by Jasper Törner
The football world was shaken by the announcement on the 18th of April 2021 that twelve of Europe's leading football clubs had agreed to create a new competition, the Super League. The Clubs in question were Liverpool FC, Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal FC, Chelsea FC, Juventus Turin, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and FC Barcelona. Three other clubs were invited to join the Super League as founding members with rumours circulating that the clubs in question were FC Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint Germain.
A new concept to crown the European champion
A total of 20 clubs were to take part. The 15 founding clubs as permanent participants and five external clubs annually invited via an unspecified qualification mode. The 20 teams were then to play each other in two groups of 10 in first and second legs, followed by a knockout phase, also with first and second legs, with a final at a neutral venue. The matches should have taken place during the week to not interfere with the running of the national leagues. The founding clubs wanted to be responsible for organising the league and distributing the income themselves, hence cutting out UEFA and competing with the current Champions League format. The League was planned by Club Owners and Presidents, while coaches, players or fans were not asked whether they wanted to be part of this new competition.
In return for their commitment, the founding clubs were to receive a starting amount of 3.5 billion euros to support their infrastructure investment plans and offset the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Funding source was JPMorgan.
Florentino Perez, President of the most successful club in the world Real Madrid and one of the richest men of Spain became Chairman of this new competition. In an interview with the Spanish football program “El Chiringuito de Jugones” he points out that Covid-19 has put the sustainability of the big clubs at risk: “Everything I do is for the good of football. Now we are doing this to save football, which is in a critical situation". For him "the current Champions League is only attractive from the quarter-finals. We have to play against smaller teams, which is not attractive," When asked what is attractive about the Super League, he answered: "The fact that we big players play among each other, competitiveness. That is attractive and is valued more on television, so it generates more income."
Support for the idea was rare. Yet for instance, the American student, Traoloch, believes it’s all about the possibilities: “I think it’s really good for the casual fan, a lot of people want to just see the best players. So, to isolate the best teams will lead to seeing them play all the time against other great teams, the level will be more consistent”
Succumbing to the Pressure
Nevertheless, between Tuesday 20th and Wednesday 21st of April, one team after another abandoned the project with only Real Madrid and Barcelona wanting to continue the plan in its current form. The first ones to leave were the six English clubs with the Italiansfollowing as they didn't see a bright perspective without the English teams.
The pressure became too great and originated from a variety of groups. The main critique was the exclusiveness of the league, which would have widened the gap between the big and small clubs even more. A similar critique put forward was that the Superleague resembles a closed society, which eliminates the core thought of football: competitive play, as there would be no more relegation.
The UEFA is furious as they were caught by surprise by the big teams’ actions. Ceferin, head of the UEFA, has called the project cynical and has disclosed his opinion that the club owners are liars so greedy they have lost all values. UEFA and FIFA communicated that players who play in the Super League will no longer be able to represent their national teams including for World Cups and European Championships
Moreover, politicians took up the concern of the fans and threatened to put laws in place to prohibit such Super League or even throw the teams out of their respective national Leagues. Most prominently was British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who addressed fans in a guest post for the tabloid newspaper The Sun: " It is your game – and you can rest assured that I’m going to do everything I can to give this ludicrous plan a straight red." Even Prince William took it up to himself to tweet “Now, more than ever, we must protect the entire football community – from the top level to the grassroots – and the values of competition and fairness at its core.”
Though most influential was the swift reaction of fans all over Britain. Their outcry was immense: protest on the streets, burning club coats of arms, shitstorms on social media. The big clubs thought that at least their supporters would be keen on this new competition, which turned out to be a costly mistake. Even Diehard fans were disappointed and angry. Exemplary therefore can be Harry, a Liverpool fan, who said: “My team was founded by the working class in a typical working-class city. To see over a hundred years of history, culture and value being traded like cattle at the market is a criminal act. Capitalism's long claws have finally closed their grasp on our sport. RIP football”.
But it's not just the British fans who spoke out against the Idea. For Andres, a Spanish supporter of Rayo Vallecano and avid football fan since early childhood states: “as a supporter of a second league team from a working-class neighbourhood, I have seen how passionate fans are about reaching international tournaments and playing against the best players in the world. The Super League will ruin this opportunity for fans like me, who are the ones that keep small teams alive – and small teams are the spine and the grassroots of football as a whole.”
The first battle is over, yet the future looks unsteady
The English teams announced their retreat through their social media outlets and the first consequences have been made, for instance, executive vice-chairman of Man United Ed Woodward declared his intention to resign. Nearly all of the British club owners gave statements in which they apologized for their behaviour and promised to respect fans wish more in the future. Yet they all stated that they still intend to work towards “a more sustainable future for the sport”, with sustainability meaning in this context financial growth.
With the renouncement of the League by England's big six, the concept is on hold. Only Perez is still fighting for a continuation of the project, but not much support is currently left. Nonetheless, the idea itself showed that football's future is up for debate.
On the one hand side, there are the club owners, made up of oligarchs, hedge fund managers, industrial heavyweights and in one case Qatari Sheiks. Numerous times they have disclosed their view that as their clubs are the biggest they should be entitled to special treatments and an even bigger share of football's revenue. While the Superleague might not come, they all have declared their interests to rig the game further to their advantage.
On the other side, there are the local fans, most of them deeply embedded in tradition and the belief that football is more than a business. They want to seize control back and use the current momentum to change the laws regarding ownership.
Who will win this battle, in the long run, is not decided.
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