New Euro Super league to be announced Sunday

Zomp

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I'm still trying to decide if this is a bluff to get their way with Champions League money or if the people running twelve of the biggest clubs in the world really are just super villain pieces of shit.


But even if it is a bluff, ugh its such a bad, bad look. I've posted two videos in this thread of Neville raging against it and I could post 50 more. Rio Ferdinand said the same thing, pundits on Sky and BBC same. I've yet to see one person support this aside from these greedy owners.

Ole was asked about it after the game and said he didn't want to comment til he read everything. But he, Klopp, Pep, etc... should all come out and shoot this down as quick as possible. As should the players.

Sir Alex has gone on record as slamming it too.
 

jose melendez

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7 Teams have won the title since the Premier League started in 1992-93
Manchester United (13)
Chelsea (5)
Manchester City (4)
Arsenal (3)
Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers, Leicester City (1)

Before 2005, it was only 3, so the last 15 years have actually been more competitive than the first dozen.
When you don't care, the brazenness of the cartel is fascinating.
 

Joe D Reid

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I tend to agree that this is not the actual final attack on domestic leagues, but rather a CL-related bluff. But the fundamental dynamics aren't going to change and something like this is going to happen at some point.

We've reached the stage where the majority of fans for the large clubs have nothing to do with the city, region, or country where the club is located, because the fans live across the globe. And virtually none of those fans chose to support any but the largest, most historically or currently successful clubs. That's even true here--how many posts do we get in the threads dedicated to EPL clubs other than those now supporting the Super League? Even the Tottenham folks turn out to have been supporting oligarchs (if not particularly successful ones). I'm not criticizing here, just noting as a known supporter of one of the Medium 12-ish who can actually be relegated.

I understand that not all of us new fans will be like be me, a person who is (a) apparently fundamentally ludicrous and (b) lately possessed of a Geordie brother-in-law. But when the majority of support (meaning money) comes from people who don't care about the domestic league except as a vehicle to limited glory and entree to Europe, the clubs are going to pivot to what those supporters want. I don't think we've reached the tipping point yet, because the historical veneer still matters. But globalization expands access to goods at the cost of, among other things, local firms and identities. The camel's nose is under the tent here.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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I'm still trying to decide if this is a bluff to get their way with Champions League money or if the people running twelve of the biggest clubs in the world really are just super villain pieces of shit.


But even if it is a bluff, ugh its such a bad, bad look. I've posted two videos in this thread of Neville raging against it and I could post 50 more. Rio Ferdinand said the same thing, pundits on Sky and BBC same. I've yet to see one person support this aside from these greedy owners.

Ole was asked about it after the game and said he didn't want to comment til he read everything. But he, Klopp, Pep, etc... should all come out and shoot this down as quick as possible. As should the players.

Sir Alex has gone on record as slamming it too.
I don't think its a bluff or a negotiating tactic. I think all the talk for the last 5-10 years was the attempt to bluff/negotiate, UEFA proved pretty unresponsive, and now facing Covid-related financial pressures the clubs have decided that the time is ripe to just go for it. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't see all these clubs and their chairmen making these big official announcements and then just being like, "OK, just kidding, we'll settle for a different formula for allocating CL spots and maybe a little more cash."
 

singaporesoxfan

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From the player perspective, a Super League where teams don’t have to spend to stay in the competition is going to hurt right? Even if they don’t have an explicit salary cap, seems like this reduces the incentive for clubs to spend to increase the chances of getting to the CL and to avoid the risk of relegation.
 

singaporesoxfan

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I tend to agree that this is not the actual final attack on domestic leagues, but rather a CL-related bluff. But the fundamental dynamics aren't going to change and something like this is going to happen at some point.

We've reached the stage where the majority of fans for the large clubs have nothing to do with the city, region, or country where the club is located, because the fans live across the globe. And virtually none of those fans chose to support any but the largest, most historically or currently successful clubs. That's even true here--how many posts do we get in the threads dedicated to EPL clubs other than those now supporting the Super League? Even the Tottenham folks turn out to have been supporting oligarchs (if not particularly successful ones). I'm not criticizing here, just noting as a known supporter of one of the Medium 12-ish who can actually be relegated.

