JP Morgan regrets financing Super League
“We clearly misjudged how this deal would be viewed by the wider football community and how it might impact them in the future. We will learn from this,” a representative for the bank said on Friday.
Investment bank JP Morgan has said it regrets financing a plan for 12 of Europe's clubs to form a breakaway Super League, The Athletic reported.
"We clearly misjudged how this deal would be viewed by the wider football community and how it might impact them in the future. We will learn from this," a representative for the bank said on Friday.
The US bank had financed a €3.25bn (£2.8bn) funding package for the plan, which would have seen 15 European teams, including six of the biggest in England, given permanent places in an annual competition.
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It was planned for the new Super League to largely be funded by the US investment bank with around £4.3 billion in debt financing.
The 12 'founding members' of the project were: AC Milan, Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur.
As reported by the Financial Times, the US investment bank had provided a debt financing deal amortised over 23 years and secured against future broadcasting rights for the competition.
On Sunday evening, the world of football was rocked when 12 European clubs announced plans to launch a new Super League competition to rival the UEFA Champions League.
After widespread backlash, ranging from the UK government to supporters' groups, all six Premier League sides dramatically withdrew from the breakaway proposals on Tuesday night.
Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid followed suit on Wednesday morning, as many of the Premier League Big Six owners rushed to apologise for their participation in the project.
According to The Athletic, the Super League project already appears to be in tatters.
Yet, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, who was the driving force behind the breakaway tournament, remains defiant and told Spanish radio program El Larguero that the Super League is "not dead".
"We are going to keep working," he said. "We are looking for ways of getting this done. It would be a shame not to get it done."
Similarly, Barcelona president Joan Laporta labelled the project as "absolutely necessary" and the club said it would have been a "historical error" to not have joined.
Without the support of 8 of the 'founding members' — who have withdrawn — as well as AC Milan and Juventus acknowledging the project's failures, the chances of the proposed Super League coming to fruition now seem next to none.
Despite its rapid disintegration, however, various stakeholders are continuing to demand greater regulation and control against club owners to prevent further breakaway attempts from the most powerful clubs.
The scale of the backlash against the league took the bank by surprise. JP Morgan is – along with Citigroup and HSBC – considered by regulators as a bank of key importance to the global economy.
At the end of 2020 it held assets worth $3.4tn (£2.5tn) on its balance sheet.
