European Super League facts for kids
 |
|
| Sport | Association football |
|---|---|
| Founded | 18 April 2021 (Proposal) |
| Founder | Florentino Pérez |
| CEO | Bernd Reichart |
| Administrator | Florentino Pérez |
| Organising body | A22 Sports Management S.L. |
| Motto | "One For All" |
| Divisions |
|
| No. of teams | 2 |
| Countries | 1 (Spain) |
| Region |  Europe |
| Qualification | No qualification requested, semi closed competition |
| TV partner(s) | Unify Platform |
| Level on pyramid |
|
| Tournament format | semi closed |
| Official website | a22sports.com |
| Notes | |
| The competition has never been played, it’s just a proposal with only 2 supporters | |
The European Super League (ESL), officially The Super League, is a proposed seasonal football competition for club teams in Europe. It is organised by the European Super League Company, S.L, a commercial enterprise created to rival or replace the UEFA Champions League.The initial iteration of the league entailed 20 teams, with 15 of them being founding members of the competition.
The leadership behind the ESL is Florentino Pérez (president of Real Madrid). The other founders, Andrea Agnelli (chairman of Juventus), Joel Glazer (co-owner of Manchester United), John W. Henry (owner of Liverpool) and Stan Kroenke (owner of Arsenal), withdrew shortly thereafter in the face of rejection by their clubs. By 2023, Pérez and Barcelona president Joan Laporta remained the most vociferous advocates of the ESL.
The European Super League announcement in April 2021 was met with widespread opposition from various groups: fans, players, managers and football clubs. The league also faced opposition from UEFA, FIFA and some national governments. Critics of the league raised concerns about elitism and a lack of competitiveness within the ESL, as the league would consist of high-ranking teams from selected European countries who would be permanent contestants in a semi-closed league format.
The backlash against the announcement of the league's plans resulted in nine of the clubs that were supposed to participate, including all six English clubs, announcing their intention to withdraw. However, eight of these clubs remain involved in the project as stakeholders. In April 2021, the ESL announced that it was suspending its operations, and a legal dispute ensued. National courts have ruled that FIFA and UEFA must not interfere with the development of the ESL.
In October 2022, A22 Sports Management, a company formed to "sponsor and assist" in the creation of the European Super League, announced it would be relaunching the competition. On 21 December 2023, the European Court of Justice issued a ruling that a ban on the ESL would be contrary to European Union law.
Contents
Background
Concept
In 1968, then UEFA general secretary Hans Bangerter proposed the creation of a new "super-league" competition for European clubs that would replace the European Champions Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup and form the "European Football League Championship", a unique club-competition combining group and knockout matches, a novelty at the time. The proposal was never seriously entertained and, in the same year, UEFA agreed to expand clubs' access to its competitions by creating a third seasonal tournament, the UEFA Cup, whose inaugural season took place three years later. The idea for a unique pan-European club competition was again discussed in the 1970s and gained legal traction at the end of the following decade.
In 1987, Milan, Real Madrid and Glasgow Rangers executives planned a league competition with a single round-robin format – dubbed a "Super League" by European mass media since the proposed format of the tournament was the same as that used in league championships, contrasted with the format of the European competitions, based on knockout phases since the mid-1950s – that would be more attractive for international television broadcasters, and would ostensibly allow the participating clubs to earn more income. for "economic and management guarantees". The competition was supposed to run parallel to the then three European competitions from the 1991–92 season onwards, but the project was abandoned in 1991 after UEFA announced sporting sanctions sine die for the clubs involved. UEFA also reformed the European Champions Cup introducing a group stage for the 1991–92 season, increasing the overall number of games, and rebranding the competition as the Champions League since 1992. The following year, then UEFA president Lennart Johansson proposed, unsuccessfully, to merge the Champions League, the Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Cup into a unique championship.
Three years later, Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Manchester United secretly planned a "Super League", to rival the Champions League. It would have 36 "prominent" clubs split into three groups and a play-off stage for the title at the end of the season. There would also be a second competition for a further 96 teams, called "ProCup", which would replace the UEFA's Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Cup. The planned tournaments, based on the North American sports system, would have been sponsored by Italian corporation Media Partners. The project was abandoned after UEFA and its affiliated national associations and FIFA announced sanctions against all involved clubs. In 1998, the concept was still being promoted by Media Partners but it never progressed past the planning stage after UEFA moved to expand the UEFA Champions League. Various other proposals were brought forward but all equally failed to achieve popular approval.
