Infantino toasts end to Super League plot: 'Football wins when we unite'
FIFA President Gianni Infantino praised the agreement to formally end the divisive Super League project and said, "Football wins when we unite."
UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin also hailed the consensus as a victory for soccer.
Their comments came during the 50th UEFA Congress in Belgium on Thursday, a day after Super League's end was signaled by an agreement of principles between Real Madrid and UEFA.
Madrid, the 15-time European champion, and its president Florentino Perez looked even more isolated after Barcelona formally pulled out of Super League.
"Yesterday, we heard the great news about the agreement between UEFA, the EFC (European Football Clubs) and Real Madrid," Infantino said.
He congratulated Ceferin, EFC leader Nasser al-Khelaifi and Perez for having reached the agreement.
"I would like to ask you to clap hands for Alexander, for Nasser and for Florentino," he said. "Because football wins when we unite."
Infantino in the past was accused of being complicit in the formation of the breakaway plans by Europe's elite clubs before belatedly denying he colluded with the rebels after months of silence.
Ceferin said he was "very happy" that Madrid and Barcelona "joined the family again."
"Honestly speaking, we were all tired of these disputes," he said. "We had some disagreements with the president of Real Madrid but let me be clear, we never lost respect to ourselves, to each other, and we never lost the love for the game. And let me be even clearer, the only winner of this situation is football, nobody else."
Ceferin said Al-Khelaifi's "leadership has been instrumental in turning dialogue into a shared direction of travel, so thank you very much for that."
Madrid and Barcelona won a ruling at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg against Champions League organizer UEFA more than two years ago, but no new clubs publicly came forward to join the breakaway project which had no clear path forward.
The agreement on Wednesday between Madrid, UEFA and the influential EFC group said principles were agreed that "will also serve to resolve their legal disputes."
It was announced as European soccer leaders met in Brussels on the eve of UEFA's annual congress of 55 member federations.
Madrid had been at the head of 12 Spanish, Italian and English clubs who challenged UEFA in April 2021 by launching a breakaway Super League which hoped to start play with 20 teams. But the project collapsed within 48 hours amid a fierce backlash in England by fans and the government which threatened legislation to protect the traditional structure of European soccer.
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