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The crazy idea, of a European Super League of soccer, appears to be alive and well. The website is still live for god’s sake – see here.
In what must go down as one of the most illogical, ill-thought-out, and downright hubristic moves in sports history, a group of powerful European clubs brainstormed that they needed their own league, separate from UEFA and FIFA.
To say the concept shook the soccer world to its very core is obviously a massive understatement.
But where do we stand now on the proposal that you could “see the best players every week.”
What is (or was) The Super League?
Europe isn’t like other continents when it comes to sports. Looking at America, you see Canadian teams in everything but the NFL.
European soccer leagues, outside of European-wide competitions like the Europa League and European Champions League, are pretty much-closed shops. You play teams from your own country, and that’s it. Look at the issues surrounding an all-Ireland league, or the Beneliga’s utter implosion as evidence of how hard it is to get a joint European league format off the ground.
The European Super League was a proposal for twenty major European football clubs to form a competition that would not only rival but replace the richest and most prestigious club competition in the world, the European Champions League. In terms of the structure of the twenty teams, fifteen would remain permanent. Only five teams are required to qualify annually.
Why?
Guaranteed bank. Every season. The elite clubs wanted to remove the variability, or “sporting integrity” that makes top-level European soccer so engaging.
The ‘founding’ teams consisted of the most financially dominant clubs in all of Europe, including the English ‘big-6,’ Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Inter Milan, and Juventus among others.
Last April when the launch was announced in a haze of misinformation, rumor, rancor and protests outside founding members’ club stadiums, the backlash was immediate and unrelenting. The beautiful game seemed to come together to decry the elitism and unfairness of this weird idea. The entire pyramid system of European football was being thrown out the window by this concept where teams need not qualify and would be merely gifted a spot in the competition because they were deemed to be a ‘big’ club.
Within two days it was toast, as the pull-out from English teams really killed it.
The Super League definitely hasn’t gone away
The Super League is in a legal dogfight now with not only UEFA, which governs European soccer, but also FIFA in the European Courts. It is currently winding its way through the Court of Justice of the European Union with the Super League claiming that both organizations have an unfair, illegal monopoly over international soccer competitions.
The Super League is arguing that clubs should be allowed to form their own tournaments and competitions out with their domestic league without facing the punishment that has been threatened by UEFA.
Only three clubs are holding the ‘project’ up currently – Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus. Given Barca’s own catastrophic finances, this could literally be seen as a final throw of the dice by the club to avoid oblivion after years of ballooning expenditure and next to no success on the pitch.
As the EU is known for taking pride as a place where free market principles can be upheld, it will be interesting to see which side of the fence this case lands, with a decision expected in 2023.
Yet this summer, the three clubs who remain supportive of the Super League all met for a pre-season tour in Las Vegas. But as you can imagine it wasn’t the games on the field that caught most headlines. Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, Barcelona president Joan Laporta, and Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli all held a meeting together whilst in Sin City.
It would be hard to believe that anything but the Super League was discussed and it shows how little popular opinion or sentiment has played in the project to date. Instead, it shows the determination of a very small minority of club executives to push this idea through even potentially without the support of the English clubs.
The African Super League could be an omen of the future
As mentioned earlier, the quest for joint, cross-border leagues or continent-wide competitions is highly contentious in Europe, but nowhere near as controversial elsewhere.
Why?
Look to Africa.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced a $100 million African Super League will kick off in earnest in 2023. It will consist of 24 African clubs from 16 different nations. The League will be run from August to May and will feature 197 total matches.
The clubs will be split into three groups of eight depending on location. The clubs will play a round-robin within their group, and the top teams will qualify for the next stage. Those teams will enter an American-style playoff system of single-game knockouts, and a wild card system. Meanwhile, no more than three teams from a single country will be allowed in the Super League each season.
The new league is being backed heavily by FIFA, as president Gianni Infantino was present for the official announcement and stated:
“As FIFA President, I am happy to witness such a historic moment of this exciting football project to boost and improve club football in Africa. African club football needs to be brought to the next level and to do that, it is important to be innovative and to have new ideas, while fully respecting the existing institutional framework. The Africa Super League, built within the international football pyramid structure, is a project which will make African club football shine in Africa and beyond.”
FIFA President Gianni Infantino
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Unlike the European version, the founders of this league promise a relegation aspect, giving smaller teams some semblance of hope, and forming real sporting competition. Each of the 54 CAF nations will reportedly earn $1 million per year as a result of the Super League. CAF will also receive $50 million per year to use in developing football programs for young players.
Despite such lofty claims that it will generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, however, the announcement has also (unsurprisingly again) been met by anger and disappointment, in a similar fashion to the European Super League. But this time by one important group that was largely silent during the EU launch. The players.
The South African Football Players Union (SAFPU) didn’t hold back and gave CAF both barrels. In a withering response it said:
“An unworkable, ill-conceived African Super league is on the horizon.”
“There is no evidence that an African Super League will benefit soccer in Africa unless benefitting the very few and while diluting the value of the professional leagues considered beneficial. The only way we can improve soccer on our continent and create and protect employment opportunities is by improving professionalism, insisting on better governance, and guaranteeing legal compliance. We need more professional clubs, more professional leagues, more professional players unions. That is a future that will attract greater commercial support and improved levels of merit-based competition. As South Africans, we cannot permit the destruction of professional football.“
The South African Football Players Union (SAFPU)
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This announcement may seem distant, even mundane, to European football fans, however, it could be an indication of where this goes.
The biggest contention of the Super League was ownership. With no input from or offer of some control for UEFA, it is little wonder the organization is fighting tooth and nail to bury the project. By contrast, the CAF Super League shows buy-in and approval from CAF and FIFA, making this project much more viable and achievable.
Could, the ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union bring the eventual losing side to the table to break bread?
Meanwhile, all eyes will be on the CAF Super League slated to kick off next season and how it performs. Some European clubs, including those that quit the project, might get itchy feet and decide to resurrect the ‘project’.
Never one to pass up an opportunity to speak into a microphone, Real Madrid President Florentino Perez comments loom large. He said on the meme-making machine that is the popular El Chiringuito soccer show:
“Of course it is still alive.”
Real Madrid President, Florentino Perez