In 2009, Florentino Pérez, president of Real Madrid, began planning for a "super-league competition," stating that the Champions League was too "obsolete and problematic" for the quality of the sport, and was "an obstacle preventing clubs from growing their businesses and developing infrastructure".
In 2018, Pérez began discussions with other clubs in Europe, mostly clubs from in Spain, England, and Italy, about the idea of a "breakaway" competition meant to provide "strong financial backing" for all the clubs involved. The clubs who participated in the discussions, conducted in secret, were primarily focused on exploring options if UEFA would not produce "reforms" for the Champions League that would be considered as acceptable for them. The idea of a new competition again surfaced in 2020, as big-name football clubs suffered financially from the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, especially with ongoing debts. Real Madrid was amongst those hardest hit financially by the pandemic in Spain, which led to Pérez advancing the concept once again. The announcement of a new competition eventually drew interest from American investment firm JPMorgan Chase, which pledged US$5 billion towards its formation.
On 18 April 2021, the eve of a UEFA Executive Committee meeting whose objective was to revamp and expand the UEFA Champions League by the 2024–25 season in order to increase the number of matches and revenues. Pérez announced the "formation of the Super League," also referred to as the "European Super League" or ESL, via a press release by the twelve clubs that had signed up to be involved. These included English clubs (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur), Italian clubs (Inter Milan, Juventus, and Milan), and Spanish clubs (Atlético Madrid, Barcelona, and Real Madrid).
Pérez expressed the "hope" that the new competition would "provide higher-quality matches and additional financial resources for the overall football pyramid", provide "significantly greater economic growth and support for European football via a long-term commitment to uncapped solidarity payments, which will grow in line with league revenues", would appeal to a new younger generation of football fans, and also would improve VAR and refereeing. At the time of the announcement, ten of the founding clubs were in the top 14 of the UEFA club coefficient rankings, with only Inter (26th) and Milan (53rd) falling outside. All twelve clubs were in the top 16 on the 2021 Forbes' list of the most valuable football clubs; their combined value was US$34.4 billion.
Leadership
The launch of the ESL included the announcement of the organisation's executive leadership. The table below shows each football executive who became involved in the competition's operations, and the role they'd held within the sport:
| Position | Name | Nationality | Other positions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chairman | Florentino Pérez |  Spain |
President of Real Madrid |
| Vice-chairman | Andrea Agnelli |  Italy |
Chairman of Juventus |
| Vice-chairman | Joel Glazer |  United States |
Co-chairman of Manchester United |
| Vice-chairman | John W. Henry | United States |
Owner of Liverpool |
| Vice-chairman | Stan Kroenke | United States |
Owner of Arsenal |
According to reports, Gavin Patterson, former BT Sport boss, was approached to take up the role of chief executive officer.
Format
Following the format for the initial stages of the European basketball's EuroLeague, the proposed competition would feature 20 clubs that would take part in matches against each other. 15 of these clubs would be "permanent members", and were dubbed "founding clubs". The founding clubs would govern the competition's operation, while 5 places would be given to clubs through a qualifying mechanism focused on the teams who performed best in their country's most recent domestic-league season.
Each year, the competition would see the teams split into 2 groups of 10 clubs, playing home-and-away games in a double round-robin format for 18 group games per team, with fixtures set to take place midweek to avoid disrupting the clubs' involvement in their domestic leagues. At the end of these group matches, the top three of each group would qualify for the quarter-finals, while the teams finishing fourth and fifth from each group would compete in two-legged play-offs to decide the last two quarter-finalists. The remainder of the competition would take place in a four-week span at the end of the season, with the quarter-finals and semi-finals featuring two-legged ties, while the final would be contested as a single fixture at a neutral venue. Each season of the competition would feature 197 games: 180 in the group stage and 17 in the knockout stage.
On 15 October 2021, it was announced that the European Super League Company, led by Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Juventus, was planning an open league with two divisions of 20 clubs each, intended to compete with the Champions League and Europa League.