I understand that not all of us new fans will be like be me, a person who is (a) apparently fundamentally ludicrous and (b) lately possessed of a Geordie brother-in-law. But when the majority of support (meaning money) comes from people who don't care about the domestic league except as a vehicle to limited glory and entree to Europe, the clubs are going to pivot to what those supporters want. I don't think we've reached the tipping point yet, because the historical veneer still matters. But globalization expands access to goods at the cost of, among other things, local firms and identities. The camel's nose is under the tent here.
I don't disagree that new fans tend to support the largest, most historically or currently successful clubs, but (judging from fans in Singapore) I do think they care about the domestic league because fans like success and the domestic league is where many of these clubs can consistently find success, unlike the CL where sometimes the teams just fail. If the Super League becomes just a competition in which Inter fields sub-par teams and languishes in the bottom third, would the same fans still be attracted to Inter?
 

OCST

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I'm trying not to overreact, because this still may be a bluff, but if this actually moves forward it'll be a dark decade in football. I can see separate continental competitions, separate world cups, championships with asterisks...

It reminds me of the Champ Car/Indy Racing League split in 2003 that almost doomed open-wheel racing in the US.
Go back further to the USAC/CART split in the 80s, where USAC had the Indy 500 and CART had every other race, and the squabbling and the disconnect of the crown jewel from the rest of the series helped NASCAR blow right past them.

Only x1000 because this is the most popular sport in the world.
 

SoxFanInCali

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I don't think its a bluff or a negotiating tactic. I think all the talk for the last 5-10 years was the attempt to bluff/negotiate, UEFA proved pretty unresponsive, and now facing Covid-related financial pressures the clubs have decided that the time is ripe to just go for it. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't see all these clubs and their chairmen making these big official announcements and then just being like, "OK, just kidding, we'll settle for a different formula for allocating CL spots and maybe a little more cash."
If there was a time to really go all-in on a bluff, it's now. There's no crowds to conduct protests at the games, and probably won't be the rest of the season, so they've got until the 2021-22 season kicks off to hammer out whatever will be the final form of this.
 

EvilEmpire

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If there was a time to really go all-in on a bluff, it's now. There's no crowds to conduct protests at the games, and probably won't be the rest of the season, so they've got until the 2021-22 season kicks off to hammer out whatever will be the final form of this.
The plan may not survive contact with the various forces aligned against it, but if the reporting is true about all the financing lined up for it, I really don't think it is a bluff.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/uefa-champions-league/story/4364173/man-unitedjuventustottenham-among-team-to-participate-in-super-league

The agreement provides that the founding clubs will receive an upfront net grant of approximately €3.5 billion ($4.19 billion) in aggregate, the statements said. A women's Super League competition is also planned to be launched after the men's league is up and running.
Sources have told ESPN that New York-based investment bank JP Morgan will underwrite the project, with $6 billion distributed as loans to the teams.
 

fletcherpost

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fletcherpost

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In European football's current structure, it is theoretically possible for any club in any league to become the Champions of Europe, just as it's theoretically possible for Vanderbilt or Rutgers or Kansas to win the national college football title. Manchester City were in the third tier of English football as recently as 22 years ago. They had obvious financial help in getting where they are today, but fundamentally they got to where they are because they kept winning football matches. And much of the current system's legitimacy derives from this romantic notion that if you win enough matches, you can ascend to the very top of the European pyramid. (Why do you think the Football Manager series of computer games is so popular?) As soon as you close the system so that this is no longer the case, and there exists a glass ceiling through which your club may not pass, the nature of the system fundamentally changes. And I don't think the nature of that new system will endear any of the seceding clubs to any fans of the have-nots which the Super League would in theory be permanently leaving behind. Certainly, the winners of this Super League could no longer legitimately call themselves "European Champions". And when Arsenal and Tottenham or whomever else finishes bottom of the Super League for the Xth year in a row, playing a series of increasingly meaningless matches every year from January onward (under no threat of relegation), their existence within the Super League will likely raise questions about the entire enterprise.
This is getting to the heart of the matter. Football without promotion and relegation is just franchise football.

