WHAT IS IT?
The European Super League (or the Super League) is a proposed league by Twelve founding members from England, Spain and Italy. These founding members in alphabetical order are: AC Milan, Arsenal FC, Atlético de Madrid, Chelsea FC, FC Barcelona, FC Internazionale Milano, Juventus FC, Liverpool FC, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid CF and Tottenham Hotspur.
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WHAT IS PROPOSED
- It is proposed as a new mid-week competition, something that will replace the UEFA Champions League.
- It will be composed of 20 participating clubs: 15 Founding Clubs and a qualifying mechanism for a further five teams to qualify annually, based on achievements in the prior season.
- Participating clubs will be divided into two groups of ten, playing home and away fixtures, with the top three in each group automatically qualifying for the quarter finals. Teams finishing fourth and fifth will then compete in a two-legged play-off for the remaining quarter-final positions.
- It is proposed to start in August, A two-leg knockout format will be used to reach the final at the end of May, which will be staged as a single fixture at a neutral venue.
- Participating clubs will continue to compete in their respective national leagues, preserving the traditional domestic match calendar.
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WHAT DO PARTICIPATING CLUBS GAIN? - The 15 founding members cannot relegate. They will always be in the competition.
- According to Marca, each participating club in the European Super League will receive 3.5 billion euros to start with, with American bank JP Morgan heading up the financial backing of the project.
- The club that wins the European Super League could be due close to 400 million euros, compared to the 120 million euros that is given out to the Champions League winners each year. Barcelona, who reached the semi-finals in 2019, received 117 million euros in prize money.
- As for the rest of the 1.95 billion euros in the European Super League, 488 million (25 percent) will be handed out in initial payments and another 585 million based on results.
- Another 30 percent of payments will go based on a club’s coefficient achieved over the past 10 years. That leaves 292 million euros (15 percent) dished out in add-ons.
- These figures haven’t been confirmed by the European Super League, but they almost triple those currently earned by clubs in the Champions League.
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WHO GOVERNS THE SUPER LEAGUE? - The Super League will be governed by its Founding Clubs (the 12 clubs above). Going forward, the Founding Clubs look forward to holding discussions with UEFA and FIFA to work together in partnership to deliver the best outcomes for the new League and for football as a whole. However, Football governing bodies like the UEFA and FIFA are against it.
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HOW IS THE SUPER LEAGUE RECIEVED SO FAR?
As stated earlier, Football governing bodies are against it. In fact, clubs and players are threatened of sanction should they participate. We believe there will be more information as things evolve. As of now, we hear the likes of Dortmund and Porto have rejected an invite to join the Super League. It has being trending on twitter and other social media platforms. Football icons and players have expressed their sentiments, most not in support of the Super League. On the contrary, the founding Clubs are adamant, standing their ground with the likes of AC Milan, Inter and Juventus leaving the European Club Association (ECA). In fact, Juventus Chairman, Andrea Agnelli, resigned as ECA Chairman, a position he has held since 2012, to become the Super League vice-president.
Credit: Footballgeria