Because it sounds like we may need one. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/18/sports/soccer/super-league-united-liverpool-juventus-madrid.html LONDON — A group of the world’s richest and most storied soccer clubs has agreed in principle on a plan to create a breakaway European club competition that would, if it comes to fruition, upend the structures, economics and relationships that have bound global soccer for nearly a century. After months of secret talks, the breakaway teams — which include Real Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, Manchester United and Liverpool in England, and Juventus and A.C. Milan in Italy — could make an announcement as early as Sunday, according to multiple people familiar with the plans. The timing of the announcement appears designed to overshadow Monday’s plan by European soccer’s governing body, UEFA, to ratify a newly designed Champions League, a competition which would be decimated by the departure of its biggest teams. At least 12 teams have either signed up as founding members or expressed interest in joining the breakaway group, including six prominent teams from England’s Premier League, three from Spain and three from Italy, according to the people with knowledge of the plans. The group has been trying to get other top teams, like Germany’s Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, to join them in their venture, but to date those clubs — and others — have declined to turn their backs on the decades-old domestic structures and Continental competitions that have underpinned European soccer for generations. The teams involved so far are limited to almost a dozen from Spain, Italy and England, with a cohort of six from the Premier League — United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham — representing the biggest grouping from a single country. Atlético Madrid is the other team from Spain that is said to have endorsed the project, while the Milan rivals Internazionale and A.C. Milan would join Juventus as Italy’s representatives. The New York Times contacted a number of clubs involved in the breakaway plans but all declined to comment or did not respond. A UEFA spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment. UEFA and the top European Leagues, though, are bracing for the breakaway announcement. Officials spent the weekend in discussions about ways to block the plan, including potentially banning the breakaway teams from domestic leagues and from next season’s Champions League, with the breakaway scheduled to begin in 2022. The repercussions of that type of breakup would be seismic for all involved; without the top teams, UEFA and the leagues would face demands for millions of dollars in refunds from the broadcasters who pay billions for television rights to tournaments, and the clubs would lose revenue streams that could cripple their budgets as European soccer continues to emerge from the financial wreckage caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Among the most notable teams involved in the breakaway group is Juventus, the serial Italian champion. Its chairman, Andrea Agnelli, also leads the European Club Association, an umbrella body for more than 200 top division clubs, the majority of which will be left out of the proposed Super League. He is also a member of UEFA’s executive board. When asked by The Times this year to discuss his role in the talks of a breakaway league, Agnelli brushed off the idea as a “rumor.” Still, according to documents reviewed by The Times in January, plans for the breakaway league had gathered pace since the summer. Top clubs sought to take advantage of uncertainty in the soccer industry caused by the pandemic to forge a new path that would ensure a degree of financial stability for them but would also almost certainly lead to a significant — and potentially devastating — loss in value and revenue for teams excluded from the project. Each of the would-be permanent members of the proposed super league are being promised 350 million euros, or $425 million, to sign up, the documents said. Under the proposals reviewed at the time, the super league, which would play its matches in the middle of the week, sought to secure 16 top soccer franchises as permanent members and to add four qualifiers from domestic competitions. The clubs would be split into two groups of 10, with the top four teams in each group qualifying for the knockout stages, culminating in a final that would take place on a weekend. The event would, according to the documents, generate hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue for the participating teams, which are already the richest clubs in the sport. (An alternative version of the plan proposed 15 permanent members and five qualification spots.) The group had entered into discussions with JPMorgan Chase & Co. to raise financing for the project, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The firm has so far declined to comment. UEFA found a powerful ally in opposition to the plans in FIFA, soccer’s global governing body. FIFA warned that any player who took part in such an unsanctioned league would be banned from appearing in the World Cup. The statement came after UEFAs president, Aleksander Ceferin, demanded support from his FIFA counterpart, Gianni Infantino, amid mounting speculation that the breakaway would have FIFA’s backing. European soccer leaders huddled on the telephone and in video conferences over the weekend to forge a counterattack. However, finding a solution to the potential loss of the biggest brands in soccer is not an easy task. The Premier League, for example, would lose much of its sheen — and almost certainly a lot of the commercial appeal that has turned it into the richest league in soccer — should it move to banish its top six teams. As member-owned clubs, Barcelona and Real Madrid would likely require the support of the thousands of their supporters before formally joining, and any German clubs that agree to take part would face similar obstacles. All can expect heavy internal opposition; fan groups from across Europe had already voiced opposition since details of the plans for a super league emerged earlier this year.
How does the European club association still have agnelli as their chairman? The guy has been one of the biggest supporters of the super league for years which is clearly bad for 95% of the ECA members.
Once clubs at the bottom of the premier league like Brighton or burnley realize how much they’d lose in revenue from the premier league banning the 6 biggest clubs, they wouldn’t support it. The clubs in the middle would support it but I’m not sure that’s enough. so many clubs are struggling because of the pandemic that they won’t support a ban if it came to that. Really fucked up for the top clubs to take advantage of the pandemic and use that timing to do this but also not surprising with what we’ve seen US sports do.
Now that we have a “sanctity of competition” statement by UEFA it’s time to take it all very seriously
seems like a direct response to the CL changes which is a blatant money grab by an organization that exists only to enrich itself
Big 6 shitting themselves since Leicester won and many of them unhappy with the lower clubs having enough money to challenge them. Now wanting to make sure no one can challenge them by taking their ball and going home.
this is a nice story but I think most of the big 6 in England are just happy to be along for the ride.
If they changed the champions league qualification to top 4 and added enough spots based on UEFA coefficient beyond that so the big 6 would all qualify each year even if 3-4 missed top 4, I think they’d be fine with staying in the current setup. Spanish and Italian giants have such bad domestic TV deals that they will push for this regardless but can’t succeed if the big clubs in England, Germany and france don’t come.
Going to an american sport model with only 16 teams? I can't see it working without double that amount
honestly all they’d need to do is get offsides & VAR correct and we’d forget about CL in about a week
Makes sense from a political POV actually if you want to keep agitators onside. Standard practice in any community association with a Karen actually! Though it might be down to votes and the constitution of the ECA. It was originally the G-14 after all.
this shit absolutely sucks. i hate that city is involved but pool and united forced our hand with this trash
I wonder what the TV contracts for a league like that would look like. 50% lower? 80% lower? 90% lower? The timing of doing this during a pandemic will make it much harder for any of these leagues to follow through on these threats.
European sports clubs are so much cooler than anything we have here and our billionaires are going to ruin them.
I hate it. I just don’t think the threats from the domestic leagues will do anything. Doing this is bad enough. Taking advantage of the pandemic to push it through is disgusting.
it won’t kill you to criticize your club and the american influence that pushed this garbage i fucking hate that city is a part of it even if we really ultimately had to join or risk being totally left behind. it’s not a controversial or difficult stance to hold