“Football is the
game of the people and unites the world and the officials of this game are sane
brains and one can say that they would not come up with any destructive ideas,
which disturb the quality, balance and rhythm in world football like the
officials in cricket did”
In the annual meeting of the
greatest cub in the history of football, Real Madrid, President Florentino
Perez spoke out in favour of the European Super League. The idea is to develop
a league similar to the model seen in the United States with the NBA with the
ambition of increasing the income of the elite and lightening the load on
players.
Perez pointed to the COVID-19
Pandemic and the massive impact it has had on the landscape of European
football as providing the impetus to push through this change.
“Nothing will ever be the same again,”
Perez said.
“The pandemic has changed
everything; It has made us all more vulnerable and also football. Football
needs formulas that make it more competitive and exciting.
“[Madrid] has participated in all
the innovations and has protected these innovations in our sport. The club was
the sole founder of Fifa in 1904 along with seven country federations, and in
1955 collaborated with L’Equipe to promote the creation of the European Cup, a
revolutionary moment that changed the history of football.”
“Without all these changes, football
could not have been what it is today, but we need a new change. Football has to
face this new era and that’s what Madrid will do, to defend the fans.”
Josep Maria Bartomeu also admitted
in his final press conference as Barcelona President that he had signed the
club up for the European Super League.
The comments of Perez have relived
the concept of European Super League, which has around the corner for more than
three decades.
In the early 1990s, a group led by
Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian prime minister, media mogul and one-time
owner of AC Milan, considered a breakaway European competition
In 1998, the Italian company, Media
Partners investigated the matters.
The plan experienced a premature
death when UEFA planned to expand the Champions League and abolish the Cup
Winners Cup in order to better accommodate clubs that were considering
defecting in order to join the proposed Super League.
In 2009, Perez endorsed the idea
again! In the same year, Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger predicted a super league
would become reality within 10-year time due to revenue pressure on the
continent's elite teams.
In 2012, legendary Dutch midfielder
Clarence Seedorf also predicted the inception of the competition and gave it
his backing.
A year later, Scotland manager
Gordon Strachan said that he believes the Old Firm clubs of Celtic and Rangers
would join a future new 38-club two-division European Super League.
In 2016, Arsenal, Chelsea,
Liverpool, Manchester City, and Manchester United, were seen leaving a meeting
with Stephen M. Ross' representatives that discussed the proposition of a
European Super League.
The same year, UEFA again discussed
the possibility of creating a closed league containing the 16 best teams in
European football from the highest-ranked national leagues. These 16 teams
would have been divided into 2 groups, with 8 teams in each group.
After 56 games in each group under
the round-robin system, the teams that finished in places 1-4 would qualify for
the quarter-finals.
That plan was finally rejected and
UEFA, in order to avoid the creation of a Super League, made changes to the
structure of the UEFA Champions League.
In 2018, Football Leaks claimed that
there had been undercover talks about the creation of new continental club
competition, the European Super League, from 2021.
In October 2020, Sky Sports claimed
that FIFA was proposing a replacement for the UEFA Champions League called the
European Premier League involving up to 18 teams in a round-robin system and post
league playoff-style knockout tournament with no relegation similar to major
league sports competitions in the United States such as the NFL, NBA and MLS.
English Premier League clubs, as
well as clubs from Spain, Italy, France, and Germany, have been invited.
Barcelona has accepted the proposal for it to join the Super League the day
before President Josep Maria Bartomeu resigned.
Last year, UEFA and the ECA
proposed reforms which envisaged a promotion and relegation system, with the
top 24 teams in the Champions League gaining automatic qualification for the
following year’s competition.
Those plans were shelved because of
protests from smaller clubs, national leagues and fans.
Mr. Agnelli maintains that changes
to the Uefa competitions are needed to retain enthusiasm among younger
audiences. “It’s not about today or next cycle,” he says.
