After clubs such as Manchester United, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid were linked with forming a so-called European Super League, FIFA has now made a major announcement about the potential new competition.
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Football's world governing body has announced that any player who partakes in a new European Super League, formed by some of the continent's strongest clubs, would be banned from tournaments organised by FIFA and its member confederations, such as the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European Championship.
FIFA is understood to have the backing of members CAF (Africa), AFC (Asia), Concacaf (Central and North America), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oceania) and UEFA (Europe).
Here is FIFA's statement in full:
"In light of recent media speculation about the creation of a closed European 'Super League' by some European clubs, FIFA and the six confederations (AFC, CAF, Concacaf, CONMEBOL, OFC and UEFA) once again would like to reiterate and strongly emphasise that such a competition would not be recognised by either FIFA or the respective confederation. Any club or player involved in such a competition would as a consequence not be allowed to participate in any competition organised by FIFA or their respective confederation.
"As per the FIFA and confederations statutes, all competitions should be organised or recognised by the relevant body at their respective level, by FIFA at the global level and by the confederations at the continental level. In this respect, the confederations recognise the FIFA Club World Cup, in its current and new format, as the only worldwide club competition while FIFA recognises the club competitions organised by the confederations as the only club continental competitions.
"The universal principles of sporting merit, solidarity, promotion and relegation, and subsidiarity are the foundation of the football pyramid that ensures football's global success and are, as such, enshrined in the FIFA and confederation statutes. Football has a long and successful history thanks to these principles. Participation in global and continental competitions should always be won on the pitch."
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