Contracts
The proposed European Super League (ESL) intended to offer participating clubs uncapped 'solidarity payments,' which would increase alongside the league's revenues and surpass the payouts of existing European competitions. According to the league's press release, these payments would amount to 'in excess of €10 billion during the course of the initial commitment period of the clubs.' Additionally, the founding clubs would collectively receive €3.5 billion to support infrastructure investments and offset the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The proposed payment structure for the ESL included sharing 32.5 percent of commercial revenues among the founding clubs and all 20 ESL teams (including five invited teams), with an additional 20 percent distributed based on club performance. The remaining 15 percent would be allocated according to each club's broadcast audience size. In addition, clubs would be permitted to retain gate receipts and club sponsorship revenue.
The ESL claimed that the league would generate income across football and increase revenues, enabling larger clubs to invest more in smaller clubs through transfer fees. The ESL also offered an annual solidarity payment of €400 million to incentivize participation. The proposal also included a purported solution to the financial control issues raised by Financial Fair Play Regulations, although critics disputed the effectiveness of this proposal.
On 23 April 2021, Der Spiegel, having purportedly gained access to the 167-page European Super League contract, revealed that Barcelona and Real Madrid were set to receive €60 million over and above what other clubs would receive over the first two years, whereas A.C. Milan, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, and Atlético Madrid were set to make less than other Super League clubs. The Guardian reported the same month that European Super League clubs were promised €200–300 million as a "welcome bonus". It was also reported by Marca that there was a €300 million penalty for leaving the project; the Super League stated that the quoted sum was "false." Vozpópuli reported that the "clause is related to the €3.2 billion loan that JP Morgan received" to "ensure the project's viability."
On 20 May, The New York Times reviewed the founding contract of the Super League and found that while FIFA had publicly criticised a breakaway European Super League, it had held private talks for months with the founders about endorsing the competition. The NYT article reported a need for the ESL founders to strike an agreement with "an entity obliquely labeled W01 but easily identifiable as FIFA", while the document said the agreement was "an essential condition for the implementation of the SL project". It also reported that the Super League offered up to 12 clubs to participate in the new FIFA Club World Cup, and considered allowing FIFA to keep $1 billion in potential payouts as a "solidarity payment".
On 31 May 2021, El Confidencial revealed it had obtained access to the binding contract signed by the twelve clubs on 17 April. According to the contract, the founding clubs would have had the same number of shares in the limited liability company based in Spain, with the contract reading: "The Founding Clubs have agreed to jointly own and hold equal stakes in 'European League Company, S.L.' ('SLCo') a limited liability company which shall own, manage and operate the SL directly and through a number of subsidiaries (i.e., the SL Companies as this term is defined in Clause 4.3. below)." According to the report, no shares had been sold, meaning that the other nine clubs, despite having publicly backed down from the project, were still involved and waiting for the case to be taken by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which had been described as possibly the biggest football ruling since the Bosman case. Furthermore, only Inter officially abandoned the project for sponsorship purposes, having sold all its shares. It also reiterated that there is a penalty of approximately €300 million for breaking the binding contract. The contract already confirmed the Super League's clubs' commitment to both domestic championships and league cups, and that the Super League, described as a "pan-European competition," would start as soon as recognised by UEFA and FIFA, with legal protection from European courts to allow their continued participation in domestic leagues and cups.
On 20 June 2021, The Times reported that the 6 English clubs, which remained co-owners and shareholders of the Spanish holding company, had failed to formally leave it, and that the project's organisers had stated the competition would "eventually relaunch in modified form". About the binding contract, it was reported, according to those close to the venture, that there is "no mechanism" for the clubs to withdraw, as only unanimous consensus among the twelve founding clubs can dissolve the venture, and any club leaving unilaterally faced "unlimited fines."
Aftermath
Major changes
Spearheaded by Florentino Pérez of Real Madrid and Andrea Agnelli of Juventus, the Super League was in the works for three years; however, the final phases were rushed, and allegiance among the twelve clubs, instead of the fifteen as originally planned, seemed to have been forged under pressure. The announcement was unexpectedly poorly planned, devoid of real content, and the coalition, liable to break under pressure, came apart quickly.
