European Super League progresses with 60 clubs ready to play: reports

On the same day that FIFA held the draw for the new Club World Cup, ‘Mundo Deportivo’ reported that the European Super League is still very much alive. Despite the lack of official news, the promoters of the project remain convinced that they will be able to push it through and feel supported by the courts, which have given them a piece of the action both in Madrid and in Europe.

A year after the CJEU said that FIFA and UEFA's pressures went against free competition in the markets, A22 has been in contact with hundreds of teams over the last few months. Their response? At least 60 have already said they are willing to participate in the Super League.

Although there was an initial scare following threats from world and European football's governing bodies, the Super League organisers believe that all the signatories to the initial agreement will be in. Only Inter Milan would be left out because they agreed that they would not be in if their creditors' council rejected it, and that is what happened when they saw that the English also dropped out. Despite this, they also claim to have the Premier League giants, Juventus and big teams from Italy, France and Portugal.

One of the most criticised aspects of the European Super League has been its lack of meritocracy, at least in the original format that was proposed. Many of the clubs that would have said ‘yes’ to the European Super League have also expressed this, which is why A22 is considering changes to the system of leagues that was last proposed.

In this scheme, there was talk of a Star League, a First Division with the 16 best teams from the main European leagues. Then there would be the Gold League, a second group of 16 clubs, and a Blue League of 32, which would be the most changeable and from which 20 clubs would join and leave each year. Therefore, the request made to the Super League is that the champions of the major championships can be among the ‘top’.

Currently, even if Bayer Leverkusen or Lille were to win the Bundesliga and Ligue 1, they would not have access to the Star League, even if Bayern were to fail in sporting terms. The Bavarians are not yet among those teams interested, by the way, although the company believes they could back out and sign up if the format is finally changed and meritocracy is introduced. This would make things easier considering the powerful economic investment behind it and the ambitious audiovisual project that A22 has in hand.

The format is also still being debated. Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, one of the driving forces behind the Super League, has strongly criticised the new UEFA Champions League format because it places an even greater burden on the players. He did the same with the Club World Cup. However, the scheme put forward by A22 says that the champion would end up playing 19 matches when in the current Champions League there is a maximum of 17.

Specifically, in the Star League, the 16 teams would be divided into two groups of eight that would play a total of 14 matches. The top four from each group would then go directly to the quarter-finals and semi-finals, where they would play each other over two legs. Afterwards, the final would be a single match. In order to avoid contradictions, the organisers are studying a change of format to reduce the number of matches without limiting the spectacle. For the moment there will be no further official news, although the competition is considering trying to start in 2025 or 2026, so time is limited.

 

December 5, 2024