'The Game's Gone' is an overused footie phrase. If this plan actually goes through - The Game's Gone for real. My hope is that there's going to be too much fan backlash for this to fly. It doesn't hurt that a fair few of the leading pundits have already voiced their disgust. As Rio says 'it's a war on football.'

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC08HPDlJlA&ab_channel=BTSport
 

fletcherpost

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I don't follow European football, or really the NCAA, but man they remind my of each other. These phenomenally corrupt cartels where there is very little true competition because the system is so unbalanced toward a few teams, and then those teams, despite all of the advantages they have, still have to stack the deck even more.

I can't imagine how pointless it would feel to root for, say and EPL team that's not one of the big six (is that the number?) Leicester City can happen once in a million years, but then meassures are taken to make it even harder for it to happen again.
Because at it's heart football, the game, is a working class community sport. Your local team is still a thing. My grandad took me to Bayview to watch East Fife, I used to live round the corner from Raith Rovers, The Emirates and now Ibrox...where there are pubs and chip shops named after the clubs or the grounds. I can't imagine there's a single club in the UK that doesn't do work in the community...that rubs off on the locals and makes people feel proud and gives folk a sense of belonging that goes beyond what happens on the pitch. Then there's the friendships you make going to the games and the pain and suffering you share with your fellow supporters, as well as the joys, rare as they may be. There's is so much tied in to suporting a team, that has nothing, and i mean nothing to do with the results on the field.

As to that bit in bold...I hope you're here to learn, cos if you really don't understand why there are die hard Stirling Albion fans or Bradford City fans or Tranmere Rovers fans, then you have a lot to learn that has nothing to do with football. And i say this with all due respect. Some fans wait their whole lives for moments such as these. (and yes i know this is the half time score, that's the point, this was enough.)

rov munch.jpg
 
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Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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The Mourinho news seems potentially like another sign that the ESL is not a bluff or negotiating ploy.

Levy probably doesn’t give a fuck anymore about paying off his 30m contract (or qualifying for the Europa League) with the massive windfall coming.
 

jose melendez

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Because at it's heart football, the game, is a working class community sport. Your local team is still a thing. My grandad took me to Bayview to watch East Fife, I used to live round the corner from Raith Rovers, The Emirates and now Ibrox...where there are pubs and chip shops named after the clubs or the grounds. I can't imagine there's a single club in the UK that doesn't do work in the community...that rubs off on the locals and makes people feel proud and gives folk a sense of belonging that goes beyond what happens on the pitch. Then there's the friendships you make going to the games and the pain and suffering you share with your fellow supporters, as well as the joys, rare as they may be. There's is so much tied in to suporting a team, that has nothing, and i mean nothing to do with the results on the field.

As to that bit in bold...I hope you're here to learn, cos if you really don't understand why there are die hard Stirling Albion fans or Bradford City fans or Tranmere Rovers fans, then you have a lot to learn that has nothing to do with football. And i say this with all due respect. Some fans wait their whole lives for moments such as these. (and yes i know this is the half time score, that's the point, this was enough.)

View attachment 40374
That was quite beautiful. Thank you.
 

Vinho Tinto

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Because at it's heart football, the game, is a working class community sport. Your local team is still a thing. My grandad took me to Bayview to watch East Fife, I used to live round the corner from Raith Rovers, The Emirates and now Ibrox...where there are pubs and chip shops named after the clubs or the grounds. I can't imagine there's a single club in the UK that doesn't do work in the community...that rubs off on the locals and makes people feel proud and gives folk a sense of belonging that goes beyond what happens on the pitch. Then there's the friendships you make going to the games and the pain and suffering you share with your fellow supporters, as well as the joys, rare as they may be. There's is so much tied in to suporting a team, that has nothing, and i mean nothing to do with the results on the field.