“It’s about 15-20 years from
now . . . what I would like is that football remains, if not increases, it’s
premium position as the best sport in the world.”
The debate and further meetings
about this reformation had been paused courtesy of the COVID-19 Pandemic and
thus, the Super League is trying to fill the vacuum.
The idea gaining the most traction
is to replace the opening Champions League group stage — in which groups of
four teams play each other home and away — with a so-called “Swiss model” based
on chess competitions.
Each team would play 10 matches
against 10 different opponents. Those with the best records would qualify for
the knockout rounds.
This Swiss model is generating
excitement because “for the first time in history, these Champions League teams
would be ranked together on the same tables.”
Then there is the possibility of
replacing home and away legs with one-off ties — a format instituted last
season due to the pandemic.
The smaller clubs and leagues worry
that altering the status quo cuts them further adrift from the game’s financial
giants.
Lars-Christer Olsson, chair of
European Leagues, the body which represents national competitions, insists
there are “red lines” in any format changes. This includes maintaining the link
between performances in domestic leagues in order to qualify for European
contests.
“We don’t want anything to be
established to make the Champions League closer to a private league at the top
of the European pyramid,” says Mr Olsson.
Marca stated, “Leaders of the
elite clubs believe that the Champions League's format has passed its best by
date and that 15 games aren't enough.”
“They are of the belief that a 30
game season could be reached with 16 teams forming the Super League, but he
knows that a closed league isn't the most convenient, meaning the format is still
under development and alternative options are still being considered with the
hopes of attracting the widest possible market to tap into.”
“A lot of clubs also feel that the
distribution of television rights in a number of countries is unfair, so there's
a desire to join another competition that can see things spread in a way
they're happier with.”
“There has been a lot of talk of
money, but those behind the project are confident that the prize fund for the
winners will be much more than the 120 million euros that winning
the Champions League delivers.”
“In the case of Spain, the
COVID-19 crisis highlighted and worsened the problematic distribution of
finances. Clubs that have the biggest attendances are the most hit, leading to
those upstairs trying to find ways to keep money flowing.”
“Their positions are clear. There's
an understanding that there's a need to change, and to evolve.”
“Clubs intend to go ahead with their
domestic leagues, rather than going to war with them, but they understand that
the Super League will become the priority, leading to them boasting
larger squads. Most of the big clubs are in favour of the top leagues shrinking
in size in order to reduce the number of games they'd have to play.”
“Without a 100 percent defined
format, the idea is to fill the gap left by the Champions League, a competition
that UEFA are already planning to give a facelift to in 2024. Clubs aren't
willing to give UEFA too much room to maneuver though, and they're adamant that
change is necessary. The idea is to listen to UEFA, but to put the clubs'
demands first.”
How much FIFA would be involved in
this concept remains a moot question, but in reality, this concept is totally
out of their jurisdiction. But it has been learned, “FIFA accept and support
the idea of a Super League. There could also be another change to come in the
international football calendar.”
The idea of the Super League has not
been received well by many as the German and Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos
stated, “The gap between the big clubs and small will expand even more.
Everything does not always have to be faster, with more and more money.”
AC Milan chief executive Ivan
Gazidis has downplayed the threat a potential European Super League poses to
world football. La Liga Chief Javier Tebas saying it is a “weak and imaginary
competition!” Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp says he hopes it will “never happen,”
Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola believes it would lead to the death of
domestic football.
The Manchester United executive
vice-chairman, Ed Woodward, has signaled the club would not take part in any
mooted European breakaway league, saying that competition changes after 2024
must be “complementary to thriving domestic leagues.”
Gazidis said, “This conversation
about the European Super League has been going on for probably more than 20
years,” he told BBC Sport. “The reality is there are many different ways that
European football could develop over the next 5-10 years.”
“I don't think there's a big
likelihood that we see a Super League in the way that people talk about it.”
“Do I think that there could be
developments in the way that the Champions League develops? Absolutely I do.
