European Super League announced; collapses

[Lineker]

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Six English teams are expected to be part of plans for a breakaway European super league, with an announcement due soon, Sky News understands.

Among the English clubs involved are Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea.

The project has been launched to rival UEFA's Champions League format which currently dominates European football.

Sky News' City editor Mark Kleinman said: "My understanding is that 12 clubs from across Europe including the six biggest English clubs have now signed up to this new format.

"The others include Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid."

The developments come as UEFA itself was due to sign off on its own plans for an expanded and restructured Champions League on Monday.

UEFA, the FA, and the Premier League as well as football authorities in Spain and Italy have expressed their opposition to a breakaway European super league.

In a joint statement they said they "remain united in our efforts to stop this cynical project", adding: "We thank those clubs in other countries, especially the French and German clubs, who have refused to sign up to this.

"This persistent self-interest of a few has been going on for too long. Enough is enough."

Kleinman said of the rival competition: "The new league includes staggering sums of money that will be handed to the participating clubs. About $6bn has been committed to this new project by the American bank JP Morgan.

"And this will come after European clubs' finances have been hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic which is one of the reasons why so many of Europe's biggest clubs have decided that now is the right time to form a European super league after years of on/off discussions about such a project."

The Premier League said it "condemns any proposal that attacks the principles of open competition and sporting merit which are at the heart of the domestic and European football pyramid".

In its own statement, it also said: "Fans of any club in England and across Europe can currently dream that their team may climb to the top and play against the best. We believe that the concept of a European Super League would destroy this dream."

The Premier League's chief executive Richard Masters has written to all 20 clubs in England's top division to state the league's opposition to the new project.

Mr Masters told the 20 that "this venture cannot be launched without English clubs and we call upon any club contemplating associating themselves or joining this venture to walk away immediately before irreparable damage is done".

Mr Masters goes on to say in the memo: "We do not and cannot support such a concept.

"Premier League rules contain a commitment amongst clubs to remain within the football pyramid and forbid any clubs from entering competitions beyond those listed in rule L9, without Premier League board permission.

"I cannot envisage any scenario where such permission would be granted."

Speaking about the developments during Sky Sports' coverage of Manchester United and Burnley, former United defender Gary Neville said: "I'm not against the modernisation of football competitions, we have the Premier League, the Champions League, but I think to bring forward proposals in the midst of COVID and the economic crisis for all clubs is an absolute scandal.

"United and the rest of the 'Big Six' that have signed up to it against the rest of the Premier League should be ashamed of themselves."

Neville added: "I can't focus on the game. They should deduct six points off all six teams that have signed up to it. Deduct points off them all. To do it during a season? It's a joke."

UEFA, the English Football Association and the Premier League, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and LaLiga, and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and Lega Serie A have released a joint statement.

They said they had "learned that a few English, Spanish and Italian clubs may be planning to announce their creation of a closed, so-called Super League".

"If this were to happen, we wish to reiterate that we - UEFA, the English FA, RFEF, FIGC, the Premier League, LaLiga, Lega Serie A, but also FIFA and all our member associations - will remain united in our efforts to stop this cynical project, a project that is founded on the self-interest of a few clubs at a time when society needs solidarity more than ever."

It went on: "We will consider all measures available to us, at all levels, both judicial and sporting in order to prevent this happening. Football is based on open competitions and sporting merit; it cannot be any other way.

"As previously announced by FIFA and the six Federations, the clubs concerned will be banned from playing in any other competition at domestic, European or world level, and their players could be denied the opportunity to represent their national teams.

"We thank those clubs in other countries, especially the French and German clubs, who have refused to sign up to this. We call on all lovers of football, supporters and politicians, to join us in fighting against such a project if it were to be announced. This persistent self-interest of a few has been going on for too long. Enough is enough."

The move to create a rival league is being seen by some in football as a surprise after the European Club Association (ECA), which represents 246 of the continent's leading clubs, gave their backing to UEFA's reforms.

