32 months after an initial launch was aborted, talks of a Super League, independent of football’s existing governing bodies, once again hit the headlines yesterday.
Triggered by a ruling at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg that stated FIFA and UEFA had “abused a dominant position” by threatening the interested clubs and players with sanctions, a new competition was announced by A22, a front for the interests of Spain’s two big clubs, Barcelona and Real Madrid.
To much fanfare, a jazzy website and live press conference showcased a new future for midweek continental action for both men and women. While it appeared more considered than the original plans put forward in April 2021, the backlash was similar.
One by one, supporters’ groups, club associations and individual clubs distanced themselves from the propositions. It soon became apparent that for English clubs at least, government legislation would exclude them from being able to join.
On Friday morning, Arsenal released a statement of their own saying: “Our position in relation to the European Super League has not changed.
“We will continue to play in UEFA competitions and continue to work with fellow European clubs and the European Club Association (ECA).”
The timing of the release, 15 minutes before Mikel Arteta’s weekly press conference, freed the Spaniard from being the club’s official voice on the matter. He was, of course, questioned on the matter all the same.
“Very clear, exactly the same. We remain in the same position, we love playing in the Champions League and we’ll continue to do so,” he said.
He also emphasised the importance of ensuring supporters and players are at the heart of all future decisions regarding football’s direction of travel.
“Obviously football supporters and the passion they bring to the game is the main reason why this game belongs to them and to the players because they are the absolute protagonists and what makes this game so enjoyable. We have to look after them and their opinion is very, very important.”
Asked if he had to spoken to the board and the club’s owners on the matter, he added: “The conversations that we had were very clear. That’s the experience that we had two years ago. The club has shown a statement that is very clear and transparent and we’ll stick to that.
“Whatever the decision is of any club in football, it’s two things [that matter]. One is the soul of this game, which is our supporters because that’s what makes this game possible. And then the players. [We need to] look after those two in the best possible way. I think that’s our responsibility, our duty and everything.
“Every decision has to be focused on those two aspects especially. And then to have a game that promotes the integrity and the beauty of the game and try to find that.”
What happens next to the Super League project is anyone’s guess, but it doesn’t look like it’ll be getting off the ground any time soon.
As much as I detest the format of the SL in the last way it was proposed, I also think we are completely and utterly sleeping on the Middle East.
People think they are just going to go away or stop spending. I strongly believe they will keep buying and buying and buying until they have the strongest league in the world.
If the Super League is a defence to this, I could be persuaded.
Man, what happened to football?
The problem with the super league is the closed shop aspect. The fact it’s only for Barca and Madrid to stay afloat too. Oh my god I’d be so happy to see Barcas chickens come home to roost and the club fold. Absolute cheating scumbags.
I hear that. And that has to change. You can’t just be in the Super League indefinitely. You have to earn the right to be there. But football is a bit broken right now and needs adjusting. Teams are playing 60 games a season and players are breaking down all over the shop. The spectacle is already ruined somewhat when Liverpool play City and both teams have 3 or 4 first teamers out. I’m not sure how it would work. And I definitely don’t trust the powers-that-be to organise it without thinking only about money. But I also don’t want… Read more »
This is why this ruling is so important as it gives the clubs the ability to question the authority of UEFA and FIFA and the scheduling they’re imposing on the cubs and it’s players.
“Triggered by a ruling at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg that stated FIFA and UEFA had “abused a dominant position” by threatening the interested clubs and players with sanctions”
Let’s hope this is the start that see’s the end of FIFA and UEFA inflicting unwanted matches on clubs and players at the end of a metaphorical gun
A bit broken?
Like saying John Lennon is a bit dead..
The new proposals are no longer a closed shop, teams can qualify through domestic performance. But it would still be difficult for the top clubs to drop out of European competition altogether due to having multiple tiers of competition, with promotion and relegation.
It’s basically a closed shop for all intents and purposes. Any of the elite members would never drop out as it’s their league. Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas.
It basically isn’t. There is no feasible reality for Arsenal, City, Liverpool, and the rest of the famed big six to get relegated, still we persist with the understanding of the supposed integrity of promotion and demotion. It’s the same with the super league. I think the revised format is a step in the right direction, but to truly win the fans over, they need to increase the number of promoted and demoted teams. That should increase the hopes of top clubs outside of the initial eight or sixteen to really mount a charge for a spot in the biggest… Read more »
If we win the Super League, the trophy will be given to Stan first and thereafter Stan will give it to Ode. It is clear that it is about money first. But let’s not fool ourselves, football as of today is all about money as well.
