EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE (ESL)- This topic is trending worldwide and is being criticised by most football authorities. Florentino Perez named as the first chairman of the competition. It is being said that the concept of EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE will end the football history. Twelve of Europe’s leading football clubs have announced they have agreed to establish a new midweek competition, the European Super League, governed by its ‘Founding Clubs’. Everything happened overnight and “The Super League”, as it will be known, went live with its website, and most of the 12 clubs involved went public with statements of support for the concept.
Here in this article we have answered all the questions related to the heated issue of EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE (ESL).
Who are the 12 ‘founding members’ of Super League?
Milan, Arsenal, Atlético Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona, Inter, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham. The six big clubs of England are involved in EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE. It is anticipated that a further three clubs will join ahead of the inaugural season, which, according to the clubs, ‘is intended to commence as soon as practicable’. German giants Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund are not included and nor are French champions Paris Saint-Germain.
Will the 12 clubs leave their domestic leagues for ESL?
At the moment they are hoping to remain playing in those competitions but the leagues have all issued strong-worded statements condemning the clubs and the new breakaway league. UEFA has also issued a statement stating disqualification of these clubs from their domestic leagues and their players would not be able to play for their national teams. Real Madrid president Florentino Perez believes the creation of a new controversial Super League will ‘help football at all levels’ after his team were confirmed as one of 12 European clubs involved.
When the matches of European Super League be played?
The matches would be scheduled in midweek fixtures with all participating clubs hoping to compete in their respective national leagues. It is assumed that there would be two groups of 10 which will play home and away fixtures and the top three in each group will automatically qualify for the quarter-finals. Teams finishing fourth and fifth would then compete in a two-legged play-off for the remaining quarter-final positions. A two-leg knockout format would be used to reach the final at the end of May, which would be staged as a single fixture at a neutral venue.
Who are the organisers of EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE?
Florentino Perez, president of Real Madrid is the first chairman of the European Super League. He said: “We will help football at every level and take it to its rightful place in the world. Football is the only global sport in the world with more than four billion fans and our responsibility as big clubs is to respond to their desires.” Perez’s vice-chairs will be Joel Glazer of Manchester United and Andrea Agnelli of Juventus. Glazer said: “By bringing together the world’s greatest clubs and players to play each other throughout the season, the Super League will open a new chapter for European football, ensuring world-class competition and facilities, and increased financial support for the wider football pyramid.”
Format of EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE
The Super League has issued statement on its website: “The Super League is a new European competition between 20 top clubs comprised of 15 founders and five annual qualifiers. There will be two groups of 10 clubs each, playing home and away fixtures within the group each year.
“Following the group stage, eight clubs will qualify for a knockout tournament, playing home and away until the single-match Super League championship, in a dramatic four-week end to the season.
“Games will be played midweek, and all clubs will remain in their domestic leagues.”
The clubs have also outlined the format in their statements in three stages:
- 20 participating clubs with 15 Founding Clubs and a qualifying mechanism for a further five teams to qualify annually based on achievements in the prior season.
- Midweek fixtures with all participating clubs continuing to compete in their respective national leagues, preserving the traditional domestic match calendar which remains at the heart of the club game.
- An August start with clubs participating in two groups of ten, playing home and away fixtures, with the top three in each group automatically qualifying for the quarter finals. Teams finishing fourth and fifth will then compete in a two-legged play-off for the remaining quarter-final positions. A two-leg knockout format will be used to reach the final at the end of May, which will be staged as a single fixture at a neutral venue.
Why the EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE is bad?
A European Super League sounds like fun until you consider that so much of the romance of football comes from the way it is organised in Europe. In UCL, a club has to earn the spot to reach the UEFA Champions League by finishing in the top few spots on the ladder in their respective domestic leagues, and if a club has a really bad season at home, they could get relegated. That’s the context that makes success or failure matter so much. By giving 15 clubs a permanent spot in ESL competition, the pressure to earn the spot at the heart of European football is destroyed. The Super League, would enable the big clubs to stay big forever – effectively killing any chance for another club to reach that top echelon on merit, as Leicester City famously did in 2015-16. Florentino Perez has been named as the first chairman of the ESL competition. He is being criticised for making money and destroying football.
Reactions on EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE (ESL)
UEFA and FIFA have issued their statements against the proposal of Super League, as has the Premier League and many other competitions. FIFA has an extremely powerful card to play, too – they could threaten any players who take part in this competition with bans from international football.
Statement by UEFA on their website
UEFA, the English Football Association and the Premier League, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and LaLiga, and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and Lega Serie A have learned that a few English, Spanish and Italian clubs may be planning to announce their creation of a closed, so-called Super League.
If this were to happen, we wish to reiterate that we – UEFA, the English FA, RFEF, FIGC, the Premier League, LaLiga, 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.
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 Confederations, 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 thank those clubs in other countries, especially the French and German clubs, who have refused to sign up to this. 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.
“We will help football at every level and take it to its rightful place in the world,”
“Football is the only global sport in the world with more than four billion fans and our responsibility as big clubs is to respond to their desires.” Florentino Perez said in the statement.