UEFA has proposed an increase to 36 from 32 teams in the Champions League, and an overhaul of the group stage into a single table rather than the current groups of four clubs.

Teams would play 10 matches each in the group stage rather than the six they currently play and a playoff round would also be introduced before the last 16.

There have been reports of a plan for a breakaway league for a number of years and the speculation returned in January with several media reports that a document had been produced outlining the plans for a 20-team league.

Those reports led FIFA and UEFA to warn they would ban any players involved in a breakaway from playing in the World Cup or European Championship.

http://news.sky.com/story/european-super-league-plans-set-to-be-announced-six-english-teams-involved-sky-news-understands-12279432

 

Grim.

[Bobfoc]

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"And this will come after European clubs' finances have been hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic which is one of the reasons why so many of Europe's biggest clubs have decided that now is the right time to form a European super league after years of on/off discussions about such a project."

Bugger off with this. Clubs are in danger of going out of business completely and these big boys are pouting about temporarily bringing in slightly fewer millions.

[Adam]

They can all fuck right off.

The fans will surely hate it - how many are going to travel for midweek games across the continent all year round? The domestic leagues will all be completely devalued and I can only presume that the international game will also be lessened by it.

The lot of them, every single team involved, wants jettisoning completely from every competition and told where to take their pursuit of greed.

[Baddar]

What a load of shite.

[Baddar]

UEFA and FIFA threatened banning players from their comps if there's a breakaway. We'll see what happens with that as they all want to play CL, Euros, World Cup etc. Hope this never materialises. 

Sky speaking out is funny.

Gonna be awkward when they pay billions for the rights and charge us extra for the subscriptions.

[The Lusophone]

If this happens, I'm done as a United fan. Don't care anymore. Club can go fuck itself.

[Baddar]

Players will speak out against it and all will be fine I think. Nobody wants to miss out on the World Cup etc.

And as Nev says, we're drawing with Burnley and Arsenal can't beat Fulham yet we're involved. Playing in the top competitions needs to be earned.

[Krabby]

In layman's terms, what is the deal with this?

[Baddar]

7 minutes ago, Krabby said:

In layman's terms, what is the deal with this?

Big clubs have agreed to break away for a big money league, but the likes of Uefa and the individual football federations are obviously against it.

It could mean everyone involved can't play in big tournaments like the Euros and the World Cup because Uefa/Fifa won't allow it, so for that reason I don't see it happening.

[DavidMarrio]

It's all to do with money and neither side give a shit about what the fans think.

The league's will try and come across as the we want to protect sporting integrity etc when really it's about money.

The big club's will argue look at this competition which the best clubs in the world play against each other regularly when really it's about money. 

Yet no one's asked fans and it's pretty much universally despised by the fans of the club's involved and the club's not involved. 

[GA!]

Also, it's just a shit idea from a competition standpoint. Did Real Madrid beat Juventus today? No? Can't wait until we see if they can beat them like next week or something. It will bore fans senseless quickly.

[gunnar hendershow]

Bayern and PSG are against the proposal. They'd be the two I'd figure would benefit the least since they'll always finish top 2-3 in their domestic leagues so there's no financial loss they'll risk incurring that a big club, especially in England, might face.

I don't actually think this sees the light of day and will just be used as a bargaining chip from these big clubs to get a ton of concessions out of their domestic leagues and UEFA.

[DavidMarrio]

In terms of the Prem teams who want this to go ahead, it may be a  "coincidence" that television rights are soon to be up again (pretty sure they need to agree them for 2022-2025 soon) 

[Baddar]

Neville with a pipe bomb to rival Punk here.

[Adam]

It's also no coincidence that this materialises when Spurs, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal all sit outside of the Premier League's top four and Juventus are clinging onto 4th after dominating Serie A for years.

Greed, greed, greed.

[Lineker]

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Senior Uefa figures are furious that 11 major European clubs, including five from England, have signed up to a breakaway European Super League.

