KAMRON NORASTEH — On Sunday, April 18, AC Milan, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and, Tottenham announced a breakaway “Super League.”
The European Super League, as the clubs named it, would be an additional mid-week competition alongside domestic leagues and cups. It was to include 20 teams: 15 founding clubs and 5 spots for qualifiers. Those 20 teams would then be broken into 2 groups of 10, which would play each other home and away. The top 3 teams from each group would then be admitted to the quarterfinals. The 4th and 5th placed team in each group would play a 2-legged knockout game for placement into the quarterfinals. The competition would then proceed like a standard 2-legged knockout tournament, and the final would be a single match held at a neutral stadium.
The decision for such a league comes amid severe financial need as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The large clubs founding the league have been without ticket revenues, but have still been spending heavily on maintenance, player wages, and transfers. Last year’s UEFA Champions League winner took home $98 million in prize money. However, the European Super League, bankrolled by American banking giant JP Morgan, promised $360 million “welcome bonuses” to the clubs and an initial investment of $4.2 billion by the bank.
This massive investment was a major point of criticism for the European Super League. Fans stood outside Manchester United’s stadium, Old Trafford, with signs that said “created by the poor, stolen by the rich,” a reference to the sport’s origin among the English working class.
Another point of criticism was the non-competitive nature of the league. A 20-team league with only 5 spots up for grabs provides no threat of relegation for the other 15 teams, unlike the UEFA Champions League or domestic competitions. The absence of relegations does not provide enough incentive to properly compete.
Fans were very critical of this league, but public figures, such as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson were also outspoken against the league. Johnson said, “We’ll do everything we can to make sure the Super League does not go ahead.” In addition to political figures, former players spoke out.
Gary Neville, former Manchester United player, summarized his thoughts on the Super League and the opinions of the football world:
“I’m a Manchester United fan and have been for 40 years of my life but I’m disgusted, absolutely disgusted. I’m disgusted with Manchester United and Liverpool the most. Liverpool, they pretend – ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone, the people’s club, the fans’ club’. Manchester United, 100 years, borne out of workers from around here, and they’re breaking away into a league without competition that they can’t be relegated from? It’s an absolute disgrace. Honestly, we have to wrestle back the power in this country from the clubs at the top of this league – and that includes my club. I’ve been calling for 12 months for an independent regulator to bring checks and balances in place to stop this from happening. It’s pure greed. They’re imposters.”
The Dutch Report 