The Super League Conundrum PART I: Remembering a Chaotic Week
Welcome to a PART I in a III part series on the European Super League, where we'll cover it's origins, that fateful week in April 2021, and what comes next.
In April of 2021, 12 of Europe’s top professional soccer teams announced that they were breaking away from UEFA’s Champions League to form the European Super League. And then less than 48 hours later, at least six of those teams backed out. Then it collapsed completely, where only 3 remained in Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Spain. To soccer fans around the globe, myself included, the events seemed shocking and surreal. In this three-part series, we’re going to look back at why this boiling point was reached, how this likely won’t be the last time we see this type of threat issued, and what could be done to avoid this whole mess happening again.
So how did we reach this point? European football has been in a state of Cold War for decades, with the threat of a breakaway Super League coming up in conversations every few years. Usually, it ends with more concessions and reforms or some other agreement that favours the biggest teams and merely kicks the can down the road. And we’ve gone through this process several times over the last two or three decades.
Last April’s official announcement and statement of intent signalled an end to the posturing, rumours and threats. Make no mistake about it, for 48 brief, dramatic hours, football was at full out war. On the one side was UEFA, the current governing body of European football and organiser of the Champions League, the most prestigious and valuable club competition in all of football. Period.
On the other hand, 11 of the most powerful clubs in global football (and Tottenham): Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atlético de Madrid from Spain; Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham, and Arsenal from England; Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan from Italy. The prize? Control of the very future of the world’s most popular and lucrative game.
Most fans, pundits and other commentators were up in arms over what they saw as an aggressive move motivated by the greed of 12 club owners in pursuit of ever greater financial returns at the expense of the rest of the football world. Its architects on the other hand claimed they were “saving football.” Most fans saw it for what it was. A group of teams who had overspent and needed cash fast, and who were afraid of being knocked of their perches as the elite of the European game by "outsiders."
Plans for a European Super League are nothing new. In fact, they first reared their head in the 60s, when economic problems first motivated ideas of a new glamour league of only big teams capable of maximising revenues. While at times the European Super League has been planned as a full replacement for the domestic leagues and European Cup/Champions League, this most recent iteration was planned as a replacement for the Champions League only, with teams still competing domestically. The now suspended plan aimed to have 15 founding members (it is thought Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and PSG were the 3 still being pursued by the 12) who would have guaranteed membership.
That would leave space for 5 more teams who would have had to qualify and could be relegated. It was not clear exactly how these clubs would be chosen or whether they would be replaced every year or only if they underperformed. Although completely foreign to European sport, this model of a closed (or majority closed) league is very common in the United States, with the NBA, the NFL, the MLS and more all operating this way. But therein laid the problem. 12 teams could never be relegated. Any sporting merit this league claimed to have got invalidated the second this detail came out. How can you have a soccer league, in Europe, where more than half your teams can’t get relegated? Did these 12 teams really think fans would be that stupid? Part of the fun of European Soccer is avoiding the drop to a lower division. Who’s going to be dropped from the league is just as exciting as who’s going to qualify for the Champions League.
Here's the thing, European football has been in trouble for a long time. Many of the arguments made by Pérez and other Super League architects, whether said genuinely or more likely as a guise to hide what their true motivations were, are rooted in fact and, if not dealt with, threaten to kill the sport we love. Domestic leagues have become hugely uncompetitive, especially outside of England. Clubs that have managed to carve out a superiority in their league are becoming increasingly detached from the rest of their competition, a pattern that will continue to grow as leave the rest behind. Take the Bundesliga for example, which Bayern Munich have won nine times ins a row as of this writing.
The most powerful clubs already have the advantages in place to dominate and continue dominating even if more stringent financial doping measures are implemented. They have the huge stadiums, the global fanbase, the reputation and brand, the commercial deals, the world class academies, and more. And to them all this just isn’t enough. They want more money, more players, and more exposure. Hence, the Super League was born.
Comments