrid president also made reference to competitions outside of the European Super League and whether it can coexist with the Champions League.
"Of course they have to continue or make a second league or something," Florentino Perez noted.
"There are countries that want to join: the Benelux, the Scandinavian league... the clubs want to change because in the situation we are in, we are dead. There are a lot of teams that have to play; they have to make a second league."
Matches with little interest at present
Florentino Perez insists that there are matches at present that people have little to no interest in, but he believes that would change with the introduction of the European Super League.
"Football at the moment has become less attractive to young people and we want to develop a competition to get them off their tablets," he explained.
"They have other platforms, but football should be entertaining. The better the games, the more entertaining it will be.
"The Champions League is attractive from the quarter-finals onwards; we have to play against modest teams [in the group stages] that are not attractive. There are matches of poor quality.
"Barcelona vs Manchester [United] is more entertaining than Manchester [United] against a lesser team in the Champions League.
"What does the whole world demand? We have fans all over the world. That's what makes money, other competitions don't make money."
Big clubs "lose" money these days
One point that Florentino Perez made that reference to was the way in which money is distributed more fairly, which he does not think should be happening.
"It can't be the case that in the Spanish league most of the modest clubs earn money and Barcelona lose it," he stated.
"We are in a strange moment and it can't be the case. It can't be that in England these six teams lose money and the other 14 make money. When we say solidarity, we really mean it."
Getting young people interested again
The European Super League president insists that young people are becoming less interested in football and that reforms are urgently needed.
"Football has to evolve, like companies, people, mentalities... it has to change and adapt to the times we live in," Florentino Perez commented.
"Football was losing interest; you can see that the audiences are falling and the rights are decreasing and something had to be done. We are all in ruins.
"Young people are no longer interested in football, and why's that? Because there are many matches of poor quality and they are not interested; they have other platforms to distract them.
"Football at the moment has become less attractive to young people and we want to develop a competition to get them off the tablet. They have other platforms, but football should be entertaining. The better the matches, the more entertaining it will be.
"The youngsters say that games are too long for them. Madrid have been playing since 1902, look how long it's been. Sometimes we don't understand our grandchildren or politicians, they are new generations and we have to make an effort to understand them.
"If the youngsters say that the match is too long or that it's not a good match or that it needs to be shortened, I don't know."
Laporta and Barcelona
Florentino Perez discussed Real Madrid's arch-rivals, Barcelona, who he said are in a difficult economic position and need the European Super League to alleviate some of their problems.
In addition, he also made reference to Joan Laporta, who he said did not need much convincing about the European Super League project.
"I didn't find it hard to convince Laporta because when you talk to responsible people there's no way around it," Florentino Perez said.
"Barcelona are going through a bad situation [economically] and he knows that this is the future of Barcelona. Economically this saves everyone, it saves football.
"Tomorrow Laporta will come out and we are going to explain this competition that wants to save football and save the smaller teams, because otherwise football will disappear."
Referees and VAR
How will referees be selected in the new European Super League?
"We will try to select the best ones with professional criteria," Florentino Perez responded.
"VAR and referees will be improved, and there will be financial fair play and stability for the clubs."
Players might not be able to represent national teams
There has been the threat issued by UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin that players who play in the European Super League will be unable to represent their national teams at tournaments, but Florentino Perez is not too worried about this.
"We have to change many things, we have too many matches," he stated.
"There are national team matches that people don't even know how to win, and that's the truth. Playing with club players doesn't make much sense. We have to change."
Mbappe
Florentino Perez was not only asked about the European Super League, as he was also made to give his thoughts on Kylian Mbappe, who Real Madrid have been strongly linked with.
"I wear the incognito mask and they tell me, 'Sign Mbappe!' I say, 'calm down'. The truth is that he's a good player, we're not going to fool ourselves," Florentino Perez noted.
"Madrid need a change from time to time, we have won a lot, things have happened and we have to move and recover the excitement - that's what I'm working on.
"I do everything I can so that Madrid does not lose its rightful place. This year we had to bring in 900 million [euros] and we are going to bring in 600 million [euros]. But Madrid was also in ruins when I arrived in 2000."
Sergio Ramos' renewal
The Real Madrid president refused to state whether Sergio Ramos will renew or not, too.
"We are in a very bad situation, nobody is putting up the money and we have to be realistic; we are all in a very bad [economic] situation," Florentino Perez explained.
"I haven't said that he won't continue. At the moment we're looking at how we'll manage the end of this year and then we'll see about next year."
Finally, Florentino Perez was asked if Ramos had taken a 10 percent pay cut.
"Last year, yes," he responded.