On 20 April 2021 at 7 pm GMT, Chelsea publicly signalled their intention to withdraw from the Super League after chairman Bruce Buck met with the players. Thirty minutes later, Manchester City were the first team to formally commence procedures to withdraw from the Super League. Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur followed soon after, whilst Chelsea was the last English club to formally announce its withdrawal in the early hours of 21 April. The same day, Atlético Madrid, Inter Milan, and AC Milan confirmed their exits. Three days into its founding, nine of the twelve clubs had announced their plans to withdraw, with just Juventus, Barcelona, and Real Madrid remaining. According to leaked documents, the clubs breaching contract are liable £130 million in penalty fees.
The Super League also collapsed due to global politics, with some news outlets, such as the Süddeutsche Zeitung, wondering whether the intervention of the new British and Russian governments was the real reason for the collapse, stating: "It was not at all just the protest of the football fans that brought the Super League down: it was also global politics. The idea of having their own league remains attractive for top clubs." As reported by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich allegedly withdrew in light of his relations with Russia, which through Gazprom is a major sponsor of the UEFA Champions League. Manchester City allegedly pulled out as Saudi Arabia, which does not have a positive human rights image internationally, was thought to be a major financier for the league; JP Morgan dismissed the claims to The Daily Telegraph, and stated it was "sole financing the deal."
On 6 June 2023, Juventus announced their decision to leave the Super League project after facing a rumoured 5-year ban from all European competitions if they went through with the project. This now leaves only Barcelona and Real Madrid left in the project. Following the Juventus' choice, A22 Sports announced to present to CJEU "irrefutable proofs" about a coercion and practices against the competence right ejerced by UEFA against the Turin-based club, with an attempt from the governing body to ban the club from European competitions "from three to five seasons" if remains in charge as Super League member.
Club responses
After the English clubs withdrew on 21 April, the Super League stated: "Given the current circumstances, we shall reconsider the most appropriate steps to reshape the project, always having in mind our goals of offering fans the best experience possible while enhancing solidarity payments for the entire football community." Andrea Agnelli blamed the failure on Brexit, and stated that it was unlikely the Super League project would proceed in its current form, although he remained convinced of the "beauty of the project." Pérez reiterated that none of the founding clubs had officially left the association, as they were tied to binding contracts, and vowed to work with the governing bodies to make some form of the Super League work. Whilst blaming the English clubs for losing their nerve in face of opposition and the footballing authorities for acting unjustifiably aggressively, Pérez insisted that the Super League project was merely on standby and not over. Barcelona president Joan Laporta echoed Pérez's sentiments that a Super League remains "absolutely necessary" for clubs to survive.
Following the opening of UEFA's disciplinary proceedings against Barcelona, Juventus, and Real Madrid, the three clubs issued a joint statement strongly criticising UEFA, stating that the clubs "will not accept any form of coercion or intolerable pressure, while they remain strong in their willingness to debate, respectfully and through dialogue, the urgent solutions that football currently needs." On 31 May, the Super League, believing that UEFA and FIFA had breached EU competition laws by preventing the clubs from breaking away, filed an anti-competitive complaint to the CJEU against UEFA and FIFA for their proposals to stop the organisation of the competition. With the aim of establishing whether the two governing bodies have the exclusive right to organise competitions, the hearing could take up to two years but the Super League feels confident about it, stating that "we will win that case based on precedent in other sports and it will pave the way for the Super League to eventually relaunch in a modified form".
In June 2021, regarding the six English clubs' owners who had withdrawn from the project after the government threatened legislation to block it, amid an intense backlash from fans and the media, the Super League was reported to have responded as such: "The owners know this is not the end — it's just the beginning. We will resume dialogue, whether this year or next year. It's just financial gravity. Football can't survive in its current form." In addition, it was reported that, as all twelve clubs remained tied by binding contracts, they were working on a modified version of the project. About these reports, Arsenal said: "We have been absolutely clear we are withdrawing from the ESL. This is subject to a legal process which is under way." Manchester United said: "The club has no intention to revisit the Super League concept. Any suggestion otherwise is simply an attempt to mislead our fans."
