The European Super League is back, with adapted plans after their first attempt to launch, which collapsed swiftly within 48 hours of the news breaking, due to major fan protest and backlash.
The European Super League before would benefit owners of European powerhouses such as Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus, as their star status could be at risk of deteriorating with the numbers the English Premier League continue to chart.
The fall of the European Super League saved football for so many reasons. It took away competition, allowed so-called ‘big’ clubs a free pass to success, threatened the pyramid system that countries had known for hundreds of years, and took the fans money to take the club’s fixtures outside the country.
The new-look league addresses many problems raised from the last time around, making the newly-proposed competition have no permanent teams, and places would be awarded by ‘sporting performance only’.
The league reportedly wouldn’t change domestic leagues, which doesn’t ‘take away’ football from fans, just gives them extra football to watch. The threat to the football pyramid was another major issue last time which ultimately saw the project crash.
The new European Super League would contain 60-80 teams with a league system of its own, with multiple divisions. 50 teams have already allegedly been contacted with the proposal. There would be 14 games minimum for each team per season.
This starts the first problem with this league, with 14 added games, the managers would be complaining about their tight schedules a lot more than they are doing already.
The league has been organised by Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Juventus, the three remaining rebels going head-to-head with UEFA.
One motive behind the idea is the growth of the Premier League, which many have concluded is becoming a ‘Super League’ in itself. The viewership rates, money, attendances, TV rights, European success and media focus is growing faster than ever before in England in comparison to the Spanish, German, French and Italian leagues.
The Premier League clubs apologised for their actions and misjudgement agreeing to the Super League two years back, so it will be interesting to see if they will try to pull the stunt again after promising loyal fans that they wouldn’t make the same mistake.
One interesting perspective could be Manchester City’s, having just been accused of breaching Premier League financial rules on over 100 different occasions – could this be their way out of trouble?
Juventus received a 15 point deduction in their domestic league for breaching Financial Fair Play (FFP), so they would struggle to qualify ‘based off performances’ this year for the European Super League. It is confusing to many why they are so for the idea.
There are still many questions to be answered on the new European Super League, and with not much information being released, it looks a little bit messy and untrustworthy. The rumours are still well and truly underway again though.
Could this be a good alternative with the new Champions League format with fresh changes to the plan before, or are the former European superpowers feeling threatened by the Premier League’s rapid growth?
Should the European Super League go ahead?
Yes
No
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