As to that bit in bold...I hope you're here to learn, cos if you really don't understand why there are die hard Stirling Albion fans or Bradford City fans or Tranmere Rovers fans, then you have a lot to learn that has nothing to do with football. And i say this with all due respect. Some fans wait their whole lives for moments such as these. (and yes i know this is the half time score, that's the point, this was enough.)

View attachment 40374
Clubs are not Franchises.
 

Vinho Tinto

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coremiller

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The plan may not survive contact with the various forces aligned against it, but if the reporting is true about all the financing lined up for it, I really don't think it is a bluff.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/uefa-champions-league/story/4364173/man-unitedjuventustottenham-among-team-to-participate-in-super-league
If this is right, It's an immediate 233 million euros for each club, with another 400 million euros in loans for each club. That's a lot of money, especially for cash-strapped clubs hammered by COVID. Many of them may not be in a position to turn that down, even if they wanted to.
 

Sille Skrub

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Because at it's heart football, the game, is a working class community sport. Your local team is still a thing. My grandad took me to Bayview to watch East Fife, I used to live round the corner from Raith Rovers, The Emirates and now Ibrox...where there are pubs and chip shops named after the clubs or the grounds. I can't imagine there's a single club in the UK that doesn't do work in the community...that rubs off on the locals and makes people feel proud and gives folk a sense of belonging that goes beyond what happens on the pitch. Then there's the friendships you make going to the games and the pain and suffering you share with your fellow supporters, as well as the joys, rare as they may be. There's is so much tied in to suporting a team, that has nothing, and i mean nothing to do with the results on the field.

As to that bit in bold...I hope you're here to learn, cos if you really don't understand why there are die hard Stirling Albion fans or Bradford City fans or Tranmere Rovers fans, then you have a lot to learn that has nothing to do with football. And i say this with all due respect. Some fans wait their whole lives for moments such as these. (and yes i know this is the half time score, that's the point, this was enough.)

View attachment 40374
Awesome post as usual, Fletch. Thanks!
 

DJnVa

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Push notification that "at least 2" Ligue 1 teams are involved.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Lets see. If Bayern was really dead set against the Super League, I think they'd have issued a club statement by now, rather than letting a lame duck manager field the question in a press conference.

My guess is that Bayern are waiting to see which way the wind blows and if it looks like the Super League is indeed going ahead then they will "regretfully" join in a few weeks.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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Push notification that "at least 2" Ligue 1 teams are involved.
The symbolism of Monaco getting in on this will be thick (making in assumption here).

More practically, given their jacked TV deal, all French clubs not owned by oil states already will likely be pretty desperate to get in on this. All the golden goose killing this might potentially represent is other people's geese, their TV deal basically left them with a wooden duck pull toy.
 

jose melendez

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The symbolism of Monaco getting in on this will be thick (making in assumption here).

More practically, given their jacked TV deal, all French clubs not owned by oil states already will likely be pretty desperate to get in on this. All the golden goose killing this might potentially represent is other people's geese, their TV deal basically left them with a wooden duck pull toy.
I love the fact that if you live in a city and the big club is owned by Dan Snyder or some such, there can be another team. That's extremely appealing. Though with loyalty the way it is, I suspect it doesn't matter that much practically speaking and people don't leave their clubs if they're owned by monsters.

I imagine rooting for a team that doesn't have much of a chance is a but like rooting for a mid-level college team--you're probably never winning a championsip, but making the Sweet 16 is a lifetime event.
 

Section30

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I sampled various sources on the web this morning and saw some interesting proposals being brought forward by fans, cities, and governments.

Neville calls for immediate points deduction this season.
https://www.goal.com/en-us/news/deduct-points-neville-criticism-european-super-league/14kpd2x70o6b01x8r2v7igfx6m

The Guardian reports the club names are the property of the cities. Liverpool and Manchester could deny the use of the city name forcing a name change.

