Spanish club FC Barcelona are considering publicly cutting ties with the Super League project.
FCB are considering this decision to avoid a ban from the Champions League by UEFA due to their ongoing Negreira case.
The Catalan club was charged with "continuous corruption in the sports field" in March for making payments to the Technical Committee of Referees' ex-Vice President, Jose Maria Enrique Negreira.
According to Spanish news outlet El Mundo, Barca paid Negreira an amount approaching €7 million ($7.5 million) from 2001 to 2018.
UEFA opened its own investigation against the Spanish club for a potential violation of its laws.
Barcelona’s president Juan Laporta, who ruled the club from 2003 to 2010 denied any wrongdoing done by his club and also made his point that payments were made for “honest consultation work”.
The European Super League was (ESL) was announced in April 2021 with a motto “The best clubs. The best players. Every week.”
However, right after its announcement, ESL was met with strong criticism from the footballing world. The league also faced opposition from UEFA, FIFA and other footballing bodies.
All of six English clubs, Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham withdrew from the project on April 21, 2021, within 48 hours after the league’s unveiling.
However, Real Madrid’s president Florentino Perez, who was also one of the founding member of the league, said that none of the founding clubs had officially left the association as they were tied to binding contracts.
Earlier, on Tuesday June 6, Juventus sent Real Madrid and Barcelona a letter informing them of their departure from ESL.
Juve also added that they will discuss with Real and Barca, the other clubs remaining in the project, a potential exit.
"Juventus will proceed with any communications due under the law following the outcome of the discussions and evaluations (regarding a potential exit)," the club said.
"Much of the version published by the media about the contents of the communication (including any reference to alleged threats of potential sanctions by UEFA) are not true."