FIFA President Gianni Infantino praised the agreement to formally end the divisive Super League project and said, “Football wins when we unite.”
UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin also hailed the consensus as a victory for soccer.
Their comments came during the UEFA Congress in Belgium on Thursday, a day after Super League's end was signaled by an agreement of principles between Real Madrid and UEFA.
Madrid, the 15-time European champion, and its president Florentino Pérez looked even more isolated after Barcelona formally pulled out of Super League.
“Yesterday, we heard the great news about the agreement between UEFA, the EFC (European Football Clubs) and Real Madrid,” Infantino said.
He congratulated Ceferin, EFC leader Nasser al-Khelaifi and Pérez for having reached the agreement.
“I would like to ask you to clap hands for Alexander, for Nasser and for Florentino,” he said. “Because football wins when we unite.”
Infantino in the past was accused of being complicit in the formation of the breakaway plans by Europe’s elite clubs before belatedly denying he colluded with the rebels after months of silence.
Ceferin said he was “very happy” that Madrid and Barcelona “joined the family again.”
“Honestly speaking, we were all tired of these disputes,” he said. “We had some disagreements with the president of Real Madrid but let me be clear, we never lost respect to ourselves, to each other, and we never lost the love for the game. And let me be even clearer, the only winner of this situation is football, nobody else.”
Ceferin said Al-Khelaifi's “leadership has been instrumental in turning dialogue into a shared direction of travel, so thank you very much for that.”
Madrid and Barcelona won a ruling at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg against Champions League organizer UEFA more than two years ago, but no new clubs publicly came forward to join the breakaway project which had no clear path forward.
The agreement on Wednesday between Madrid, UEFA and the influential EFC group said principles were agreed that “will also serve to resolve their legal disputes.”
It was announced as European soccer leaders met in Brussels on the eve of UEFA's annual congress of 55 member federations.
Madrid had been at the head of 12 Spanish, Italian and English clubs who challenged UEFA in April 2021 by launching a breakaway Super League which hoped to start play with 20 teams. But the project collapsed within 48 hours amid a fierce backlash in England by fans and the government which threatened legislation to protect the traditional structure of European soccer.
At a time of harsh criticism over the high prices of tickets for the World Cup in North America and Mexico, Ceferin vowed to keep soccer in Europe as a “game for the people, not a tool for power.” He said UEFA remains firmly committed to fan-friendly ticketing.
“This will be most visible at Euro 2028,” he said. “Where fair and transparent principles, not pricing algorithms, put supporters first. We will not price out families, will not turn loyalty into luxury.”
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
The group formations are shown after the UEFA Champions League knockout phase play-off draw, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are drifting in mixed trading Thursday as the market splits further between perceived winners and losers from the rush into artificial-intelligence technology.
The S&P 500 rose 0.2% and was sitting a bit below its all-time high set late last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 267 points, or 0.5%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% lower.
On the winning side of the market was Equinix, which jumped 11.6% even though the digital infrastructure company’s results for the latest quarter came up short of analysts’ expectations. It gave financial forecasts for 2026 that topped analysts’ expectations, and CEO Adaire Fox-Martin said that “demand for our solutions has never been higher.”
The company’s data centers are helping to power the world’s move into AI.
So are Nvidia's chips, and its stock ticked up by 0.9%. Because the AI frenzy has turned Nvidia into Wall Street's most valuable stock, the chip company was the strongest single force lifting the S&P 500.
At the same time, some companies are feeling the downside of the rush into AI.
AppLovin fell 15.5% even though it reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Like other software companies, it’s come under pressure recently from worries that AI-powered competitors will steal customers, and its stock came into the day with a loss of 32.2% for the young year so far.
AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi pushed back on such worries, saying in a conference call with analysts that indicators show his company is doing well. “There’s a real disconnect between market sentiment and the reality of our business,” he said.
Cisco Systems sank 9.8% despite likewise topping analysts’ expectations for profit and revenue last quarter. The tech giant indicated that it may make less profit off each $1 of revenue during the current quarter than it did in the past quarter.
Analysts said that could be an indicator of higher prices for computer memory that everyone is having to pay amid a rush driven by AI.
More broadly, questions are rising about whether the businesses spending heavily on AI and paying companies like Equinix and Nvidia will end up seeing high-enough profits and productivity to make the investments worth it.
Outside of tech, McDonald's swung between gains and losses and then rose 0.3% after reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The restaurant chain credited moves to improve its value and affordability, including cutting prices on some U.S. combo meals in September.
In the bond market, Treasury yields ticked lower after a report said slightly more U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected.
Still, the number was lower than the prior week’s, which is a signal that the pace of layoffs may be improving. It also followed a surprisingly strong report on the job market from Wednesday, which said the nation’s unemployment rate improved last month.
A strengthening job market could push the Federal Reserve to keep its cuts to interest rates on pause, even if President Donald Trump has been loudly and aggressively calling for lower rates. That’s because lower rates can worsen inflation at the same time that it gives the economy a boost.
It all raises the stakes for Friday’s upcoming report on inflation at the U.S. consumer level. Economists expect it to show inflation eased to 2.5% last month from 2.7% in December.
A separate report on Thursday said that sales of previously occupied homes slumped last month by more than economists expected, which also weighed on yields.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 4.14% from 4.18% late Wednesday.
In stock markets abroad, South Korea’s Kospi rushed 3.1% higher thanks to gains for Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and other tech stocks. The moves were more modest in other Asian markets.
In Europe, Germany’s DAX returned 1.2%, and France’s CAC 40 rose 1% for two of the world's bigger moves.
AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed.
Trader Edward McCarthy works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Trader Robert Charmak, left, and Specialist Genarro Saporito work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Trader John Romolo works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), right, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
People walk in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
