The Super League has been scrapped for now with almost all of the teams pulling out but UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has hinted that the clubs might not be allowed to escape without any punishment.
All the six Premier League sides had pulled out within the first 48 hours of the announcement of the breakaway league and they were swiftly followed by the likes of Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus. As things stand, Barcelona and Real Madrid are the only clubs yet to officially withdraw.
While Florentino Perez has maintained that the ESL is still on the cards since the clubs have signed binding contracts, Ceferin, on the other hand, has hinted at various degree of punishments for all the involved clubs.
“Let’s see,” Ceferin told the Daily Mail when asked if the Super League clubs could be punished, as quoted. “Everyone has to take consequences for what they did and we cannot pretend nothing happened.
“You cannot do something like that and just say: ‘I’ve been punished because everybody hates me.’ They don’t have problems because of anyone else but themselves. It’s not OK what they did and we will see in the next few days what we have to do.
“But for me it’s a clear difference between the English clubs and the other six. They pulled out first, they admitted they made a mistake.
“You have to have some greatness to say: ‘I was wrong.’
“For me there are three groups of this 12 — the English Six, who went out first, then the other three [Atletico Madrid, AC Milan, Inter] after them and then the ones who feel that Earth is flat and they think the Super League still exists.
“And there is a big difference between those. But everyone will be held responsible. In what way, we will see. I don’t want to say disciplinary process but it has to be clear that everyone has to be held responsible in a different way.
“Is it disciplinary? Is it the decision of the executive committee? We will see. It’s too early to say.”
If the UEFA president’s words are anything to go by then the six Premier League could receive significantly lesser punishments only because they chose to withdraw so swiftly. The two Spanish elites though could be in line to receive some major sanctions.
But, all said than done, UEFA is not likely to take this matter any further as they would much rather sweep this under the carpet rather than rubbing all the 12 clubs in the wrong ways.
UEFA are not the most honest and pure governing body in the world right now and as per reports they have offered these clubs more money to remain in the Champions League by ditching the Super League. So Aleksander Ceferin will not want to make things any murkier by handing out punishments.
