February 9 – The backers of the European Super League have returned with a revamped format proposal that would see 60 to 80 teams competing in a multi-divisional structure.
Bernd Reichart, chief executive of A22, the company established to promote the Super League concept, said the competition would be based on “sporting performance” with no permanent members.
It is a radically different proposal to the original – and subsequent – Super League proposals that have crashed and burned on take-off every time they have been made public.
Reichart claims that A22 has spoken with nearly 50 European clubs since October last year and developed 10 principles underpinning plans for the new-look league.
“Feedback suggests a European football league that is open, based solely on sporting merit, multidivisional with 60-80 clubs and a minimum of 14 guaranteed European matches per club,” said an A22 statement.
At a time when UEFA has generated more revenue than ever for European football, Reichart made the remarkable statement that “the foundations of European football are in danger of collapsing”.
The 10 principles in the Super League proposal read very much like what UEFA and its stakeholders are already doing. They are listed under headings including: ‘Broad Based and Meritocratic Competitions’, ‘Domestic Tournaments: the Foundation of Football’, ‘Improve Competitiveness with Stable and Sustainable Resources’, and ‘Player Health Must Be at the Centre of the Game’, ‘Club Run Competitions with Transparent, Well Enforced Financial Sustainability Rules’, and ‘The World’s Best Football Competition’.
Initial European reaction to the A22 proposals has been swift and dismissive.
LaLiga warned against being “fooled” by the proposals while its president Javier Tebas said the plan is still in essence a plan developed for Europe’s ‘super’ clubs.
“The Super League is the wolf, who today disguises himself as a granny to try to fool European football, but his nose and his teeth are very big,” said Tebas on Twitter.
“Four divisions in Europe? Of course the first for them, as in the 2019 reform. Government of the clubs? Of course only the big ones.”
The European Club Association released a statement saying “this is just another deliberately distorted and misleading attempt to de-stabilise the constructive work currently taking place between football’s real stakeholders to move things forward in the overall best interests of the European club game.”
How much of a football stakeholder A22 really is a matter of conjecture. It has yet to get the support of a single recognised stakeholder group within the European football eco-system and was formed with the backing of the three breakaway clubs Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus. Juventus backing was given by a president and board that has since been the subject of criminal investigation.
A22 has not disclosed any detail of financial backers and seems unlikely to have any. When the Super League was first mooted JP Morgan said it would provide $4 billion of finance. An offer it later regretted, issuing a statement saying that it “misjudged” its decision.
Now A22 seems to be attempting to find some kind of moral high ground for club owners who are chasing more money.
“Our objective is to present a sustainable sporting project for European club competitions, available to, at a minimum, all 27 EU Member States, as soon as possible after receipt of the judgment. The issues are clear, and action must be taken for the benefit of fans, players, and clubs,” said the A22 statement.
That statement alone starts with the fundamental of a league structure being created by exclusion. UEFA has 55 members and feeds football in all of those countries.
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