That's a conversation we should have and have it with an open
mind.”
Paolo Dal Pino, Serie A’s president,
rejects the idea, saying: “There is absolutely no way we accept clauses like
this.” The other option for the private equity groups, according to people
close to their deliberations, is to invest in the super league itself.
BBC created a poll about the concept
where the outcome suggests, the majority in London welcomed the idea.
In a Savanta ComRes poll of 2,100
football fans, almost half of younger fans (48%) said they would be happy about
the prospect of a European Super League, while 18% said they would be unhappy.
In contrast, just 10% of fans aged
55 and over were happy about the idea, with close to two-thirds (63%) unhappy.
The poll also shows:
Across all ages, 30% of fans were
happy about the idea of a European Super League, with 40% unhappy.
More than a third (35%) of fans aged
55 and over said they felt a breakaway league would be 'very bad' for football
overall. Among fans aged 18-34, that figure was just 10%.
A fifth (20%) of younger fans
thought the European Super League would be a 'very good' idea for football
overall, compared to just 6% of older fans.
Close to half of male fans (48%) are
unhappy at the idea of a European Super League, as opposed to just under a
quarter (23%) of female football fans.
More than a third (35%) of female
football fans are happy about the idea.
The Serbian-American economist,
author of the book ‘Global Inequality’ and a visiting professor at the City
University of New York, is a fervent soccer fan and admits, “The world has
become very commercialized. We go where the money is. There is no reason why
soccer wouldn’t do that. In the last 30 years or so, soccer has become much
more commercialized and globalized.”
“The Premiership was important,”
says Milanovic.
“The Bosman ruling was a turning
point, which enabled movement of labor within Europe for soccer players. The
players market is probably the most globalized market in the world in terms of
one type of skill. You don’t have doctors who can move so easily from Mali to
France, England, or Spain. You don't have any other profession - writers,
software engineers. Nobody! “
“They all have limits in the ability
to move across borders, but soccer players don’t and that is interesting
because it gives us an inside how a totally open global labor market would
work. I think that we would get a concentration of quality - because it is
driven by money. There were several elements to soccer’s high
commercialization: The Bosman ruling, the growth in England, the technological
ability to project yourself.”
“The European Super League is
inevitable,” says Milanovic. “All the commercial factors are in favor and
Europe is a small area. Success between clubs is essentially driven by
inequality in money. Manchester City is a recent example, a good club that was
not at the top level. Once they had the money, they became a European top club,
like PSG. There is very clearly a movement towards a Super League. It is
totally feasible, and it would bring an enormous amount of money. Would
Coronavirus make a difference? I doubt that. It is an intermission.”
According to Forbes, “Milanovic
doesn’t believe the American sports model can provide a solution for European
soccer. Franchises go against the grain of European soccer clubs, which often
have socio-political foundations.”
“Even though the game is teetering
on the edge, Milanovic still sees a bright future for soccer. He considers
national teams and the inclusive format of the World Cup a positive, and an
outlier. At the international level, the game hasn’t been commercialized
entirely yet. Major international stars still play for their nationals teams,
even if there is a little financial incentive.”
“I had a debate with Nate Silver,”
explains Milanovic. “He was saying: Well, how about having the World Cup always
on beautiful fields in Germany or the U.S. with the 12 best national teams?
That would totally destroy the objective of soccer. There is actually no real
money for Neymar to play well for Brazil. It leaves the de facto less
commercialized part alive. If we were to do destroy that as well, we could
really destroy the soul of soccer entirely.”
There are a lot of ifs and buts
about this concept, but whether it is a demon or not, none can claim that
directly on the basis of guesses. The whole project is still under construction
yet to become reality. And for which, the doomsday scenario is not yet imminent
in world football.
Football is the game of the people
and unites the world and the officials of this game are sane brains and one can
say that they would not come up with any destructive ideas, which disturb the
quality, balance and rhythm in world football like the officials in cricket
did.
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
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