The European Super League
Did you know that the creation of the Champions League was enacted as a part of a UEFA initiative to accommodate clubs who sought to defect and create a European Super League? Arsene Wenger in 2009 predicted that a super league would be formed within ten years. Discussions would never die down, with Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United discussing the proposal at a 2016 meeting with American real estate tycoon Stephen M. Ross, and wider discussions took place in 2018. Could we really see the landscape of European football change irreversibly in the next decade? After all, British clubs greatly enhanced their own power by forming the Premier League over two decades ago, a similar power-grabbing move. This article will shed some light on the proposals, discussing what could happen, and the impacts any changes could have on European football.
What exactly is the European Super League?
The end of domestic leagues as we know it would see the birth of an 18 team European league, made up of those with the strongest television presence, the clubs that could economically best help the formation of the league. With no need for future Champions League and Europa League qualification, domestic leagues would cease to have value. If it seems like a scheme for the richest clubs, already financially untouchable by those further down the table, to get richer, that is because largely that is what this is. The current agreed structure for European football comes to an end in 2024, and that could see an advent of the European Super League.
What would the ESL look like?
Der Spiegel claims that it saw a ‘binding term sheet’ from late 2018 sent from Key Capital Partners to Real Madrid president, Fiorentino Perez. It suggested that Real Madrid would be joined by both Manchester clubs, Arsenal, Chelsea, Barcelona, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Milan and PSG in a league where they would face no risk of relegation for 20 years. Marseille, Borussia Dortmund, Internazionale and Roma would also appear. The format, not showing a route in for other smaller clubs via domestic success, would be a ring-fenced league for the most financially impressive European clubs.
Potential Impact
This all seems rather ominous for modern football; while many would obviously love to see the biggest clubs battle it out in a league format every season, most are certainly not tired of the Premier League, and you can imagine most fans would not want to see the domestic league dropped. The saving grace is that England and Germany indicated in 2019 that they would block ECA proposals that would give rise to a European Super League. UEFA are also very satisfied with the current arrangements, with the Champions League having proved a success. However, there is the question of how much power UEFA would actually have to block proposals when faced with the power of the European giants. UEFA is certainly a powerful organisation, and collect a revenue of 3.86 billion euros a year (the 2018/19 season) - however, with clubs like Barcelona earning around 900 million euros, this financial might is put into perspective.
Fallout
Football is at its heart a working-class game, born into and flourishing in the industrial towns that dominated late 1800s Britain. The European Super League proposals endanger football’s connection to its past, something already endangered by the huge financial inequalities between a select few clubs and the rest. A fan who earns £23,500 a year (the wage of an average Liverpool fan in 2018) simply cannot afford to fly around Europe week in week out to watch their club play. Fans lament the atmosphere of the Emirates, of Wembley, and removing football from its working-class roots and into vested interests only seeks to continue this trend of ‘plastic’ stadiums. The European Super League pretty clearly is not good for the game; yes it may be good for a select few clubs, whose revenues will soar, but it is the other clubs and football fans who will suffer. We can only hope that in 2024, the creation of a European Super League can be avoided.
What do you think about the potential creation of a European Super League? How do you think it will affect the way people watch domestic leagues like the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and Ligue 1? Do you think it would be a good replacement for the Champions Leauge?