By Andrew Warshaw
April 19 – After months of secret behind the scenes negotiations by the Continent’s elite clubs, European football has been plunged into unprecedented crisis and division with the announcement of a much-dreaded but long-touted breakaway Super League, prompting a fierce backlash from UEFA, individual leagues and even the British government.
The seismic announcement late Sunday from the initial 12 founding clubs, with three more to join, sent shock waves across the game and plunged a dagger in the heart of European football’s governing body, not least since it was timed to coincide with UEFA’s own details, fine-tuned in recent weeks, of how it plans to revamp the Champions League – ironically aimed at trying to keep the biggest clubs on board.
Seething at seeing its own proposals overshadowed on the eve of its all-important executive committee meeting, which is to be followed by what is bound to be a tasty press conference headed by its president Aleksander Ceferin, UEFA issued a no-holds-barred reaction, implying all-out war.
With its control of Europe’s most prestigious competition stretching back over half a century in danger of being challenged if not totally undermined, UEFA declared: “The clubs concerned will be banned from playing in any other competition at domestic, European or world level and their players could be denied the opportunity to represent their national teams.”
And in a joint statement with the English Football Association, the Premier League, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), LaLiga, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and Lega Serie A – all equally angry – UEFA described the breakaway league as a “cynical project that is founded on the self-interest of a few clubs at a time when society needs solidarity more than ever.”
“We will consider all measures available to us, at all levels, both judicial and sporting in order to prevent this happening. Football is based on open competitions and sporting merit; it cannot be any other way.
“As previously announced by FIFA and the six Federations, the clubs concerned will be banned from playing in any other competition at domestic, European or world level, and their players could be denied the opportunity to represent their national teams.”
“We thank those clubs in other countries, especially the French and German clubs, who have refused to sign up to this. We call on all lovers of football, supporters and politicians, to join us in fighting against such a project if it were to be announced. This persistent self-interest of a few has been going on for too long. Enough is enough.”
With the entire fabric of European football that has underpinned the game for generations now in severe jeopardy, Christain Seifert, CEO of the German Football Association (DFL), condemned the super league by declaring: “The economic interests of big clubs in England, Spain and Italy cannot destroy the structures that exist in the whole of European football.”
“In particular, it would be irresponsible to irreparably damage the national leagues of European professional football in this way. I therefore support the joint decision of UEFA and the national leagues of England, Spain and Italy.”
Whether the French and German clubs would risk missing out on the money at stake and will be happy to stay outside looking in remain to be seen, however.
The 12 defectors – AC Milan, Arsenal, Atlético Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona, Internazionale, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur – cryptically talked of an August start but didn’t say in which year, simply that they anticipated that a further three clubs will join ahead of the inaugural season which they said would commence “as soon as practicable”.
The Premier League, whose credibility would be decimated without the six English teams who have signed up, said the breakaway league “will undermine the appeal of the whole game, and have a deeply damaging impact on the immediate and future prospects of the Premier League and its member clubs, and all those in football who rely on our funding and solidarity to prosper.”
“Fans of any club in England and across Europe can currently dream that their team may climb to the top and play against the best. We believe that the concept of a European Super League would destroy this dream.”
The English FA said a closed league would “attack the principles of open competition and sporting merit” and repeated a threat by FIFA that players who participate in such a competition could be banned from representing their countries at international level though this is bound to have legal ramifications.
“We would not provide permission to any competition that would be damaging to English football, and will take any legal and/or regulatory action necessary to protect the broader interests of the game,” the FA said..
“We note FIFA confirmed earlier this year that they and the six confederations would not recognise any such competition and, as such, any player or club involved may not be permitted to participate in any official competition which falls within the auspices of FIFA or their respective confederation.”
With English clubs the butt of global criticism, British Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden commented: “With many fans, we are concerned that this plan could create a closed shop at the very top of our national game. Sustainability, integrity and fair competition are absolutely paramount and anything that undermines this is deeply troubling and damaging for football.
“We have a football pyramid where funds from the globally successful Premier League flow down the leagues and into local communities. I would be bitterly disappointed to see any action that destroys that.”
Leading former players were also scathing of the proposal.
“I’m disgusted,” said former Manchester United captain Gary Neville, now a respected tv pundit. “It’s an absolute disgrace. We have to wrestle back power from the clubs at the top of this league and that includes my club.”
Of the six English clubs involved, only Tottenham, whose owner Joe Lewis resides in the Bahamas, are British-owned. United, Liverpool and Arsenal all have American owners, Chelsea have been in control of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich since 2003, while City’s rise to prominence has been bankrolled by an Abu Dhabi takeover in 2008.
The sums of money the Super League clubs will receive are eye-watering but rather than be motivated by greed, they insist they have put together a competitive, attractive, high-quality concept – and argue that they will make solidarity payments to the rest of European football that will far outstrip those currently offered by UEFA.
But the fans think otherwise.
Football Supporters Europe (FSE) described the plans as “illegitimate, irresponsible, and anti-competitive by design” which “will be the final nail in the coffin of European football”.
“It is driven exclusively by greed,” the body added. “The only ones who stand to gain are hedge funds, oligarchs, and a handful of already wealthy clubs, many of which perform poorly in their own domestic leagues despite their inbuilt advantage.”
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