The Johnson administration is against it and is floating the idea of blocking visas for those involved in the league.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/apr/19/ministers-urged-to-take-action-over-european-super-league-plan

Manchester United fans feel they were treated with contempt by the team and owners in the fan forum two days before the announcement.
"Yesterday’s revelations that representatives of the club have colluded with others in secret to abandon the principles that our club established is deeply disturbing and hurtful.

"Football is nothing without fans and, as representatives of those fans, we couldn’t be clearer in their condemnation of this scheme."
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/man-united-news-fans-forum-20418132

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/fsg-multi-million-pound-truth-20415078
"But Henry, Stan Kroenke, the Glazers, Daniel Levy, Sheikh Mansour and Roman Abramovich don't have to see the whites of their fans eyes and explain to them why they have taken this decision to hijack the traditions of their football clubs in pursuit of a league that many simply do not want and others completely detest. "

"For all the success that FSG have achieved with Liverpool this moment will be their epitaph. They are custodians of the football club and would do well to remember that without the beating heart of the club, the supporters, they really have a hollow shell. "
 

shaggydog2000

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Just as a curiosity as a more recent fan (2000 and on, and from the US), what was the reaction like when the EPL was formed? I know it included breaking away from the Football league and creating their own TV deals that gave the EPL way more of the money. Did fans and pundits have this sort of a reaction? Relegation was obviously still part of the setup, but it was a pretty blatant cash grab that turned out pretty good for the competitiveness of the top teams.
 

candylandriots

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Denying visas because of a sporting dispute? Ok.
Well I think it was specifically about denying visas for the players to come and play in the league. Which would be one way for governments to squash this and score some major political points in the process.
 

Cellar-Door

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Denying visas because of a sporting dispute? Ok.
It's work permits really, and considering they already deny them to athletes if their country isn't high enough ranked, or the league they play in isn't highly ranked, or they only got 3 starts for Brazil instead of 4, it's not like it's some wild move to deny them based on being in the ESL.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Also not helping are these new UCL reforms. If you failed to qualify, you are not an elite club!

View: https://twitter.com/dw_sports/status/1384077960710221827?s=20
The ESL kind of sucks but this alternative sounds terrible as well.

10 matches every fall, only for 24 of 36 clubs (inevitably meaning every big club that doesn't completely crap its pants) to advance to the knockout rounds in the spring (the "playoffs" are obviously just another knockout round, no matter how branded). Its basically taking the worst parts of the CL - the sheer number of "Champions" competing, the endless group stage games that are total dead rubbers or at most for seeding in the R16 - and expanding them.
 

teddykgb

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This sounds a lot like the super league, except UEFA gets a big cut of the cash. I know the Super League is described as a "closed shop", but adding "elite clubs" that didn't qualify means pretty much the same thing in the end.
The crazy part is that they had that in their back pocket and it still wasn’t enough
 

Kliq

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This sounds a lot like the super league, except UEFA gets a big cut of the cash. I know the Super League is described as a "closed shop", but adding "elite clubs" that didn't qualify means pretty much the same thing in the end.
To me it has to be related to the posturing of the ESL, a caveat to the big clubs who don't want to be missing out on the UCL by creating a system where they are guaranteed to get that sweet, sweet European money every year, regardless of the quality of their club. It's UEFA's counter to the ESL proposal (and yeah I know the UCL reforms have been a long time coming but so has the concept of the ESL).
 

67YAZ

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This sounds a lot like the super league, except UEFA gets a big cut of the cash. I know the Super League is described as a "closed shop", but adding "elite clubs" that didn't qualify means pretty much the same thing in the end.
It really is about cutting UEFA out, both to retain whatever revenue cut UEFA takes but also to push aggressively with new lines of business. Up thread I mentioned the clubs leveraging the popularity of a Super League to become one of the world's biggest consumer data generators & algorithm advertising platforms. But when you look at the successful & varied business ventures that owners like Henry, the Glazers, Mansour, et al. have their fingers in...I have no doubt these owners have many, many plans that go beyond guaranteed UCL money every year.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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To me it has to be related to the posturing of the ESL, a caveat to the big clubs who don't want to be missing out on the UCL by creating a system where they are guaranteed to get that sweet, sweet European money every year, regardless of the quality of their club. It's UEFA's counter to the ESL proposal (and yeah I know the UCL reforms have been a long time coming but so has the concept of the ESL).
It does starkly illustrate that for all their bluster about competition, UEFA's main problem with the ESL proposal is that UEFA doesn't make enough money off it, rather than anything competition oriented.