Arsenal chief executive Vinai Venkatesham met with fans and confirmed he had apologised to the fourteen other Premier League clubs but that their reaction was rather lukewarm. Arsenal's head coach Mikel Arteta revealed that Stan Kroenke, the club's owner, personally apologised to the players and the coaching staff. Arsenal's board of directors wrote an open letter to fans stating to have made a mistake, apologised for it, and hoped to regain trust whilst assuring of their commitment to rebuild the club. In an open letter from the owner Roman Abramovich and the board addressed to its fans, Chelsea wrote they "deeply regret" the decision to join the Super League but condemned the abuse received by club officials. The Chelsea Supporters' Trust called for resignations from the club's board in light of the fiasco. Chelsea subsequently announced fan representation in board meetings.
Liverpool owner John W. Henry apologised to the fans, players, and coach Jürgen Klopp "for the disruption" caused by club's decision to join the Super League. Dismissing the apology from the owners, supporters' group Spion Kop 1906 wrote that "the only reason they are sorry is because they have been caught out yet again", and demanded fan representation on the board. Klopp said of the owners, "[T]hey are not bad people. They made a bad decision."
Manchester United senior executive Ed Woodward allegedly resigned due to differences with the owners, the Glazer family, on the viability of the Super League, although some alleged that Woodward was involved in the plans for a breakaway league from the beginning. United's co-chairman Joel Glazer apologised "unreservedly" to fans shortly after their withdrawal was confirmed. The Manchester United Supporters' Trust criticized the owners.
In a message to fans, Manchester City chief executive Ferran Soriano said that the board deeply regretted its actions." In May 2021, Tottenham Hotspur released a statement saying that the project was put together in secret due to legal constraints in place, and it was merely a "framework agreement" that through dialogue with the FA, the Premier League, UEFA, FIFA, and the fans would have evolved into "something workable." They apologised "unreservedly" but expressed disappointment at Tottenham Hotspur Supporters' Trust for refusing to meet with club officials.
Consequences
Whilst the opposition from fans in Spain remained subdued, the supporters of the Premier League clubs, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur, called on their owners to divest their investments. Supporters of Manchester City were the first to withdraw from the ESL, thus gaining, according to reports, "brownie points" among their supporters. A few observers, such as Emlyon Business School professor of Eurasian Sport Simon Chadwick, deemed fan opposition of their respective clubs, which acted in self-preservation and with intentions to grow their investments, as naïve, simplistic, and misplaced.
Executives from the Big Six resigned from various league committees after Richard Masters, CEO of the Premier League, called on them to either resign or be fired. Citing the trust deficit created as a result of the attempted breakaway, other Premier League clubs called for layoffs of key personnel employed by the Big Six. The FA commenced a formal inquiry against the Big Six, whilst the Premier League began revising its Owner's Charter to prevent similar attempts in the future. On 9 June, The Athletic reported that the Big Six had agreed to a collective £22 million fine in a settlement with the Premier League, with individual team fines of £25 million and 30-point deductions should any club agree to join a future breakaway league. On 10 June, The Times reported that the Home Office agreed to the FA's rules change to prevent breakaway leagues, such as non-British players for a future breakaway club in England having their work permits revoked.
Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional president Javier Tebas said "I think that "the current ecosystem in Europe has worked," adding, on the other hand, that he agrees with the Super League on "some aspects such as the governance [of competitions and clubs]."
On 26 April 2021, the Italian Federation (FIGC) approved an ad hoc legislation to expel any team participating in breakaway leagues not recognised by FIFA, UEFA, or FIGC from Italian football. FIGC President Gabriele Gravina later confirmed that Juventus, the only still active club involved in the Super League from Italy, faces the possibility of expulsion from Serie A.
UEFA president Čeferin welcomed the breakaway clubs back after the Super League fallout, despite calls for a rollback of Champions League format changes that favor richer clubs. UEFA stipulated that these clubs must sell their Super League shares, donate €15 million to grassroots football, and sign a Commitment Declaration, facing hefty fines for future violations. Disciplinary proceedings were initiated against Barcelona, Juventus, and Real Madrid for their ongoing involvement in the Super League, but were stayed due to rulings from Spanish and Swiss courts. These clubs were eventually confirmed for the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League. A22 Sports Management filed a motion to scrap UEFA's agreement with nine clubs and to cancel the disciplinary case against the other three clubs. The 17th commercial court in Madrid ruled out potential sanctions from UEFA and FIFA for the Super League clubs. In September, following a Madrid court order, UEFA dropped its proceedings against Barcelona, Juventus, and Real Madrid, and did not seek the payment offered by the other nine founding clubs.
