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The European Super League – what the proposed league means for football & how will it change the sport as we know it.
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![The European Super League – what the proposed league means for football & how will it change the sport as we know it.[THREAD]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EnGMxq9VcAI0jS0.jpg "The European Super League – what the proposed league means for football & how will it change the sport as we know it.[THREAD]")
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In October this year, Sky News released a report that claimed that FIFA were in talks with Investment Banking giants JP Morgan Chase for a debt financing package to facilitate a potential “Super League”.
In a statement just a few days later during his resignation speech, disgraced Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu, appeared to confirm that Barcelona would be one of the clubs joining the league.
The league is set to include some of Europe’s elite & ultra-rich teams including the Madrid giants, Barcelona, the Premier League’s “Big 6” & Bayern Munich to name a few. The final tally includes around 18 teams.
According to Der Spiegel back in 2018, correspondence between top FIFA executives & members of a big club’s board reveals interesting details about the league.
The 17 teams with the largest TV audiences in Spain, Germany, England, Italy & France would participate in the league as “founding members” while the final team would be selected from either of the Netherlands, Turkey, Russia or Portugal.
The league would potentially run for a period of 34 weeks with matches played on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays followed by a knockout round.
Sky Sports reports that the league will not have a relegation system in place at least for the first 20 years for the founding teams. https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12109353/european-premier-league-what-we-know-about-fifa-backed-plans-for-cross-continental-super-tournament
While initially it was thought that clubs would break away from the domestic leagues, it might not actually be the case.
The European Super League would take precedence over the Champions League (governed by the UEFA) for the big clubs or replace the competition entirely.
The European Super League would take precedence over the Champions League (governed by the UEFA) for the big clubs or replace the competition entirely.
UEFA moved fast and are considering adding more teams to the Champions League by 2024 so as to increase revenue to entice the bigger clubs to stay in its flagship competition.
There seems to be a deadlock at the moment because for the pieces to move, UEFA have to agree with the plan that they have strongly opposed so far.
In reality, the league might be quite a few years down the line. There are far too many details to be finalised and with the pandemic, it might get delayed even further just like FIFA’s plans for a 32 team Club World Cup.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_FIFA_Club_World_Cup
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_FIFA_Club_World_Cup
What’s the incentive for the “founding teams”? – The biggest incentive is the massive revenues from TV rights since the top clubs are playing each other regularly.
What are the potential implications? –
1. Since the “Super Team” is restricted to just a few, there isn’t a spot to play for based on merit like it currently is with the UCL.
1. Since the “Super Team” is restricted to just a few, there isn’t a spot to play for based on merit like it currently is with the UCL.
2. TV deals with domestic leagues will nosedive & the value of the competitions will degrade with the top teams focusing on the Super League.
3. With the premier domestic leagues already struggling, it's not hard to imagine just how badly hit teams in the lower divisions will be
3. With the premier domestic leagues already struggling, it's not hard to imagine just how badly hit teams in the lower divisions will be
The Super League is one of the many indicators that show how badly the sport is run and just how much money is concentrated amongst the elite clubs.
The general consensus among most fans is to reject the idea but there’s only so much the fans can do as ultimately neither FIFA nor the big clubs truly do what the fans want their clubs to do.
Football, a sport that has its soul slowly dissipate due to years of mismanagement & greed by club owners & governing bodies and their utter disregard for fans, needs a major rework and that’s putting it lightly.
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![Football, a sport that has its soul slowly dissipate due to years of mismanagement & greed by club owners & governing bodies and their utter disregard for fans, needs a major rework and that’s putting it lightly.[END OF THREAD]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EnGQShWVkAEx-Zf.jpg "Football, a sport that has its soul slowly dissipate due to years of mismanagement & greed by club owners & governing bodies and their utter disregard for fans, needs a major rework and that’s putting it lightly.[END OF THREAD]")
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