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The SUPER LEAGUE Debate Is Back

A new-look, open European Super League could contain up to 80 teams in a multi-divisional format, the competition’s chief executive, Bernd Reichart has said.

Bernd Reichart, the CEO of A22, informed Die Welt, a German newspaper, that the competition would solely be determined by athletic performance and there will not be any permanent participants.

Brief History

The European Super League is a proposed football competition that would bring together some of the best teams in Europe to play against each other. The idea has been around for a long time and the goal is to have a competition that includes only the most successful clubs. The plan is to have 20 teams, with 15 of them being permanent “founding clubs” and the other 5 changing every season. In 2021, a group of important football clubs announced they were starting this new league.

“It’s time for a change. It is the clubs that bear the entrepreneurial risk in football. But when important decisions are at stake, they are too often forced to sit idly by on the sidelines as the sporting and financial foundations crumble around them. “Our talks have also made it clear that clubs often find it impossible to speak out publicly against a system that uses the threat of sanctions to thwart opposition.
Bernd Reichart, A22 chief executive

A22 company is sponsoring the creation of the Super League and has consulted with 50 European clubs. It has developed 10 principles based on these consultations to guide its plans for the new-look league.

A22 is challenging UEFA and FIFA in court over their ability to stop the formation of the European Super League and punish the participating clubs. A22 claims that UEFA and FIFA are unfairly using their dominant position in violation of EU competition law. The case could have major consequences for the future of European football and the role of governing bodies.

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Reichart said the new-look Super League would be an open competition, with qualification achieved via performance at the national level and with all its teams competing in their domestic leagues.

Reichart stated that the national leagues will continue to be the foundation of the sport and that the new European Super League will bring in new revenue to support the entire football system.

‘The walking corpse twitches again’

Fan opposition to the 2021 plans was especially key to sinking the project, and Football Supporters’ Association chief executive Kevin Miles likened the European Super League to a twitching corpse on Thursday.

The walking corpse that is the European Super League twitches again with all the self-awareness one associates with a zombie
Kevin Miles

European Super League – Timeline

1990s — Wealthy European clubs make veiled threats of breaking away into a Super League to pressure UEFA into giving them more Champions League money and format changes in their favour.

2008 — European Club Association was created to make long-term peace with UEFA and lock club leaders into Champions League consultation.

November 2018 — Real Madrid-backed Super League plan revealed in Football Leaks series using hacked documents.

2019 — ECA-backed plan for semi-closed Champions League in 2024 fails amid a backlash by leagues and mid-ranking clubs.

October 2020 — Outgoing Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu reveals Super League plan in resignation speech, reportedly urged on by Real Madrid president Florentino Perez.

December 2020 — UEFA works on a 36-team Champions League plan to start in 2024 that gives clubs the extra games and money they have demanded.

January 2021 — Reports emerge of Real Madrid-backed Super League plan with financier JP Morgan Chase. UEFA and FIFA unite to oppose and threaten bans for players who take part.

March 8 2021 — ECA chairman Andrea Agnelli of Juventus praises UEFA’s proposed Champions League changes, calling the 36-team, single-standings format “beautiful.”

March 29-31 2021 — ECA-UEFA meetings to sign off on the 36-team Champions League format. Super League clubs start pushing for more financial control of the competition than UEFA is offering. UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin rebuffs their demands in a rift with Agnelli.

April 16 2021 — ECA board and UEFA’s club competitions committee sign off on Champions League changes with no dissent ahead of the expected decision at a meeting of the UEFA executive committee.

April 17 2021 — Rumours of imminent Super League plan emerge. Ceferin later reveals that Agnelli stopped taking or replying to his phone calls.

April 18 2021 — Reports of a Super League announcement spark a backlash by former players and France president Emmanuel Macron. The 12-team Super League is later announced in coordinated statements from the clubs after most fans in Europe are asleep. Agnelli resigns as ECA chairman and from the UEFA executive committee.

April 19 2021 — UEFA confirmed changes to the Champions League format. The British government warned of new laws on club ownership to stop the Super League. UEFA’s Ceferin denounced the clubs who betrayed UEFA and warned of national team bans for Super League players. Fans protested at Liverpool’s stadium and at a game in Leeds.

April 20 2021 — The president of Real Madrid defended the Super League while FIFA and UEFA were against it. The remaining Premier League teams discussed the actions of the 6 rebel clubs and Manchester City and Chelsea were the first to withdraw. Eventually, all six English clubs withdrew from the Super League and the vice-chairman of Manchester United announced he would leave his job.
April 21 2021 — Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus drop out, leaving only Real Madrid and Barcelona. Juventus and AC Milan both signal that there is a future for the Super League.