OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL: Juventus one of 12 ‘founding clubs’ for European Super League

The European Super League is officially a go.

And Juventus, as expected, is a part of the next step into the wild, wild world of European football, one that will see an insane amount of money be generated but at what cost is still something that will be determined in the years to come.

Just as Sunday switched to Monday in Italy, the new era of European football officially took shape. It’s something that’s been in the works for years, with Juventus President Andrea Agnelli playing a major role in the formation of what will now be the European Super League, with 12 clubs becoming the founding fathers of sorts despite plenty of objections from fans, pundits and Europe’s governing body UEFA. Juventus is one of them, with Serie A heavyweights Inter Milan and AC Milan joining in to form the Italian core of the 12-team league.

On a related note, shortly after the Super League formation was announced, Agnelli stepped down as president of the European Club Association and Juventus left the ECA.

The 12 “Founding Clubs” are:

• Real Madrid
• Barcelona
• Atletico Madrid
• AC Milan
• Inter Milan
• Juventus
• Manchester United
• Manchester City
• Liverpool
• Arsenal
• Chelsea
• Tottenham

Here is Juventus’ official statement on joining the European Super League:

Turin, 19 April 2021 – Juventus Football Club S.p.A. (the “Company” or “Juventus”) announces that it has entered into an agreement with other European top clubs, Associazione Calcio Milan S.p.A., Arsenal Holdings Limited, Club Atlético de Madrid S.A.D., Chelsea Football Club Limited, Football Club Barcelona, F.C. Internazionale Milano S.p.A., The Liverpool Football Club and Athletic Grounds Limited, Manchester City Football Club Limited, Manchester United Football Club Limited, Real Madrid Club de Futbol and Tottenham Hotspur Limited, for the purposes of creating a new European football competition, the Super League. The clubs have agreed to join the Super League on a long-term basis. Additional top European clubs are expected to join the Super League project, reaching a core group of up to 15 permanent founding members that will be complemented each year by more clubs on the basis of an admission process, resulting in 20 clubs in the aggregate.

Also from Juventus’ press release announcing the creation of the Super League:

• “The founding clubs will continue playing in all the respective domestic competitions and, until the actual launch of the Super League, Juventus is willing to participate in the European competitions to which it is eligible. ...
• “The founding clubs wish to implement the Super League project in agreement with FIFA and UEFA, taking into account the interests of the other stakeholders participating in the football ecosystem. Meanwhile, in order to ensure the success of the project and promptly implement it, the Super League company may also seek judicial protection of its rights. ...
• “The Super League will indeed be organized and managed by a Super League company which will be owned by the founding clubs on an equal basis. Therefore, the agreement requires each founding club to commit to an initial equity investment of Euro 2 million and, if needed, up to further Euro 8 million. ...
• “The agreement provides that, in connection with the actual launch of the Super League and subject to the sale of the media rights related to the competition, the founding clubs will receive an upfront net grant of approximately Euro 3.5 billion in the aggregate; such grant, that will be shared among the founding clubs according to percentages to be defined on the basis of the final number of founding clubs, is expected to be ultimately funded under appropriate financing arrangements underwritten by primary international lenders.”

While there’s so much unknown about how all of this will play out — outside of the Super League clubs seeing a massive influx of cash coming their way — we at least have a logo.

Impressive. With all the time they had, the logo is ... yeah. We’re off to a good start. folks.