Super League Dead.
Well, well, well … that was incredibly short-lived. In fact, the now defunct and infamous Super League lived for three days give or take a few hours. What an embarrassment.
The Super League
The Super League was meant to be a replacement to the Champions League where there would be 20 participating clubs with 15 of them, the founding members, being a mainstay every year. The additional five would be determined by a qualifying coefficient. The 15 regulars were meant to be the powerhouses from major European Leagues and the ones that have the greatest financial clout to buy the world’s best players to put on display. The format of the competition was to divide the clubs into two groups of 10 playing home and away fixtures. The top three in each group would automatically qualify for the knock-out phase while the fourth and fifth placed teams would play a home and away play-off to determine two additional knock-out participants. So unlike what many think, this league was not a replacement for Domestic competition. The Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, League 1 would still exist and be comprised of the same clubs, it’s just that the incentive to succeed would dwindle for both power and financial perspectives.
The Problem
Where to start ….
The Founding Members
Of the founding members (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, AC Milan, Arsenal, Chelsea, Inter, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham), several aren’t even in qualifying positions for next years Champions League. Some didn’t even qualify for last years Champions League. Not so super, don’t you think?
Domestic Football
The creation of a Super League would essentially put some of the incentives of Domestic competition to bed. Currently, the top three or four teams in the major European Leagues qualify for the Champions League. If they cut that down to five from across all the major European Leagues, the chances of a surprise qualifier would essentially diminish. Also, the fact that there is an elitist tier that allows an ugly duckling to join them for a year smacks of disparity and a class-based culture with no regard for equality. What we are currently fighting for as a Global society is defamed with this concept.
Money
The incentive to join the league for the founding members was approximately €350 million. A sum of money that would help them alleviate the effects that the pandemic has had on the balance sheet and put them back in the black. Contrary to that, the clubs not part of this group would fall farther down the totem pole as there would be no financial compensation provided to them. The result would be a greater chasm created between lower and upper class and essentially eliminate the middle class.
The Result
After widespread revolt from players and fans alike, the Super League died with a whimper. Despite the elite aiming to rip the football world apart, the tribalism usually seen between soccer fans turned to unity. The ‘leaders’ of these clubs saw the ramifications that such a deplorable concept would have on the future of the clubs and quickly retracted their association with the Super League. Embarrassing.
The Future
Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich
Despite the failure of the Super League to gain any buy-in or momentum, there is a serious class problem in football and we’re all to blame. When Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea Football Club in 2003, there began a domino effect of billionaires taking the reigns of the biggest football clubs across the world and lavishly spending on players as bankers would do at bars on bonus day. Any club that got bought by an oligarch would send fans sent into a frenzy with validation that they had just joined the elitist club. and could now spend on the greatest players in world football. This created a massive chasm of disparity that still exists today. The sad this was that we all supported this and pushed our clubs to spend, spend, spend and we should feel slightly hypocritical saying that the Super League is elitist despite it being so. As a fan, the romanticism of football has been dead for a while now, bar the year that Leicester won the Premier League. It’s become too predictable and too boring. The Super League would have added to the misery.
Action
This result should set the wheels in motion for fundamental change in football. There should be a salary cap enacted to create more parity amongst clubs. There should be more ownership given to the supporters who can hold owners/leaders accountable for their decisions. There should be Governing bodies that audit clubs and punish those the break the rules. This is just the start and hopefully the minds at the top can find the correct balance between entertainment and fairness
UEFA
How to reform the Champions League?
Let’s not kid ourselves, UEFA isn’t a saint in this. They’ve diluted competitions, changed rules etc. to the point where I don’t even understand part of game or the formats of most competitions these days. The reason for the Super League is that UEFA didn’t hold the bigger clubs accountable and let them run wild. Financial Fair Play was an absolute joke as UEFA didn’t have the marbles to stand up to the ones with the deepest pockets when violations occurred. Once the money started to dry up, the ‘bigger’ clubs needed an out to stem the freefall they are in due to over-leveraging themselves in the good times. The Super League offered that
Next
I have no idea what’s going to happen or if there will be any fundamental change as I don’t trust any of football’s governing bodies to work for the greater good.
All I can say is, ‘See you on Saturday morning’