BBC Sport was told last week of plans for some sort of confirmation about a European Super League.

Uefa hoped to head off plans with a new-look 36-team Champions League set to be confirmed on Monday.

Uefa said it will use "all measures available" to stop the "cynical project" of a breakaway Super League.

The European governing body released a joint statement together with the English Football Association, Premier League Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), La Liga, and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) as well as Serie A on Sunday.

They said they will "remain united" in trying to stop the breakaway, using both judicial and sporting measures if required.

They also reiterated Fifa's stance that players taking part in the Super League would be banned from all other competitions at domestic, European or world level and could be prevented from representing their national teams.

In a separate statement, the Premier League said it condemned the proposal as it "attacks the principles of open competition and sporting merit which are at the heart" of domestic and European football.

Juventus owner Andrea Agnelli, Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward and AC Milan chief executive Ivan Gazidis would all have had a significant input into the Champions League discussions on Friday.

However, it appears those clubs are among those to have broken ranks, to the fury of Uefa, whose president Aleksander Ceferin wanted to stave off a Super League threat.

Spanish La Liga sides Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid are also part of the 11-team group, as are Italian Serie A club Inter Milan.

None of the clubs concerned have responded to questions about the proposals.

The Premier League said a European Super League would "destroy" the dream of fans that "their team may climb to the top and play against the best".

It added such a league would "undermine the appeal of the whole game" and that they would work with the FA, the English Football League, Professional Footballers' Association, League Managers Association and fans to "defend the integrity and future prospects of English football".

The FA said it will "not provide permission to any competition that would be damaging to English football" and will "take any legal and/or regulatory action necessary" to stop it.

Bundesliga sides are opposed to the plans because the German model means commercial investors cannot have more than a 49% stake in clubs, so fans hold a majority of their own voting rights.

It is understood French Ligue 1 side Paris St-Germain are not part of the 11-team group.

Uefa said it thanked "those clubs in other countries, especially the French and German clubs, who have refused to sign up" to the breakaway league.

"We call on all lovers of football, supporters and politicians, to join us in fighting against such a project if it were to be announced," they added.

"This persistent self-interest of a few has been going on for too long. Enough is enough."

Quite when the European Super League would start is unclear.

However, world governing body Fifa has already said it would not recognise such a competition and any players involved in it would be denied the chance to play at a World Cup.

Serie A have called an emergency board meeting to discuss the matter.

The Football Supporters' Association said it is "totally opposed" to the plans, which it said were "motivated by nothing but cynical greed".

They added: "This competition is being created behind our backs by billionaire club owners who have zero regard for the game's traditions and continue to treat football as their personal fiefdom."

It has been agreed the new-look Champions League will involve an initial phase where every club plays 10 matches each rather than the current group phase.

In addition there would be play-offs, followed by a knockout phase.

The most controversial aspect of the proposals surround the allocation of the four additional places, with two being reserved for the clubs ranked highest in Uefa's co-efficient table who fail to qualify for the Champions League through their domestic competition, but do secure some kind of European football.

At the moment, Liverpool and Chelsea would be the clubs who benefited from that system if it was in place this season.

 

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Uefa and the Premier League have strongly condemned proposals to form a breakaway European super league after multiple reports that the new competition, including six English clubs, is set to be announced on Sunday evening.

However, one executive at a leading European club insisted that full agreement has yet to be reached and described the situation as a “massive game of poker” for the future of the domestic game.

It is understood that Uefa – who described the proposal to create a “so-called Super League” as a “cynical project founded on the self-interest of a few clubs” – was holding emergency meetings in an attempt to persuade some clubs not to join the breakaway league. Its statement, which was also signed by the Premier League, the Football Association and their counterparts in Spain and Italy, also reiterated the threat to ban any players involved from “any competition at domestic, European or world level”.

Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham have yet to confirm they are the English clubs to have agreed to join the new £6bn league, with six others, including Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus and Milan also reported to be on board. It is understood, however, that some Premier League are more committed to the concept than others.

Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich have so far insisted they have not signed up so it remains to be seen whether the others will carry out their threat to turn their backs on their domestic leagues and risk their players being barred from all competitions, including the World Cup. PSG’s reluctance to turn their back on Ligue 1 despite major issues with its new TV rights deal could be down to proposed stringent financial regulations in the new competition that would be similar to Uefa’s Financial Fair Play regulations.

The impetus for the breakaway league is thought to have come from the Real Madrid president, Florentino Pérez, although Liverpool’s John W Henry, Joel Glazer of Manchester United, the Arsenal owner, Stan Kroenke, and Andrea Agnelli of Juventus have been touted as potential vice-chairmen of the new competition, which would be bankrolled by the US banking giant JP Morgan. Barcelona’s new president, Joan Laporta, is also believed to have given the green light to plans that were first agreed to by his predecessor, Josep María Bartomeu before his resignation in October.

It is understood that clubs are also want provision to raise money by private equity – a trend that has become increasingly popular in recent years.

Uefa had been due to sign off new plans for an expanded and restructured Champions League on Monday but the timing of the latest development could now put that in jeopardy. “We will consider all measures available to us, at all levels, both judicial and sporting in order to prevent this happening,” said Uefa’s statement. “Football is based on open competitions and sporting merit; it cannot be any other way.”

The Premier League’s chief executive, Richard Masters, is believed to have written to all 20 of the league’s clubs in England to state its opposition to the new proposals, urging them “to walk away immediately before irreparable damage is done”.

A separate statement from the Premier League added: “The Premier League condemns any proposal that attacks the principles of open competition and sporting merit which are at the heart of the domestic and European football pyramid. Fans of any club in England and across Europe can currently dream that their team may climb to the top and play against the best. We believe that the concept of a European Super League would destroy this dream.

“A European Super League will undermine the appeal of the whole game, and have a deeply damaging impact on the immediate and future prospects of the Premier League and its member clubs, and all those in football who rely on our funding and solidarity to prosper. We will work with fans, The FA, EFL, PFA and LMA, as well as other stakeholders, at home and abroad, to defend the integrity and future prospects of English football in the best interests of the game.”

The culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, also said the plans “could create a closed shop at the very top of our national game”.

“Sustainability, integrity and fair competition are absolutely paramount and anything that undermines this is deeply troubling and damaging for football,” he added. “We have a football pyramid where funds from the globally successful Premier League flow down the leagues and into local communities. I would be bitterly disappointed to see any action that destroys that.”

The organisation Football Supporters Europe described the plans as “illegitimate, irresponsible, and anti-competitive by design” which “will be the final nail in the coffin of European football”.

It added: “It is driven exclusively by greed. The only ones who stand to gain are hedge funds, oligarchs, and a handful of already wealthy clubs, many of which perform poorly in their own domestic leagues despite their inbuilt advantage.”

 

[Matt]

Let em go, when it goes tits up and no cunt watches it, tell em they've got to restart at the bottom of the pyramid.

[Baddar]

I think we'll only hear from some of the players once FIFA confirm their stance.

Neville is right. Whatever statements clubs like United had planned, they'll be amending those now. Cowards. They backed down when they wanted to make changes a few months ago and it got criticised. 

[DavidMarrio]

Sky need to fuck off trying to pretend their the saviours of football with their coverage.

It's all a money grab. Happened with the Premier League wanting to break away from the football league and now its happening again. 

Hopefully the idea dies a death soon. I do think UEFA need to stop changing the format of their competitions though 

[Baddar]

It's weird because I thought this new expanded Champions League, with a minimum of 10 games, would be a nice middle ground for competing (note, actually fucking competing to get in, albeit for 2 of the spots that Uefa are guilty of handing out too) in terms of a financial bonus for playing in it.

It makes absolutely no sense for any of the countries' federations to want this, for the sake of football at all levels and for the fans.