So tue.
Juventus also want it badly. And I second your sentiments regarding barca, the cheats (funny how every club pep manages has financial crimes…)
Pep is 30% good tactics and 70% fraud
“30% good tactics and 70% fraud” Capitalism in a nutshell Chippy…
I hear you, but the Premier League did just that to Seria A in the 90’s not to mention south American and African talent.
Of course I want the talent to stay in the Prem but Saudi are using the same tools we used to get the talent here in the first place. Cash.
Premier League became popular because football was more exciting here compared to Seria A. They played really boring/tatical football
The Premier League’s strength is it revenue staring model that keeps the league fairly competitve and that is by design not accident.
England’s century long football tradition and high-quality teams and fans meant supporters pay higher prices to watch our league, making it the richest in the world. That’s not the same as Saudi, where the cash comes first on the speculation that the product might follow.
Exactly. Britain’s football legacy is incredibly strong. And we came out on top. And part of that is due to the poor and sometimes corrupt management of European clubs. We have every right to be the strongest league in the world right now. Saudi have no such tradition. Plus, nothing lasts forever. When I grew up, English teams couldn’t lay a boot on AC Milan or Juventus. La Liga was huge in the 90’s and 00’s with Real and Barca comfortably being the two best teams in the world for decades. But once the tide has turned and Saudi is… Read more »
Fair enough, but football in the UK does not exist in the vacuum of the Premier League. There are scores of clubs spread across the tiers and they are clubs with huge fanbases, even if in some cases it’s only local. The English (or any other country’s established FA) league structure is something that has been strengthened over decades organically by fans, players, clubs, local groups, etc. The Saudi League is just a slightly expensive toy for mega rich people, that will get thrown out sooner or later. Case in point, who even remembers the Chinese league today? As a… Read more »
Presumably that’s what the PGA would have said a couple of years ago about Saudis and golf
It’s going to happen and we will be playing in it.
I reluctantly agree.
But if we just say “no, no, no!” to every proposal, they’ll probably just do it without us – exactly how they want to do it.
There could be a way that it’s shaped that doesn’t kill the domestic game. And we, as fans, could push for those sort of proposals.
But yeah, the inevitability of it is palpable.
It’s not inevitable it’s more or less dead in the water
The Saudi money doesn’t give a fuck what you call the competition. They can buy their way into any format.
All the super league does is allow Real and Barca to level the financial playing field with English clubs.
It’s laughable that any of these cunts have anything other than money behind every decision they make. Makes me sick how Ceferin et al are pretending they’re the guardians of the soul game.
Greedy disgusting rats.
Well said brother!
Exactly this. They are only opposed to the Super League because it’s a plan that doesn’t include them.
The super league is an easier way for mbs to purchase the whole league.
I’d agree with you in the case that we really see the Saudi league starting to put together real teams. Until then I’m gonna need to be convinced that enough great players will want to play there and the best coaches and executives will want to work there. They could make all the efforts they want to spoil the people who do come, at the end of the day it’s a fairly hostile environment where western culture and values, women’s rights and so on are consistently under assault and the weather and environment are very harsh too for those unfamiliar… Read more »
Moral high ground, typical of the English. People pretend not to know the true history of English football I. E Liverpool was formed by slave masters using money from slavery. Now that the Arabs want to take over, you’re crying about oil money. Which is worse oil money or slavery money.
I’m not English and you assuming I am is a bit weird, not sure what that says about you. And what I wrote has literally nothing to do with moral high ground or morals at all.
That said if you do want to get into morals, trying to create a debate about which is worse between slavery and oil money is classic whataboutism, trying to distract from one evil by pointing out another. How about we try to eradicate both.
Oil happened to football. Football is a PR campaign for big oil.
Our owner wants the Super League but fears UEFA and the demagogy of government. UEFA and FIFA are defending thenselves. Look at all the new competitions they are proposing. They created Nation League, club’s worldcup etc, sports TV are defending themselves, all of them manipulating fans.
Billionaires never want anything that’s good for us, the planet, or society at large, and siding with them for their benefit is a waste of time and effort, they will never respect or acknowledge your grievances or struggles unless you have a mob and pitchforks. They must be made to behave nicely.