The bans from international competition for players, who had zero say in whether a European Super League forms or not, are pretty fucked up when you consider them on the level of "a thing being done to a bunch of people" even as they make sense as a leverage point.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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UEFA says that players in the Super League will not be allowed to play in the World Cup

View: https://twitter.com/joepompliano/status/1384125402184966148?s=21
This threat has zero credibility. Does anybody seriously think FIFA or its commercial sponsors want a World Cup without players from those 12 clubs?

If they try to go through with it, there will be a massive flood of litigation and also huge public backlash. The 2022 World Cup is already a big enough joke and black eye for the game.

UEFA is like a cornered rat right now. They're going to try and say anything to turn the tide against the ESL in the next few days/weeks.
 

DJnVa

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Five of the eight remaining clubs in Europe are pleged to join the Super League. Is PSG going to be awarded the Champions League by default, and will Roma vs. Villareal be the Europa League finalists? Because if not, this is going to get super awkward very quickly.
"As soon as possible..."

Fabrizio Romano on Twitter: "Alexander Ceferin will meet legals to decide about sanctions for the clubs involved in UCL and Europa League this season. “We will try to use all the sanctions against the #SuperLeague clubs. As soon as possible they have to be BANNED from all our competitions, players too”. " / Twitter
 

67YAZ

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Five of the eight remaining clubs in Europe are pleged to join the Super League. Is PSG going to be awarded the Champions League by default, and will Roma vs. Villareal be the Europa League finalists? Because if not, this is going to get super awkward very quickly.
Is UEFA going to refund the broadcasters for canceled matches? And then go after the Super League clubs to get that cash back? C'mon now. There won't be any sanctions on current year competitions.
 

Kliq

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As a Tottenham fan, I'm torn between the idea that this was always going to happen and I'm glad that Tottenham, by having a recent run of competency (until this season) has managed to get a seat at the table, and the obvious damage it does to the game. The European soccer model tying success in Europe to financial gains has always been problematic. On its surface, it is a pure meritocracy. Win games and you are rewarded by getting a cut of the UCL revenue. The problem is that it creates a system where the rich clubs remain rich since they use the extra European money to buy up the top players which keeps their team at the top, both in overall popularity (which leads to more revenue) and by allowing them to qualify for the UCL each year. Anyone who doesn't have the ability to muscle their way into the UCL each year is shit out of luck, and the result is a complete lack of parity in most domestic leagues.

The EPL is slightly different in that the domestic league is so popular/valuable that even the smaller clubs are able to spend some serious cash. The result has been a more competitive league compared to the other Big 5 leagues, both in the sense that they have a Big 6 (as opposed to 1-2 dominant teams) and that more of the mid-sized clubs (like Leicester and West Ham) can realistically compete for a top spot. The result has been that each year the league is almost guaranteed to have at least one of their marquee teams (lately Arsenal, who has an extremely large global following, perhaps only second to Man U) is missing out on the big tournament.

This is going to be kind of rambling, but here is what frustrates me the most about the ESL.

1. The complete lack of accountability for failure. Big clubs can continue to fail over and over again and continue to cash-in on the ESL and prevent other clubs from crashing the party. Recent struggles by Arsenal, Man U, the Milan clubs, etc. would bear almost no impact on the prestige of those clubs, outside of the fact that they will be in the bottom half of the table of the ESL.

