By Paul Nicholson
May 13 – LaLiga president Javier Tebas hit out again at the European Super League (ESL) clubs and the ‘disaster’ they would have unleashed on European Football, as well as again powerfully questioning the motivation and behind-the-scenes actions of FIFA and its president Gianni Infantino.
Speaking at a SIGA webinar titled ‘No such thing as a crisis’, Tebas outlined the financial impact the ESL would have caused in Spain.
“The European football economic eco-system would have been destroyed. All the money earned from audio-visual rights in major European leagues would go to clubs. That was the goal and that would have happened,” said Tebas.
“We did the calculations in Spain and it would be very similar in the rest of Europe…We would have gone down from 1.37% of the GDP in Spain to 0.8%. Of the more than 160,000 jobs generated by professional football in Spain, directly and indirectly, we would have lost almost 50,000,” he continued.
Tebas also said that the ESL would have also impacted on the value of clubs and their investors saying that “by so drastically lowering audio-visual income, with falling ticket process and decreased income from sponsorship they would lose much more than half their value. It would be a catastrophe.”
He accused the clubs of lieing, saying: “It is not true when they say it wouldn’t affect the leagues. They either lied or they didn’t know the football industry. I don’t care which, it has the same effect. It is a disaster for European football.”
Guiding hand of Infantino?
Tebas also questioned the role of FIFA and its president in the ESL project, but also what comes next.
“FIFA has officially said ‘No, we don’t support it’. But those messages also mention listening to ideas, sitting down and talking. When they attempted a coup d’etat three weeks earlier its hard to talk to the person who wanted you dead, so to speak. I think it (FIFA statements) is very half-hearted right now. We need more resoluteness.”
While Tebas acknowledged that he believed the ESL in its current form to be dead, he reiterated that he was more worried about FIFA and its position.
“We know Infantino and his team have met with and are meeting with the Super League clubs, especially the three left, and I’m more worried that they are talking about schedule changes. It’s all based on changing the national leagues,” said Tebas.
“Why don’t they stop creating all these international competitions all the time and stop touching the domestic leagues which are the true driving force behind global football?
“No, they’re considering more games and taking them away from domestic leagues.”
Is CWC the new ESL?
Tebas further questioned the rationale of FIFA’s soon to be expanded Club World Cup which increasingly looks like the next opportunity for the ESL breakaway clubs who in their own papers indicated they had been guaranteed 12 slots in the new competition. Entries that would not have been achieved on merit.
“So the money only goes to the major clubs and this organisation, like the FIFA CWC in this case. It’s clear that everything they are planning won’t fit in the schedule, all these games and competitions. They can only take place if the national leagues are reduced. That’s what we are hearing,” said Tebas.
“Speaking on behalf of the Spanish league, the Spanish league will not be reduced from 20 clubs.”
Click here to see the full webinar that also featured SIGA CEO Emanuel Macedo de Madeiros, former Premier League chairman Sir David Richards and former UK sports minister Richard Caborn.
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