Sunday evening, twelve of Europe’s leading soccer clubs announced the creation of a “Super League,” a new type of midweek competition governed by its founding clubs. The twelve founders include AC Milan, Arsenal, Atlético Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Tottenham Hotspur. There will be three more clubs that will join ahead of the inaugural season. Additionally, a qualifying system will allow five more teams to join the fifteen founding clubs based on performances in the prior season. The spots of the fifteen founding clubs are permanent in the competition.
In terms of fixtures, all Super League games will take place during the middle of the week, while making sure all domestic league games are still played during the weekends. The Super League is intended to begin as soon as August, starting with two groups of ten. Both home and away fixtures will be played, and the top three of each group will qualify for the quarter finals. Teams finishing fourth and fifth in each group will have a two-leg playoff for the last quarter final positions. The knockout stage will continue with the two-legged format at a neutral venue.
According to Real Madrid President Florentino Pérez, it is a way to ensure four billion fans around the world get “what they desire.” The pandemic has accelerated the instability in the existing European football economic model. Furthermore, for several years, the founding clubs have had the objective of improving the quality and intensity of existing European competitions throughout each season, and of creating a format for top clubs and players to compete on a regular basis. The League will be financed by American Bank JP Morgan with an investment of five billion dollars.
The UEFA and the FIFA have very detailed policies against “closed private leagues.” After this statement was released, all twelve clubs were criticized viciously over the internet and live television. Gary Neville, famous British pundit and former Manchester United captain, commented on SkySport that the new proposal is an “absolute disgrace.” He “loves Manchester United” but they “should feel ashamed of themselves.” He urged the UEFA to apply point deductions, financial caps, and even title deductions against the teams who are participating in the Super League. Neville’s opinion is one that many soccer fans share; fans of any club in England and across Europe can dream that their team may climb to the top and play against the best, but this dream will be crushed by the Super League. Many others expressed the same emotion on social media, including former Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.
The credibility of the founding clubs is also up for debate. Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli said during a conference that “our twelve founder clubs represent billions of fans across the globe and 99 European trophies.” It is true that all twelve teams are some of the top performing clubs in the world right now, but that does not provide them with enough credibility: four have never won a European Cup or Champions League, AC Milan have a smaller revenue than Crystal Palace and Sheffield United, and five of the teams weren't involved in this season's Champions League knockouts, with two more failing to make it beyond the last 16.
If the Super League Project goes ahead, it will effectively replace the Champions League. Sunday’s development of the news came just 24 hours before the UEFA were to discuss proposed Champions League reforms. The reforms were an attempt to reach a compromise with the clubs that are in favor of a Super League and were planned to come into effect in 2024, expanding the Champions League to 36 teams and adjusting the format to increase the number of matches from 125 to 225. As of Monday, the UEFA’s executive committee has voted to adopt this system, the “Swiss Model,” starting in 2024. It seems like the reforms are not enough for European giants to change their minds.
Just a few hours after the vote, UEFA president Alexander Ceferin expressed the organization’s position: players that will play in the Super League will be banned from the Euros and the World Cup. In response, Florentino Pérez, an advocate for the new Super League and one of the wealthiest club presidents in Europe, said that he will create his own world cup for the players who are banned from entering UEFA competitions. His statement continues to heat up the debate.
Just to add to this madness, Tottenham Hotspur sacked their manager, the famous Jose Mourinho, on Monday, only a week before the Carabao cup final against Manchester City. Mourinho was called to a meeting with chairman Daniel Levy on Monday morning and was told he and his team were relieved of their duties. Ryan Mason, only 29, will take charge of the training in the afternoon. Mourinho replaced Mauricio Pochettino as Tottenham manager in November 2019, and the Portuguese led Spurs to a sixth-place finish in the Premier League during the first season in charge.
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