On 22 June, as reported by The New York Times' Tariq Panja, the A22 Sports Management filed a new motion on behalf of the Super League to the Spanish court, seeking to scrap the agreement UEFA signed with nine clubs, and UEFA has five days to respond; it is also seeking to cancel in its entirety the disciplinary case against the other three clubs, which was suspended but is currently to stay pending UEFA's appeal against the court injunction. Moreover, a decision of the 17th commercial court in Madrid, which was made public on 1 July, ruled out the possibility of sanctions from UEFA and FIFA for the clubs involved in the project, given the antitrust issues which may occur were any punitive measures to be taken by the instances. On 27 September, after an order from a Madrid court to ban UEFA from taking any disciplinary action against Barcelona, Juventus, and Real Madrid; UEFA announced that it had abandoned its proceedings against the three clubs, and would not request payment of the sums offered by the nine other founding clubs.
JP Morgan, the financier of the Super League's proposed $3.25 billion project, said they were taken aback by the opposition and "misjudged how this deal would be viewed by the wider football community." The bank's involvement prompted a sustainability rating agency to downgrade its assessment of JP Morgan's ethical performance. JP Morgan added they had no say in the project's strategy, but one person familiar with the matter said the Super League had plans to fund grassroots sports and community projects.
The British government announced its plans to commence "a fan-led review", to be led by former Minister for Sport Tracey Crouch, into governance of English football, which Boris Johnson described as a "root and branch investigation." The review also aims to examine potential changes to ownership models, such as the 50+1 rule employed in Germany. Jeremy Corbyn, former leader of the Labour Party, and Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, came out in support of the review. The Premier League offered to cooperate with the British government. Paul Widdop, a senior lecturer in sports business at Manchester Metropolitan University, criticised the move, stating that while the incumbent government pursues a neo-liberalist agenda with every other industry, it seeks socialist reform only in football. Following the Super League's suspension, the BBC's Simon Stone said a revised Super League concept could be tabled at some point in future, especially with clubs still seeking increased broadcast revenues received from matches.
Fan protests
Following the collapse of the European Super League, many fan groups in England continued protesting against the ownership of certain clubs and for the introduction of the 50+1 rule seen in German football. The first of these protests occurred on 19 April, fans of Manchester City and Manchester United held protests at the Etihad Stadium and Old Trafford with both sets of fans unveiling banners and flags. On 22 April, a day after the Super League's suspension; a group of around twenty Manchester United fans gained access to the club's Trafford Training Centre in Carrington for over two hours demanding the Glazers sell the club.
On 23 April, a group of over 8,000 Arsenal fans gathered outside the Emirates Stadium protesting for the removal of Stan Kroenke. In response to this, Josh Kroenke stated that the owners had no intention of selling their stake. The same day, a group of about of 100 Tottenham Hotspur supporters appeared outside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium calling for the removal of Daniel Levy and ENIC Group as owners. On 24 April, a group of around 2,000 Manchester United fans gathered outside Old Trafford to the protests against the Glazers, the club owners. Ahead of the North West derby on 2 May, thousands of fans protested outside Old Trafford again, with an estimated 200 breaking into the stadium, which resulted in the game being postponed. Former Liverpool and Manchester United players expressed support for the fan-led protests.
On 25 April, Manchester City fans protested at Wembley Stadium ahead of their 2021 EFL Cup final against Tottenham Hotspur, banners reading "Sack the Board" and "Fans, Football, Owners, in that order" were unveiled.
Revival project
On 19 October 2022, A22 Sports Management, the Spain-based company that "sponsor[s]" and "assist[s]" in "the creation of the European Super League," appointed as chief executive officer Bernd Reichart, formerly the CEO of German broadcaster RTL. The same day, Reichart claimed the European Super League "would be relaunched within three years." He added that European football is "becoming unsustainable" under the "current system." After claiming that "European club-football is not living up to its potential", he stated that "permanent membership is off the table" and, instead, the "stakeholders" should discuss "an open competition based on sporting merit." UEFA responded that they had received a letter from A22 and "will consider the request for a meeting in due course," while the management of the Premier League directed interested parties to its 9 June 2021 statement, jointly signed with the FA, in which it was acknowledged that their member-clubs' actions to participate in a Super League were a "mistake" and, therefore, "the matter" has been brought "to a conclusion."
