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ESL-THE WHOLE STORY

By Vidur Arora

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super league

The European Super League is a planned yearly club football tournament in which twenty European football clubs will compete. The effort, which had been operating in the shadows for years and was spearheaded by Andrea Agnelli and Florentino Pérez, was launched in April and completed on April 18.

The project’s 12 founding teams declared the launch of a tournament as a direct challenge to UEFA and the traditional Champions League. The announcement stated, “Twelve of Europe’s best soccer teams have joined together today to declare that they have decided to launch a new midweek tournament, the Super League, overseen by its founding clubs.” Unfortunately it was a failed attempt.


WHAT CLUBS WERE THE 12 FOUNDERS?

The European Super League was founded by Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid, Inter Milan, Milan, and Juventus.

However, just a few hours later, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City, Liverpool, Atlético de Madrid, and Inter announced that they were leaving the project due to the wave of discontent it has generated among their fans.

In front of all this, it’s worth taking a look at what the new tournament will entail. For example, American-owned Liverpool and Manchester United have acquired a five-billion-euro loan from JP Morgan to help launch the new league.


HOW MANY AND WHICH TEAMS WOULD HAVE PLAYED?

There are 20 clubs in the league, the 15 Founding Clubs that have now been joined by five more teams that will qualify each year depending on their previous season’s performance.

All of the new games will be played on weekdays, and all teams will participate in their respective national leagues, keeping the traditional schedule at the heart of club life.

The season started on August 2nd with the clubs being divided into two groups of ten, each of which will play a round-robin format; the top three teams from each group will automatically qualify for the quarterfinals. A two-legged playoff will be held for the fourth and fifth-place teams. Following that, two-party playoffs will be played from the quarterfinals to the final, which will be played in a single game on a neutral site at the end of May.

 

This new yearly event will generate much higher economic growth, allowing for long-term support of European football, with donations to solidarity growing in lockstep with the new European league’s revenue. Solidarity payments will be larger than those presently produced by the European competition system, with a total value of more than € 10 billion projected throughout the Clubs’ commitment term.

The new competition is intended to have financial sustainability requirements, as all of the Founding Clubs have committed to sticking to a budget. In exchange for their promise, the Founding Clubs will receive a one-time payment of three and a half billion euros, which will only be used to support infrastructure investment plans and alleviate the impact of the COVID pandemic.


WHAT ABOUT THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE AND LA LIGA 

Javier Tebas -the president of La Liga- had already harshly criticized this project, which could endanger the viability of the Spanish championship and the other major domestic European leagues if the major clubs of each country do not participate.

In another interview with the Goal program, the Spanish leader described the project as “a bar at five o’clock in the morning” and harshly criticized Bartomeu for announcing that Barcelona would support the new competition.

 

VIEWS OF TEBAS AND PEREZ

Tebas, who has already stated his opinions on the league in general has put forward some more choice comments on Florentino Perez, the president of Real Madrid and one of the main advocates for this new league.

Tebas doubts the success of this new league in the long run along with the financial problems that will come with it.


REAL MADRID THREATENED WITH ESL, ACCORING VAN PRAAG

The president of the Netherlands Federation, Michael Van Praag, accused Real Madrid of instigating the creation of the European Super League and the dismantling of the Champions League. Starting all the way back in 2018 Michael had already made his opinions on this league very clear in multiple interviews. He found the entire idea unnecessary and a waste of effort.


UEFA AND THE LEAGUES AGAINST ESL

UEFA has not been slow to act. Before the announcement of the creation of the Super League, the body that governs the destinies of European football responded strongly. On Sunday, April 18, there had been two communiqués. One from UEFA and the other from the Premier League, in which the creation of a new tournament had been attacked and harsh sanctions were threatened against those involved, without ruling out the use of legal channels.


FIFA’S OPINION ON THE LEAGUE

FIFA -Fédération Internationale de Football Association (or in English the international organization in charge of soccer)- also had a strong stance on this new league. It focused on the ideals of their organization and they belief of soccer as a whole. Their statement went as follows:

“Fifa wants to emphasize that it is a staunch believer in football solidarity and a model of fair redistribution that may help to the growth of football itself, particularly globally, because FIFA’s fundamental purpose is to develop world football,” the statement says.

 

 

And it adds: “In our opinion, and under our statutes, any football competition, whether national, regional or global, must always reflect the basic principles of solidarity, inclusion, integrity and equitable financial redistribution. In addition, the governing bodies of football should use all legal, sporting, and diplomatic means to ensure that this remains the case. In this context, FIFA can only express its disapproval of a ‘closed European separatist league’ outside of international football structures and without respecting the principles aforementioned”.

“FIFA always upholds unity in world football calls on all parties involved in heated debates to enter into a calm, constructive and balanced dialogue for the good of the game and in its spirit of solidarity and fair play. FIFA, of course, he will do whatever is necessary to contribute to a harmonized path towards the general interests of football” they conclude.

THE STRONG REACTION OF THE OTHER LEAGUES

Hours before the creation of the Super League became official, both UEFA and the Premier League issued separate statements, in which they were directly opposed to the birth of this competition.

In the case of UEFA, in addition, action and judicial action against the clubs that have made possible the creation of the Super League, a competition that has sparked controversy, is not ruled out.


ECA DID NOT ALLIGN WITH THE SUPER LEAGUE

The European Club Association released a statement hours earlier expressing its opposition to the Super League’s formation. The basic idea of the statement is that the ECA has always been an open organization. Any soccer team that is European gets to be a part of it.

 

Through the fact that the ECA is a globally recognized organization they say that any European team has an equal chance of competing on the global scene if they are simply good enough to quality.

By creating an organization like this, that requires teams to sign up and into it, you make it harder for smaller teams to try and compete on larger scales.


UEFA’S STATEMENT

The UEFA keeps a very similar opinion as the ECA. It believes that having a closed league is going to be very detrimental for the entire sport in the long run and it’s every other leagues responsibility to try and stand up against something like this.

 


THE PREMIER LEAGUE’S STATEMENT

The premier league, Britain’s league for their highest level teams, stated their own thorough thoughts on this new league as follows:

“Any suggestion that contradicts the ideals of free competition and sports merit that are at the core of the pyramid of national and European football is condemned by the Premier League.

Fans of every club in England or Europe may now dream of their team reaching the top and competing against the greatest. This ambition, we feel, would be shattered by the thought of a European Super League

 

 

The Premier League prides itself on hosting a compelling and competitive soccer competition that has made it the most viewed league in the world. Our success has allowed us to make an unparalleled financial contribution to the national soccer pyramid.

A European Super League will undermine the appeal of the entire game and have a profoundly damaging impact on the immediate and prospects of the Premier League and its member clubs, and all those in football who depend on our funding and solidarity to prosper. ”

BVB AND BAYERN MUNICH REFUSE JOIN THE ESL

After their initial statement the ECA convened it’s board members for a virtual conference on what their actions regarding European Super League were going to be.

They decided unanimously that their previous stance and decision were going to stay in effect.

 

The decision reaffirms that the board and league will be doing nothing with the new European Super League now or in the future. They also officially declines the new leagues suggested collaborations they offered when the idea was first announced.

 

Vidur Arora
A Swansea City fan, who fell in love with the game watching Joe Allen play. Usually found in the wild with headphones in his ears and bobbing his head. Love his art too.

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