The world of football has been turned upside down with the confirmation that 12 of Europe’s ‘biggest’ clubs are joining the European Super League.
But the European Super League (ESL) is in tatters with 9 of the 12 founding clubs confirming they have withdrawn from the competition.
All six Premier League clubs – Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham – along with Spanish league leaders Atletico Madrid and Italy’s Inter Milan and AC Milan have said they are withdrawing from the European Super League.
The big question here is what does it mean for the clubs?
All about the European Super League
The intention of forming the European Super League is to rival the Champions League format ahead of the competition’s announcement of their new plans. However, UEFA and the domestic leagues may ban clubs from competing in their competitions if they follow through with their plans.
There will be 20 sides and matches will be played midweek with an end of season play-off to determine the winners and it’s believed it could start as early as August.
The Super League comes with a juicy money package for all the participating clubs.
The 15 founder clubs sharing an initial 3.5billion (£3.1billion) “infrastructure grant” ranging from £310million to £89million per club which can be spent on stadiums, training facilities or “to replace lost stadium-related revenues due to Covid-19”.
The format would see two groups of 10 clubs who play home and away, with the top four from each group going through to two-legged quarter-finals, semi-finals and a one-legged final.
Matches would be midweek and clubs would still play in domestic leagues
Clubs would have rights to show four matches a season on their own the digital platforms across the world
Income from TV and sponsorship would favour the founding clubs: 32.5% of the pot would be shared equally between the 15 clubs, and another 32.5% between all Super League clubs including the five qualifiers
20% of the pot would be merit money “distributed in the same manner as the current English Premier League merit-based system” according to where clubs finish in the competition or group if they don’t make the knockout stage
The remaining 15% would get a “commercial share based on club awareness”
A cap of 55% of revenues permitted to be spent on salaries and transfers (net)
Clubs that were involved
Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham were the six Premier League clubs involved originally, however the English clubs have now withdrawn.
LaLiga’s Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid and Serie A’s AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus had also signed up.
Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich have rejected the proposals.
UEFA’s stand
“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.
“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.”
Premier League statement
“Fans of any club in England and across Europe can currently dream that their team may climb to the top and play against the best. We believe that the concept of a European Super League would destroy this dream.”
Implication on the domestic leagues
The plan was just to replace the existing Champions League, but with UEFA insisting that clubs will be “banned from playing in any other competition at domestic, European or world level” then it seems they would have to drop out of their respective leagues.
Champions League future ?
The European Super League would effectively end the Champions League – hence UEFA’s aggressive statement.
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