Real Madrid have gone to the English clubs that walked out on them in April 2021 and asked for the money back.
The Spanish club are chasing roughly €80m in promotional and legal costs incurred setting up the European Super League and want the six Premier League founding members to shoulder their share, according to reporting carried by Goal. Legal action is on the table if they refuse.
The bill lands with Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. The six were among nine of the original twelve clubs who abandoned the project within days of its April 2021 announcement, leaving Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus to carry the setup costs between them.
Why the demand lands now
Madrid are on their own now. Juventus pulled out in 2023, and Barcelona confirmed their exit on 7 February 2026, leaving Real Madrid as the only club still formally attached to the breakaway.
Read also: Roddick reads Djokovic’s Basel wildcard as a signal: Melbourne is still on
The split bill became a solo bill. With Barcelona and Juventus gone, Real Madrid are either paying the whole tab or chasing the clubs they argue should have been paying all along.
The legal argument and the English defence
Madrid’s case rests on the shareholders’ agreement signed by all twelve founding members for The European Super League Company, a holding vehicle based in Spain. The clubs committed to “own and manage” the project jointly, and Real Madrid’s lawyers contend that language carries an implicit financial obligation to share the setup costs.
Club president Florentino Pérez has long held the same line on the contract itself.
“I’m not going to waste my time explaining what a binding contract is here, but the truth is that the clubs cannot withdraw,” Pérez has said of the agreement.
The English six see it differently. Their position is that the obligation ended with their public apology, and that nothing in the leaked contract language explicitly pins promotional or legal costs on them.
They have already paid once at home. The six agreed a £22m settlement with the Premier League on 10 June 2021, £3.67m each, and signed up to a 30-point deduction and a £25m fine if any of them attempts a similar breakaway in future.
Reichart in, UEFA peace, and where the money would go
The timing is not accidental. Real Madrid are preparing to appoint Bernd Reichart, until recently chief executive of Super League promoter A22, as head of commercial operations once he concludes his work at the company, and the club has rebuilt its relationship with UEFA.
If the English clubs pay, the money would reportedly go to The European Super League Company rather than straight into Real Madrid’s accounts, which is also where any court-ordered reimbursement would land.
Read also: Injury so rare the operation has only been done twice before in Europe
Read also: Pellegrini: how Gasperini pulled me back from the brink after Roma’s contract crisis
