By Matt Scott
11 October – Real Madrid, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain are among “15 to 20” leading clubs actively plotting the introduction of a closed European super league. Those are the explosive claims of Galatasaray’s chairman, Ünal Aysal. He said that a wholesale restructure of the Champions League is a “reality” that’s five years away.
That timeline dovetails with the expiry of the memorandum of understanding between UEFA and the European Clubs Association, a framework for European club and international football, which runs to the end of May 2018. But ECA chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, was very quick to state: “Our European Super League is the UEFA Champions League! We are very happy with the current competitions and our extremely fruitful collaboration with UEFA. We will continue to work together with UEFA, and this beyond 2018.”
One of five Turkish members in the 214-club ECA and their nation’s most-supported side, Galatasaray might realistically lay claim to a position at the top table of the European club game.
“The first 15-20 big clubs of Europe all agree with this, nobody will say no, Manchester United, Paris St Germain, Real Madrid, of course,” said Aysal, who declared himself unhappy with the Champions League status quo, having drawn €24.8 million in UEFA prize money which was the least of last season’s quarter-finalists.
“There may be one or two exceptions for local reasons, political reasons, and I will understand.
“But as [for] the future for European clubs and the future of football, nobody can say no to this. It’s not just me. Other clubs presidents and chairmen are looking at this opportunity and talking to each other I think we will come together and look into each other’s eyes and follow it.
“We are now testing the ground, but for logistics you have to invest and to start to invest you have to be sure you have the full support of everybody. Every reality starts with a dream. At the moment it looks like a dream, a vision, I am sure sooner or later, in a maximum of five years’ time, it will be a reality.
“In the end the clubs will always be right because the clubs are the actors and the actors have to decide their fate and their future and their destiny.”
Michele Centenaro, the general secretary of the ECA, reacted with disbelief to Aysal’s pronouncement. “This is never something we have discussed in our association,” he told Insideworldfootball.
Andrea Agnelli, the Juventus president who took the speakers’ stage with Aysal, also entertained the notion of a restricted-access competition. “If one wants to break out of the system then probably the best competition is a closed copmpetition with the 20 best European clubs,” said Agnelli.
“When you look at the positional papers of UEFA of a European system or US system you ask do we want this? We can have a secession but do 20 clubs have the discipline to send a letter to UEFA and to organise a competition overnight?
“The commercial product in sports show that this would be the best you can have. It would have a closed system with no promotion and relegation.”
Agnelli later clarified his comments by saying he was merely taking an “academic” position. “If you are part of a system you accept that system and want to improve the system,” he said.
“If you question a system you think about the way forward for the football-business model. We have a system that’s working and we support that system. We’re proud to be part of it.”
Aysal’s claims come at a sensitive time. On one hand Istanbul is bidding to host the semi-finals and final of the Euro 2020 tournament which is due to take place in 13 different countries.
Moreover UEFA this week put out to tender its contracts for the 2015-16 rights cycle to UK broadcasters, traditionally one of its most lucrative markets. In a statement last night UEFA said: “UEFA has a long-term working relationship with the ECA which was extended via the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed on 22 March 2012.”
Aysal insisted the situation was more developed than others say. “This has energised the process,” he said. “Sponsors will be very interested in this new money-making process.
“I’ve spoken to international companies who are interested in sponsoring. Two of them are big brands.”
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