By Ron Howells • Published: 18 Apr 2021 • 23:19
Breakaway European Super League Set To Be Announced.
Six Premier League clubs are set to be part of plans for a new breakaway European Super League, with an announcement set to be made on Sunday night, April 18. The plan is to rival UEFA’s Champions League, with an announcement set to be made on a new format of the historic competition very soon.
UEFA was set to announce the new 36-team Champions League format which was initially supposed to start in 2024. According to reports, the 12 clubs are Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus.
UEFA has also thanked the German and French teams for their rejection of a Super League. “We thank the clubs in other countries, especially the French and German clubs, who have refused to sign up for this. We call on all football lovers, supporters and politicians, to join us in fighting this project if it is announced. This self-interest of the few has been going on for too long. Enough is enough, “he concluded in a strong statement.
Sky News City editor Mark Kleinman said: “My understanding is that 12 clubs from across Europe including the six biggest English clubs have now signed up to this new format. The others include Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid.”
Kleinman added: “The new league includes staggering sums of money that will be handed to the participating clubs. About €5.0bn has been committed to this new project by the American bank JP Morgan.
“And this will come after European clubs’ finances have been hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic which is one of the reasons why so many of Europe’s biggest clubs have decided that now is the right time to form a European super league after years of on/off discussions about such a project.”
What is the European Super League?
According to The Times, here are the following proposals for the Super League.
The Super League proposals include:
– The 15 founder clubs sharing an initial €3.5billion euro “infrastructure grant” ranging from €35million to €101million per club which can be spent on stadiums, training facilities or “to replace lost stadium-related revenues due to Covid-19”.
– The format would see two groups of 10 clubs who play home and away, with the top four from each group going through to two-legged quarter-finals, semi-finals and a one-legged final.
– Matches would be midweek and clubs would still play in domestic leagues
– Clubs would have rights to show four matches a season on their own the digital platforms across the world
– Income from TV and sponsorship would favour the founding clubs: 32.5% of the pot would be shared equally between the 15 clubs, and another 32.5% between all Super League clubs including the five qualifiers
– 20% of the pot would be merit money “distributed in the same manner as the current English Premier League merit-based system” according to where clubs finish in the competition or group if they don’t make the knock-out stage
– The remaining 15% would get a “commercial share based on club awareness”
– A cap of 55% of revenues permitted to be spent on salaries and transfers (net)
– A ‘Financial Sustainability Group’ would monitor clubs’ spending
It didn’t take long for the Premier League and UEFA to respond.
The Premier League said: “The Premier League condemns any proposal that attacks the principles of open competition and sporting merit which are at the heart of the domestic and European football pyramid.
“Fans of any club can currently dream that their team may climb to the top and play against the best. We believe that the concept of a Super League would destroy this dream.
“A European Super League will undermine the appeal of the whole game, and have a deeply damaging impact on the immediate and future prospects of the Premier League and its member clubs, and all those in football who rely on our funding/solidarity to prosper.”
Source: The Times
Share this story
Subscribe to our Euro Weekly News alerts to get the latest stories into your inbox!
By signing up, you will create a Euro Weekly News account if you don't already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
Ron actually started his working career as an Ophthalmic Technician- things changed when, during a band rehearsal, his amplifier blew up and he couldn’t get it fixed so he took a course at Birmingham University and ended up doing a degree course. He built up a chain of electronics stores and sold them as a franchise over 35 years ago. After five years touring the world Ron decided to move to Spain with his wife and son, a place they had visited over the years, and only bought the villa they live in because it has a guitar-shaped swimming pool!. Playing the guitar since the age of 7, he can often be seen, (and heard!) at beach bars and clubs along the length of the coast. He has always been interested in the news and constantly thrives to present his articles in an interesting and engaging way.
The best and quickest, cheapest way to stop the super league going ahead is for the fans to stop buying tickets for those games. When no money is paid, the money men will soon see that people are fed up with being ripped off, and the game being spoiled.
Once this crap idea gets totally rejected by the fans and the big clubs involved beg for forgiveness ,we should shun them and support our local teams. Of course in the u.k the rot set in when the ‘premiershit’ was formed in 92.
When this daftt idea is over and long burried fans, should never forget the owners of these big clubs that have tried to do this to us. Of course from the u.k. prospective ,the rot started with the birth of the ‘premiers**t ‘ in 92. Out of control capitalism at its worst backed by multi national rich corporations, that couldn’t give a damn about the fans.
Comments are closed.
Download our media pack in either English or Spanish.