- According to The Guardian, documents from 2020 show that FIFA’s Gianni Infantino wanted to sponsor the Super League project.
- According to the documents, the idea was supported by a partner who had been on the FIFA payroll for 12 years, and whose involvement could take the form of a sponsor, including through the naming of the tournament.
- UEFA’s Aleksander Čeferin said Infantino was behind the “breakaway” Super League project, citing documents that show that the European governing body was not informed about the project before it was launched by Aleksander Čeferin.
Regarding the claim, see L’Équipe and La Gazzetta dello Sport.
A British outlet, The Guardian, reported that it had documents dated 2020 showing that Gianni Infantino, then president of FIFA, had been involved in the European Super League project. In the documents, it is stated that the FIFA president had been in contact with Florentino Pérez, the president of Real Madrid, “with a view to” the new European league.
In a post, L’ÉQUIPE with reference to The Guardian noted that the idea was linked to the “cooking up a club in the middle of the field” format, without any direct involvement of the European football federations. According to FIFA’s documents, the project was called “WO1”, and, as described, the Super League was to be launched under the FIFA brand.
According to the documents, the British newspaper The Guardian names the document’s author, which, in turn, is said to have been connected to FIFA. However, it is possible that the format was influenced by the calendar of international competitions and the timing of the general directorial decisions. The plan was also described in the FIFA document as a way to include the Super League in the calendar of international club competitions.
In the documents, The Guardian says a list of names is attached to the document, which is said to show the involvement of the UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin in the new Super League project, which was described as being brought to the attention of UEFA in the form of a “request to launch the Super League”.
Gazzetta.it adds that, previously, the Super League had been supported by 12 clubs in 2021. Infantino, it continues, said that he believed it would be possible to “break through” the “breakaway” Super League, with the involvement of national federations, clubs, UEFA and FIFA. The documents also state that in 2020 Infantino planned to discuss with FIFA the possibility of a new European league.