Barcelona president Joan Laporta claims the Super League is 'far from abandoned'

Barcelona president Joan Laporta believes the Super League is 'far from abandoned' and that English clubs are still waiting to learn about the future of the competition.

Plans for a breakaway competition involving a dozen prominent clubs from England, Spain and Italy folded amid a furious backlash from fans, national associations and UEFA last year.

However, reports this month suggested that Barcelona , Real Madrid and Juventus are plotting to relaunch the idea imminently in another direct challenge to UEFA and its Champions League.

Laporta believes the Super League plans will go ahead if the European Court allows it, with a decision expected 'by the end of the year'.

The 59-year-old told Mundo Deportivo: 'Super League abandoned? No, far from it.

'We are still here with Juventus, Real Madrid and other teams waiting. English clubs are still waiting, whether Manchester, Liverpool or the Germans too.

'They are waiting to see if it will be a new competition format or if it will be an improved Champions League. But we are here and we win in each of the legal proceedings that have been initiated.

'We are now waiting for the verdict of the European Court and we hope that it will rule by the end of the year.'

Earlier this month, UEFA president Aleksandar Ceferin accused those trying to bring the Super League idea back of using the distraction of the brutal conflict in Ukraine.

Speaking at the Financial Times Business of Football Summit in London, Ceferin said: 'I have to say that those speaking about the Super League are not speaking about football. I am sick and tired of this non-football project.

'First, they launched their nonsense of the idea in the middle of a pandemic. Now, we read articles that they are planning to launch another idea now in the middle of a war.

'Do I have to speak more about these people? They obviously live in a parallel world.

'We are helping in a terrible situation, they are working on a project like that. They can pay whoever they want to write 'this is a nice project, they are full of solidarity, there will be charity to small ones.'

'This is nonsense and everyone knows it. One of them, after it, called me and apologised - but then they go again. For them, the fans are customers. For us, the fans are fans.'