Christopher_Robin
522
They call it open, but what about the 15 teams that require no merit whatsoever to play the game? What about the small teams who used to be able to to participate in competitions like the UCL based on their performance and not on their revenue? Look I'm all for clubs earning more cash but how do you call this game a competition when these 15 teams get higher pay just cuz they're the founders, what happens in the league? They have an economic advantage in comparison to the other clubs who can't even PARTICIPATE in the SL. Aren't you increasing the gap between the rich and the poor? How is this fair?
heebekmpr
486
please. "it cannot be that small clubs profit while the big clubs losses money". it's not like small clubs are making magic tricks, they just understand the realities of the financials. what these major clubs need to understand that they cannot sign every year players with hundreds of millions and offer them contracts of 50 million per year. I understand that fixing this will take years but they really need to change the direction now. It's ridiculous that big teams would need that kind of transfer budgets that they are using now, and the transfer moneys are out of line right now. For all the big clubs: start investing on your own youth and don't spend on the transfer markets the way you have during last decade. Think about Barcelona's team 2011, maybe one of the best teams in the history of football. MOST of the players were home grown players, with couple of good signings that were some millions. The greed of the players and agents and clubs have led to this point and it's time to fix that. Perez for sure is right that new ucl system seems complicated, but it's what you asked from uefa; more games and more games against other giants. I agree more money from ucl should come down to the clubs rather than uefa having biggest share, but seriously barcelona having 1.3b euros debt is their own fault and very VERY poor handling of finances.
Anthony07014
476
My take on Perez's interview and that no one is talking about : Florentino Pérez: "If I had to, I would leave my post as Super League president for Joan Laporta tomorrow” My take: Omg this is one of the most cliche lines I have seen. I think we all know the reality Perez is the most powerful chairman. Sadly, Laporta isn't even vice chairman of this ESL. Florentino Perez: "The Super League contract is binding. No one can leave, we'll all work together. All clubs signed the contracts last Saturday." My Take: It's 100% true. I read that all participating will have to play in this tournament for a minimum of 23 years. Florentino Perez: “I’m not going to name the clubs, but one club lost €250M while the other one lost €180M. We need to save football..” My Take: Again true. Florentino Perez: “Everything I do is for the good of football. We created this [European Super League] to save football..” My take : 🤡😂😂 Florentino Perez: "The Super League is not a closed league. That's false. It's an open league that any good team can reach, regardless of their name." My take: First thing first we don't know how five teams will qualify for this tournament. Will there be qualifiers or based on position in the league. But one thing is clear founding 15 teams will not be relegated. No matter how bad Arsenal, Milan, or Tottenham play they will stay whereas it is not clear what happens to the rest of the 5 teams. If they stay in the league even after winning the trophy or not. You know it's like saying "everyone is equal but some of us are more equal than the others." The format of this tournament is ridiculous in my opinion. Florentino Perez: "If young people find football matches too long it may be because they are not interesting enough... or maybe we might have to make the football matches shorter". My take: This is something really interesting Perez has hinted matches could be made smaller. It makes sense commercially with broadcasters getting more ads but do tell me are you in favor of smaller games? Florentino Perez: "When Madrid and Barcelona play, the world stops. It's a luxury that we have here. That doesn’t happen when United and City play..” My take: True Florentino Perez "Boris Johnson said he will do everything to cancel the #SuperLeague because they explained to him that the Premier League would disappear: it's false, it's not true. Everything will go back to normal...". 🚨 My Take: PL or other domestic leagues will become a far inferior tournament than it is today. Unlike CL, ESL is going to be a full-blown league tournament consisting of 38 games. With each week multiple blockbuster games taking place. No one is going to watch Chelsea vs Burnley when Manchester United vs Liverpool is happening in the same time.
ElpicoCommanda
402
What Perez is saying makes sense it's just that people don't want to understand it. look I don't completely agree with all his points but what makes sense is that now big teams don't get revenue as before. Current TV rights can not sustain these big clubs only the sale of tickets or other tourist activities can but the problem is that we have a pandemic. If every revenue has to be gotten from TV now why not make an attractive competition that will boost tv revenues. Now let's be honest when you watch a match of barca vs huesca it's not the match itself making money but Barca and in the end they will get some modest money that can't even sustain them in anyway. all these small teams feed on the big clubs and that's ok but now they are in crisis and they want to save themselves but the small teams are complaining. If this big teams are no longer there then the small teams will not have anything. It's actually hypocrisy we are seeing. I'm open about the super league idea maybe for two or four years until everything goes back to normal or they expand it to make it bigger
CrUeL_Prince
325
Perez was right in everything except big club vs small club matches. small clubs reach UCL by making efforts and even if they lose they r there to make history and to make money. Every club was small somewhere in the past. Everything has its begging so you shouldn't think like " this is a small team and no quality match" look at Atalanta they have improved a lot and have been competing very well in the last 2 years. and we fans also love watching Atalanta games than Juventus. but Juventus are bigger than Atalanta. you shouldn't always think about big clubs and big matches. small clubs have to play against big clubs in order to learn how to be a big club
Abdoul_20
195
You guys just support clubs without even considering their situation All you want is to watch matches you just don’t care