Agnelli heads for Juve exit with pro-Super League farewell shot

January 19 - Former Juventus president Andrea Agnelli, one of the key architects of the doomed European super league, reiterated his faith in the project during a farewell speech to the Italian giants.< /p>

Agnelli and the rest of the Juventus board dramatically resigned en masse in November amid an investigation into the club's transfers.

Turin prosecutors have called for Agnelli, 11 others and the club to be tried over allegations of fake accounts. Juventus, the most decorated club in Italian history, have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

In a parting shot after more than a decade in charge, Agnelli said reform was badly needed to counter the power of the English Premier League.

"I believed and still believe that European football needs structural reforms to address the future", Agnelli, not so long ago, one of the game's most powerful officials at the helm of the European Club Association and a member of the UEFA executive committee, Juventus said. shareholders.

“Otherwise, we are heading for an inexorable decline in favor of a dominant league, the Premier League, which within a few years will attract all European talent and marginalize the rest. »

Juventus, Barcelona and Real Madrid - three of the ESL's earliest backers - still stand by their argument that UEFA and FIFA breached European Union competition law by blocking its creation.

This despite a report by the European Court of Justice in December, in which Advocate General Athanasios Rantos said the actions of UEFA and FIFA were "compatible with European competition law".

A final decision will be made by a 15-member Grand Chamber next spring.

"When I was president of the ECA and a member of the UEFA executive committee, the analysis was obvious," continued Agnelli.

"There was no club sustainability, a vertical polarization of interest towards just two leagues, access to very risky financial instruments and fan disaffection.

"The hope is that the European Court of Justice will recognize professional sport as an industry, since the turnover of football is 55 billion euros.

"I thank Real Madrid and Barcelona who, together with Juventus, had the courage to face the threats from UEFA."

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