European Super League causes massive stir in World football
Fans, clubs at loggerheads over newly announced competition
The European Super League has been announced, and 12 founding clubs have declared their decision to join the competition against the wishes of their leagues and their fans. The competition is expected to be a 20 team competition involving 15 founder clubs and 5 qualifiers, with the teams split into two groups of 10 before a knockout stage is played and the winner is determined. The competition is set to be played on midweeks between these heavyweight clubs.
Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, AC Milan, and Inter Milan have all been confirmed as part of the founding clubs, with three more clubs expected to join as founders. Each of the founders is due to receive €3.5 billion for infrastructure ahead of the competition, and the qualifiers will receive €350 million for every season they take part in the competition. This is a huge financial jump compared to the €100 million that was earned by clubs for qualifying for the UEFA Champions League.
French giants, Paris St Germain and German sides Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have all reportedly turned down the chance to be part of the competition amid talks of the competition’s commencement.
The Super League is chaired by Real Madrid president, Florentino Perez. UEFA, FIFA and the respective leagues of these clubs have kicked against the competition, and have threatened to issue bans effective immediately to the clubs involved, as well as their players from representing their national teams.
The European Super League board has come out to say that they would not permit any punitive action to be taken on the clubs and have already set a court case in motion. It remains to be seen what will happen, but it looks like the European Super League is here to stay.
