Manchester City released a statement reiterating their position on the European Super League following the ruling that FIFA and UEFA had committed illegal acts by preventing clubs from joining.

Manchester City have responded to the court ruling (Image: Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)

Manchester City claims that since they were the first team to pull out of the failed initiative in 2021, their opinions on the European Super League have not altered.

Twelve teams, including City, shocked the football world when they announced their intention to join the Super League. However, 48 hours later, they announced their intention to pull out due to strong fan reaction. Following fines from the Premier League and UEFA, the club has improved relations with both the regulatory body and their European competitors.

The Super League’s organizers used the Thursday’s European Court of Justice ruling, which declared that UEFA and FIFA had violated the law by preventing clubs from registering, to present new ideas for an expanded 64-team league that would run concurrently with national competitions.

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Even with the decision to rule against UEFA, which does not support the Super League, numerous clubs have gone on record stating they do not intend to participate in or return to the project. No other clubs have joined Barcelona and Real Madrid in their commitment to the Super League.

City has now issued a brief statement reaffirming that they do not intend to reverse their stance from the day they left the project.

“Manchester City Football Club confirmed in 2021 that it had formally enacted the procedures to withdraw from the group developing plans for a European Super League,” the organization stated.

“We still maintain the same stance. We are still dedicated to upholding the principles of European football, and we’ll keep cooperating with other clubs via the ECA and taking part in UEFA events.”

At his Club World Cup final press conference, Pep Guardiola was asked about the Super League before the statement was released. He said, “I’m not going to comment on that hours before we play a final of a World Cup.” We can ponder, and the clubs and attorneys will determine our next course of action.”

City CEO Ferran Soriano is a board member of the European Club Association (ECA), which released a statement stating that its clubs still oppose the Super League and listed City among the teams they targeted. “The Board of the European Club Association (ECA), which consists of 37 individuals from 35 clubs along with 2 independent board members, convened this afternoon following today’s judgment of the European Court of Justice (ECJ),” read a post on the ECA’s X account, formerly Twitter.

“The Board unanimously and unequivocally confirmed ECA’s complete rejection of any so-called Super League project, while supporting ECA’s continued progressive reform programme and ECA’s support of UEFA, FIFA and all recognised stakeholders of European football.”

UEFA replied that “[the judgement] underscores a pre-existing shortfall within UEFA’s pre-authorisation framework, a technical aspect that has already been acknowledged and addressed in June 2022.”

It is also understood that new government reforms would prohibit English clubs from joining any breakaway leagues, even if City wanted to rejoin the Super League. The Football Governance Bill would stop a recurrence of the Super League crisis in 2021 and establish an independent regulator for football.

Chairman of the City, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, apologized profusely to City supporters in the summer of 2021, describing the team’s decision to join the league as a mistake that, in retrospect, would never have happened.

A number of smaller clubs throughout Europe have also followed suit. Other clubs, such as Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, and Paris Saint-Germain, have also declared they will not participate in any new Super League.