The biggest news to rock the soccer world in quite some time dropped Sunday when the rumors of a new European Super League were pretty confirmed.
According to reports, 12 of Europe’s biggest and most lucrative football clubs announced plans to essentially break away from the traditional soccer makeup in Europe to form the elitist, closed-circuit Super League.
Those 12 founding teams include the following:
- Arsenal (currently 9th in EPL)
- Chelsea (currently 5th in EPL)
- Liverpool (currently 6th in EPL)
- Manchester City (currently 1st in EPL)
- Manchester United (currently 2nd in EPL)
- Tottenham Hotspur (currently 7th in EPL)
- Atletico Madrid (currently 1st in La Liga)
- Barcelona (currently 3rd in La Liga)
- Real Madrid (currently 2nd in La Liga)
- AC Milan (currently 2nd in Serie A)
- Inter Milan (currently 1st in Serie A)
- Juventus (currently 4th in Serie A)
The current plan is to add three additional permanent teams to the mix with an additional five qualifying spots bringing the total to 20 teams. Those five qualifying spots would apparently be based on Europe’s domestic competitions although that’s still yet to be seen considering UEFA and FIFA for that matter are vehemently opposed to this idea.
In fact, the UEFA and FIFA have taken a nuclear approach to any idea of the Super League.
UEFA announced that “Every club and player participating in the Super League could be banned from all UEFA and FIFA competitions, European or International level.”
“If this were to happen, we wish to reiterate that we — UEFA, the English FA, RFEF, FIGC, the Premier League, La Liga, Lega Serie A, but also FIFA and all our member associations — will remain united in our efforts to stop this cynical project, a project that is founded on the self-interest of a few clubs at a time when society needs solidarity more than ever, UEFA said in a statement.
“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 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.”
Back in January, FIFA mentioned that they would ban clubs and players from participating in domestic and international competitions if they took part in this breakaway league. Essentially that would mean no World Cup.
Sunday, FIFA reaffirmed that stance.
In view of several media requests and as already stated several times, FIFA wishes to clarify that it stands firm in favor of solidarity in football and an equitable redistribution model which can help develop football as a sport, particularly at global level, since the development of global football is the primary mission of FIFA.
In our view, and in accordance with our statutes, any football competition, whether national, regional or global, should always reflect the core principles of solidarity, inclusivity, integrity and equitable financial redistribution. Moreover, the governing bodies of football should employ all lawful, sporting and diplomatic means to ensure this remains the case. Against this background, FIFA can only express its disapproval to a “closed European breakaway league” outside of the international football structures and not respecting the aforementioned principles.
FIFA always stands for unity in world football and calls on all parties involved in heated discussions to engage in calm, constructive and balanced dialogue for the good of the game and in the spirit of solidarity and fair play. FIFA will, of course, do whatever is necessary to contribute to a harmonized way forward in the overall interests of football.
Ironically enough, the UEFA and FIFA for that matter in some sense have no one to blame but themselves when it comes to the ultra-elitists environment they’ve created. For instance, UEFA has allowed the likes of Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain to go unchecked for years with spending habits that went completely against their own financial fair play regulations while at the same time punishing smaller clubs for essentially partaking in the same practices. Likewise, across the pond in the United States, FIFA has completely turned a blind eye to the capitulation of the USSF when it comes to allowing Major League Soccer to run unabated while lower league teams continue to suffer financially.
Yet for as shady and just downright awful the UEFA and FIFA are you can’t help but side with them when it comes to the reality of the Super League which just goes to show just how fucking bad it really is.
For instance, if you thought the wealth gap between teams like the elite like Manchester City, Juventus, and Barcelona juxtaposed to Lyon or Monaco were bad before, permanent members of the Super League would earn an estimated 50 million euros, or $425 million just to signup alone according to documents obtained by the New York Times. From here, founding member clubs who were already printing money, to begin with, would continue to earn around $400 million annually something the five qualifying teams wouldn’t be entitled to. Additionally, JP Morgan Chase & Co. were reportedly approached to raise financing for the project which further adds another layer to capitalist bullshit to the entirety of this giant pile of filth.
Not to mention there’s almost zero incentive for the founding members of this asinine Super League to be held accountable on the pitch. If they suck and sit 9th like Arsenal currently does in EPL what motivation do they have to improve at all when financially speaking their bottom line will remain pretty much untouched?
Then there are the fans who are completely left in the dark, once again, when it comes to the decision-making process, especially pertaining to this massive decision that’ll in large part trickle down to the fans financially. When you have a completely elitist league you’re going to breed an exclusive elitists brand of supporter given some of the biggest die-hards will be priced out of the inevitable rise of ticket prices. It’s coming to considering the financial toll that’ll come with travel, midweek matches, and making sure these high-end, blood-sucking investors like JP Morgan Chase are getting their cut.
So what’s next?
The UEFA were already scheduled to meet today even before the Super League announcement was made. At this point, it seems pretty safe to assume what will now be dominating those conversations. Nonetheless, UEFA and FIFA still have some pretty substantial leverage in this massive power struggle over European Football, that is if they actually want to wield that leverage.
The threat of domestic league bans for clubs who partake in the Super League may be enough to curtail teams seeking to qualify for those last five spots, however, that more than likely won’t be enough to stop the Super League from continuing to take shape. Banning players from international competitions, like the World Cup could be the biggest factor in leading to preventing all of this from happening.
Then again, if MLS was somehow able to convince CONCACAF and the USSF to sanction lower-league suppression it’s not totally out of the realm of possibly the UEFA, and FIFA will eventually bend to the pressure.