2. The arbitrary nature of how the "elite" clubs were chosen. I'm not sure of the exact size of each fanbase, but it seems like a weird amalgamation of teams. From England, Tottenham is in but Everton is out. Okay, well Tottenham has been recently more competitive than Everton so that makes sense. Everton has historically been a more successful club than Tottenham, and more recently won the league than Tottenham, even if Tottenham has been more competitive in the last five years. However, you look at the Serie A teams, and the same standard doesn't apply. AC Milan has been a clown show for most of the past decade, while teams like Napoli and Atalanta have been sharp, successful units. But AC Milan gets into the ESL and not those better-run teams? So AC Milan's history as a top club counts, but Everton's does not?

3. The shutting out of successful clubs that have a long history of success in soccer. Ajax, Sevilla, Monaco, Shakhtar Donetsk, Porto, Benfica, PSV, etc. Clubs that have been very successful at the highest level getting shut out. Ajax making it to the semi-finals a few years ago was a truly magical moment and every neutral fan loved seeing an old giant awake.

4. If it does end up to killing the top teams from competing domestically, that will be an unbelievable tragedy. Imagine the Merseyside Derby not taking place twice a year, with a ton on the line? That is the real spirit of the game and it will be destroyed. Sure, the ESL teams will come up with their own rivalries over time, but it won't feel the same if Liverpool's biggest rival is Inter Milan and not their neighbors.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Jul 2, 2006
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Five of the eight remaining clubs in Europe are pleged to join the Super League. Is PSG going to be awarded the Champions League by default, and will Roma vs. Villareal be the Europa League finalists? Because if not, this is going to get super awkward very quickly.
Ceferin is talking out of his ass in the desperate hope that the ESL proposal gets beaten back by a negative tide of public opinion and perhaps some governmental action.

I cannot imagine that they have any solid legal recourse to kick these clubs out of the CL/EL due to a statement the clubs have released about their future intentions. Nor can I imagine that the CL's television and commercial sponsors would be pleased if they decided to just end the competition and declare a winner right now.
 

Joe D Reid

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I imagine rooting for a team that doesn't have much of a chance is a but like rooting for a mid-level college team--you're probably never winning a championship, but making the Sweet 16 is a lifetime event.
Or possibly for a non-P5 conference football school if the Knight Commission proposal goes forward. Calls for P5 conferences to leave the NCAA entirely and self-manage a football competition. The NCAA is so (correctly) reviled that I think the proposal is seen as enlightened here, even though it would have the effect of closing off access to the top tier of college football.
 

Cellar-Door

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Aug 1, 2006
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This threat has zero credibility. Does anybody seriously think FIFA or its commercial sponsors want a World Cup without players from those 12 clubs?

If they try to go through with it, there will be a massive flood of litigation and also huge public backlash. The 2022 World Cup is already a big enough joke and black eye for the game.

UEFA is like a cornered rat right now. They're going to try and say anything to turn the tide against the ESL in the next few days/weeks.
It's an attempt to align the players against ESL. Players are going to be very wary (a salary cap is the obvious move for ESL once they lock in never worrying about relegation). Basically UEFA says... play on ESL and you can't play in the Euros of WC, with the hope players say.... "my contract doesn't cover ESL, and I won't sign one to play there if it costs me international play", with the threat to follow being that if the clubs are really banned by their leagues, the players can request (and likely get in most countries) release from their contract.

He's basically making the (likely empty) threat that if you go to ESL as a club, the best players will desert you for no compensation. So you have your big name, but 2nd and 3rd tier players, while the top players move to the big money clubs left behind. Also interesting... if that happened, big money would be lining up to invest in the West Ham and Newcastles of the world.
 

Zososoxfan

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Jul 30, 2009
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I find this galling, but at the same time the UCL proposed new format stinks and at the end of the day I'm going to watch the most competitive and high level of the sport no matter what. I mean, I grew up watching the sport and in the 90s I believed that the WC was the pinnacle of the sport. As I've aged, I recognized that the highest level of the sport was really at the club level. And now I recognize that the highest level of the sport is the final stages of the UCL and UEL. So while I'd be bummed if the WC became more watered down, I'd still watch because of the pageantry and the scarcity of it. But I'm not going to watch more La Liga/EPL drubbings if the clubs focus on the ESL.