BERLIN – A future European Super League (ESL) could include as many as 80 teams, Bernd Reichart, the chief executive of A22 Sports Management, a company formed to sponsor and assist in the creation of a breakaway football league, said on Thursday.
In a statement outlining the preliminary results of talks that A22 had with what it said were 50 European clubs and stakeholders of football, the company said change was necessary.
“The vast majority of them share the assessment that the very foundation of European football is under threat, and it is time for change,” A22 said.
“Feedback suggests a European football league that is open, based solely on sporting merit, multidivisional with 60 to 80 clubs and a minimum of 14 guaranteed European matches per club.”
Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus were among 12 clubs to announce a breakaway Super League in April 2022. But the move collapsed within 48 hours after an outcry from fans, governments and players forced Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid to pull out.
That left only Real, Barcelona and Juventus as holdouts. The ESL took its case to a Spanish court, which subsequently sought guidance from the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
“Our objective is to present a sustainable sporting project for European club competitions available to, at a minimum, all 27 EU member states as soon as possible after receipt of the judgment,” Reichart said.
“The issues are clear, and action must be taken for the benefit of fans, players, and clubs.”
Spain’s La Liga president Javier Tebas, a staunch opponent of the ESL, said the plan would favour only big clubs.
“The Super League is the wolf, who today disguises himself as a granny to try to fool European football, but his nose and his teeth are very big,” he wrote on Twitter on Thursday.
“Four divisions in Europe? Of course the first for them, as in the 2019 reform. Government of the clubs? Of course only the big ones.”
European football governing body Uefa, the biggest opponent to the ESL plan which it sees as threatening its own Champions League club competition, did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.
A22 said there were 10 principles that emerged from the discussions, including improving competitiveness, financial sustainability and fan experience.
At issue in the ongoing court case is whether European body Uefa and global governing body Fifa statutes allowing them to block rival events and bar clubs and players from taking part conform with EU competition rules.
A Spanish court on Jan 31 barred Uefa and Fifa from punishing the promoters of the ESL following an appeal against an earlier decision.
The ruling was the latest step in a drawn-out legal battle which had already been through two other Spanish courts and could in turn be superseded by a ruling from the CJEU, expected in the first quarter of 2023.
The Madrid Provincial Court agreed to overturn a decision by a judge in a commercial court last April to uphold Uefa’s earlier appeal against precautionary measures issued by another Spanish court shortly after the failed launch of the breakaway competition in 2021. REUTERS, AFP
