What Was the European Super League Really All About?

Football was dealt a major blow on Sunday, April 18 when 12 powerhouse clubs from Western Europe announced they were breaking away from UEFA to form a new league. Dubbed the European Super League (ESL), its primary purpose is still not fully understood. ESL and UEFA officials each have their own ideas explaining what the league was all about.

The past tense is used here because, by all indications, the ESL is dead. Even if the project is not yet completely abandoned, it is at least on hold until those behind it can figure out what to do next. One thing for sure is that the ESL will not begin any time soon. It may never play at all.

One way or the other, it is time to break out the first aid boxes. Though the ESL no longer seems to be an imminent threat to UEFA, plenty of damage has been done. A lot of healing needs to take place before the UEFA family is once again at peace.

Who Was Involved

Rumours suggest that the ESL had been in the works for some time. Its original founders wanted to keep things secret until the league was in a better position to withstand expected criticism. Unfortunately, it seemed that the plans were leaked prematurely, forcing the 12 committed clubs to issue simultaneous statements in support of the ESL on April 18.

The ESL consisted of six of the biggest English clubs: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur. The remaining six teams were divided evenly among Italy and Spain. These were AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus, Atlético Madrid, Barcelona, and Real Madrid.

At this point, only Real Madrid and Barcelona appear to still be committed to a successful ESL. Neither AC Milan nor Juventus have committed one way or the other. The remaining eight teams have all requested that their legal commitments to the Super League be nullified. Meanwhile, the UK government has announced a fan-led review to look into the matter.

About Fixing a Broken System

Global football in general, and European football more specifically, has long been built on a system of shared revenue, political support, and public relations. The biggest and most powerful teams generate the majority of support that allows smaller and virtually unknown clubs to continue competing at the local level.

As well as the system has worked, the breakaway clubs maintained that it was broken. They insisted that the UEFA’s finances were not sustainable long-term. They also felt that European soccer, as a whole, was endangered due to the fallout from the coronavirus crisis.

In their official statements, the ESL maintained that the new league was necessary to fix a broken system. They had originally committed to a 20-team membership with 15 permanent members and the remaining five spots being reserved for qualifying teams from across Europe.

ESL games were to be played midweek, allowing all of the teams to continue competing in their domestic leagues on the weekends. The reasoning was to continue supporting the domestic leagues as has been the case in football for generations.

About Greed and Control

As you might have guessed, UEFA does not agree with the ESL’s assessment. They claim the 12 clubs behind the ESL move did what they did out of a desire for more money and control. They claim the whole thing was motivated by a combination of power-hungry club owners, greedy financiers, and several banks willing to put up funding for the new league.

Irrespective of whether UEFA’s position is correct, it did stand to lose a tremendous amount of revenue had the new league actually succeeded. The ESL’s 12 founding members make up the lion’s share of UEFA’s revenue-generating capacity. Take away those 12 teams and you suddenly have to consider the possibility of lost sponsorships, TV deals, and even fan support.

What irked UEFA most was that a plan was already in the works for reforming the Champions League in a way that would have hopefully satisfied the concerns of the six breakaway English teams. That plan has since been approved (although not to universal satisfaction). It changes the Champions League tournament format to a Swiss model tournament.

In addition, UEFA plans to add four participants to bring the total to 36. Each club will play five home and five away games within their group. This change will produce more than 100 new matches each season. The eventual champions will have played four more matches (for a total of 17) than they would have in the current iteration of the competition.

Politics One Way or the Other

The ESL’s position is that their new league is necessary because the current system is broken. UEFA’s position is that the formation of the ESL was about power and greed. Both can make compelling cases. However, the real tragedy in all of this lies in the fact that the dustup is purely political.

No matter which side you take in the argument, politics played a significant role. The real issue has nothing to do with tournament formats or making sure European football is supported at every level with a sufficient amount of financial backing. It is all about who is going to be in control. It is about who gets to make the decisions and who benefits from those decisions.

Neither the First nor the Last

It is sad to see something as old and storied as football be tainted by politics. But understand that this most recent firestorm is just the latest in a long series of political battles that have been raging within UEFA for decades. It is by no means the first public blow-up; it will by no means be the last.

What was it all about? That depends on who you ask. There are certainly things within the current system that need to be changed. There are broken things that need fixing. There are also elements of greed and power grabbing within the ranks. They need to be addressed as well.

The ESL fell apart because football fans, the media, and civic leaders stood up and spoke out. They may not do so next time. If UEFA and ESL officials want to avoid disaster, they had better get together and figure out how they can work amicably to promote and sustain European football moving forward.