UEFA's meeting with A22 Sports Management took place on 8 November 2022, and was attended by representatives from all sectors to express their total disagreement with the Super League. The meeting was attended by around 30 people, including UEFA president Čeferin, Paris Saint-Germain's and European Club Association (ECA) chief Nasser Al-Khelaifi, La Liga president Tebas, and more than 20 senior officials from the ECA, continental leagues, supporters' groups and footballers' associations. They all said they remain firmly against the Super League plan.
Former Bayern Munich footballer and ex-FC Bayern München AG executive chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge addressed the ESL as follows: “In football, you need to realize when the game is lost, and your game is lost forever”. -Al-Khelaifi of Paris Saint-Germain described the attempts of Super League's representative Reichart to reopen dialogue as "as if it were a broken record", stating that "football is not a legal contract, but a social contract. You have to respect the fans".
A manifesto for the proposed resurrection was published on 9 February 2023, stating the league would be a multi-divisional competition with promotion and relegations, with places being awarded "based on merit". The manifesto was met with criticism from the ECA, La Liga president Tebas, and others, with the chief executive of the Football Supporters' Association stating "the walking corpse that is the European Super League twitches again."
Two weeks after the manifesto was made public, on 23 February, the UK government announced that an "independent regulator" would be appointed, as was recommended by a 2022 fan-led review, whose mandate would be to "protect English football's cultural heritage." Among the regulator's explicit tasks shall be to stop "English clubs from joining closed-shop competitions, which are judged to harm the domestic game," in a clear reference to the European Super League. The Premier League stated, in response, that it is "vital" the regulator's actions do not lead to any "unintended consequences" that could affect the PL's "global appeal and success."
In Spain, in the same month, veteran sports-journalist Alfredo Relaño wrote an editorial in El País, discussing the league presented in 2022 by Reichart. Relaño opined that "it would be far from easy to replace" the European club competitions UEFA has been organizing since 1954, even if the European court decided in favor of ESL.
European Court of Justice decision
On 21 December 2023, the European Court of Justice issued decision C-333/21 according to which FIFA and UEFA rules on prior approval of interclub football competitions, such as the Super League, are contrary to European Union law. A report released in December 2022 by the ECJ had found that the rules of football's European and world governing bodies were "compatible with EU competition law".
Football Governance Bill
In the King's speech on 17 July 2024, the British government announced plans for a "Football Governance Bill", which will, amongst other things, prevent English and Welsh clubs from "joining closed-shop, breakaway or unlicensed leagues, such as the European Super League".
Club-by-club chronology
- Sources
- 18 April 2021; 1-2pm: Reports emerge of 12 clubs forming a break-away competition.
- 18 April 2021; 23:00: Official announcement of the competition and its 12 founding members:
- 19 April 2021; 10-11am: Further reports emerge that three additional clubs were invited, but declined to participate:
- Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund almost immediately confirming they had denied the invitation.
- 20 April 2021; 6-7pm: Reports emerge that Chelsea and Manchester City were begin the withdrawal process following backlash.
- 20 April 2021; 21:23:
Manchester City
- officially withdraw.
- 20 April 2021; 22:55:
- Arsenal
- Liverpool
- Manchester United
- Tottenham Hotspur
- officially withdraw.
- 21 April 2021; 00:45:
- Chelsea
- officially withdraw.
- 21 April 2021; 11:27:
- Atlético Madrid
- Inter Milan
- officially withdraw.
- 21 April 2021:
- AC Milan
- officially withdraw.
- 15 October 2021: An announcement is made re-confirming the European Super League. Only three clubs remain in the project:
- Barcelona
- Juventus
- Real Madrid
- 1 June 2024:
- Juventus
- officially withdraw.
See also
- Sport policies of the European Union
- African Football League
- OFC Professional League
