Barely a week ago, the global soccer community was thrown into turmoil as it appeared that the long dread plans for the creation of the European Super League (ESL) were coming into fruition.
The proposal for the creation of the ESL started in 1998, when the Italian Media Corporations explored the idea but failed ultimately after the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) moved to expand the Champions League.
In 2009, the President of Real Madrid, Florentino Perez criticized UEFA saying: "we have to agree to a new European Super League which guarantees that the best always play the best-something that does not happen in the Champions League." In the same year, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger predicted that the idea of the ESL would become reality within 10 years, because of revenue and other monetary pressure on the continent's elite teams. In 2018, Germany's Der Spiegel reported on the ESL after uncovering documents for Football Leaks outlining the competition.
Finally, in April 2021, Perez announced the formation of the ESL to rival the UEFA Champions, which was to be established by twelve clubs (six from England, three from Spain and three from Italy) with three more founding members anticipated to join in the near future. The idea was to feature 20 clubs in all, with five guest clubs who were to be rotated year after year as a secondary competition which would be set up to provide promotion and relegation to those clubs.
The founding members were enticed with a share of €3.5bn to support the infrastructure investment plans and to offset the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by American investment banking giant JPMorgan Chase who reportedly pledged $5 billion towards the competition. Perez in his interview with El Chiringuito de Jugones said that the move was made because young people were no longer interested in football due to the poor quality games. He said that it was created to "save football” given that the global pandemic “has accelerated the instability in the existing European football economic model”.
“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”, according to a statement from Joel Glazer, whose family owns Manchester United.
The announcement was followed by universal opposition from the fans, managers, politicians, other clubs and the whole football community in general. A day after, FIFA and all six of football's continental confederations (AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC and UEFA) issued a statement rejecting the formation of the ESL. “As previously announced by them, the clubs concerned will be banned from playing in any other competition at domestic, European or world level, and the players could be denied the opportunity to represent their national teams”, according to the UEFA statement. FIFA came out with a statement condemning “closed breakaway leagues outside the international footballing structures”.
British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, called the proposals "very damaging for football" and vowed to ensure that it "does not go ahead in the way that it's currently being proposed." French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi also expressed their support for UEFA. The Spanish Government too released a statement saying that they do not support the initiative of the clubs participating in the ESL, including the Spanish ones.
Heavy criticism and wide protests followed. Everton stepped up first to call out the so-called ‘Big 6’ of the Premier league after their agreement to break away from the PL without consulting them or considering the effects on the entire football pyramid that took hundreds of years to build. Former Manchester United legend, Gary Neville's reaction generated strong reaction on social media, calling it "an act of pure greed." His former teammate, Roy Keane also criticised it for being motivated by "money, greed." James Milner along with manager Jurgen Klopp of Liverpool were also critical of the League while captain Jordan Henderson called for a meeting for captains of Premier league clubs, and later said, "We don't like it and we don't want it to happen." Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola added: "it is not a sport if success is guaranteed."
Despite COVID-19 restrictions, a crowd of nearly 700 fans appeared outside Elland Road ahead of the scheduled match between Leeds United and Liverpool, to protest against the Super League. While warming up, Leeds United players wore shirts that read "Football is for the fans'' on one side and "Earn it" with a Champions League logo on the other. Barcelona fans hung a huge banner over Camp Nou which read "Barcelona is our life, not your toy. No to playing in the Super League." Thousands of Chelsea fans appeared at the Stamford Bridge to protest, ahead of their team's game against Brighton, which resulted in the team buses being temporarily stopped from entering the stadium. Fans from all over the globe opposed it. A snap YouGov poll conducted shortly after found that 79% of British football fans opposed the Super League.
For clubs like Liverpool or Manchester United which have their roots among the working class community, it went against everything that they stood for. The eliteness and monopoly in the proposed system could destroy the game for ever if implemented as the over-done commercialisation and capitalisation is not a favourable prospect for many.
The aftermath was huge. Manchester United's senior executive, Ed Woodward, resigned due to differences with the owners, the Glazer family, on the viability of the Super League. Manchester City were the first club to officially leave the Super League followed by Chelsea. Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham and United followed.
Eventually the official statement from the Super League followed which confirmed its suspension. It said: "We are reconsidering the appropriate steps, in order to reshape the project. We're proposing a new competition, because the current one isn't working. English clubs have been forced to leave, due to outside pressure”.
(cover image courtesy: BBC)
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