Real Madrid president Florentino Perez says the 12 clubs who were to found the European Super League ESL cannot abandon it due to binding contracts, and he promised the project would return after a period of reflection.
Perez was one of the leading figures in the breakaway competition, which was unveiled last Sunday only to fall apart within days when all six English clubs involved withdrew and others followed.
But Perez, whose club are one of three teams along with Barcelona and Juventus yet to abandon the project, said it was not so simple for clubs to leave.
“I don’t need to explain what a binding contract is but effectively, the clubs cannot leave,” Perez told Spanish newspaper AS on Saturday.
“Some of them, due to pressure, have said they’re leaving. But this project, or one very similar, will move forward and I hope very soon.”
The Super League was dealt another blow on Friday when JPMorgan, who had provided a 3.5 billion euro grant to the founding clubs, said it had “misjudged how the deal would be viewed”.
Perez, however, said the bank was still on board.