You get it babbab. They’ll tell us (or rather their puppet politicians) all our problems are caused by immigrants, commies, the radical left, “wokeism”, but at the heart of ALL humanities problems is them. The greedy fats cats that steal, exploit, corrupt and destroy everything good we have. Super League vs UEFA/FIFA is just fat cats bickering over who gets the control and who gets the profits and access to the PR and goodwill of football that we all love. But it’s then that’s destroyed our footie and it’s them that have corrupted our political system and its them that… Read more »
Its basically a fight over monopoly rights. Middle East will soend if thatswhat they want and if there is a SL, then certain Middle Eastern club would perhaps join the cartel over time.
My issue is that it leaves the smaller English clubs behind. This I will not forgive. Even if oil money moves the glammer to the Middle East, I would unequivocally rather we stay with the English clubs.
And then this FIFA club world cup thing. What’s that about? Sounds fucking awful!
I’d love to see an overhaul of football where fifa and uefa loose their power. But I don’t want a frying pan into the fire situation, which the super league is. Alas it will never happen.
It’s the super league FIFA came up with and fans didn’t complain. Think about it, if these guys touting the super league had organized a multi club tournament at the end of the season when players should be on a break with the huge sums of money involved, what would the reaction be? It’s basically the same thing but only welcomed because of who is running it. Acceptable evil.
It’s just like Russia invading Ukraine or NATO invading Libya. You know they are both wrong but you know what you welcome and “think”/told is right
What’s it about? Money money money, and laundering more of it thru these sides run by nation states.
Money talks, and wins eventually. No absolutes in life
It’s potentially a very good ruling for football if the clubs can now get organised. The clubs now will have a far greater bargaining position when dealing with UEFA and FIFA and their top down commands based on their own commercial interests. Neither UEFA or FIFA should be in commercial business of football and revenue making but instead should be unbiased administrators. Their focus in should be the governance of football, including scheduling, player well fair and the licensing and rules around agents, all issues that have taken a very back seat in their own pursuit of income. Hopefully the… Read more »
It would be nice. But, call me a cynic, which philanthropic powerhouse could we convince to take over the running of a multi billion pound political nuke and use that power for the good of the game?
Arsenal Wenger is about as close to a footballing purist as you can get and look at some of the absolute shite he’s been talking since he started hanging out with those ghouls at FIFA.
We don’t need anyone to take over, just have their power diluted and that has to be imposed upon them because they won’t do it willingly. “Triggered by a ruling at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg that stated FIFA and UEFA had “abused a dominant position” by threatening the interested clubs and players with sanctions” They abuse their dominant position to force through unpopular competitions which have involved no consultation with the clubs with threats of sanctions irrespective of the ramifications, this has potentially now effectively been ruled illegal. If the clubs band together we should hopefully see… Read more »
Great point, as much as we value the traditional structure of European football, less power for FIFA and UEFA is a good thing.
That said more power for cuntish clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona and City doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence, so there’s probably a balance to be struck.
But at least we know what business the clubs are in, which is to make money!
UEFA and FIFA are governing bodies and should be the counter balance to the greed of clubs. Their focus should be on player welfare, policing the transfer market, making sure clubs aren’t being used for money laundering, all issues they ignored in pursuit of making as much cash as they possibly can.
One way or another the Super-League WILL happen. The smart thing for EUFA to do would be to make sure that they are in control of it when it arrives. I’m principle I’m not against it. A league featuring the biggest clubs in Europe sounds pretty exciting to me. Where the clubs got it wrong last time was this insistence of no relegation. A smallish league with maybe 4 up and 4 down – and perhaps a playoff for the title at the top – could be quite exciting. But burying your head in the sand and hoping that it… Read more »
Sorry mate, but it seems either you are corrupt or perhaps a communist!
stop offending communists!
Wait until reality bites
No interest in the super league. If it’s the only competition we play in, I’ll find a new way to spend my weekends.
We have a situation where we all know that Man City will be absolved of every single one of the 115 charges levelled at them. Not because they are innocent of these charges but simply because football is absolutely corrupt at a national, continental and global level. It is just a question of negotiating the right level of bribe and who to pay off within the Premier League. Coupled with the fact that both UEFA and FIFA are now fighting this new development by arguing they are preserving the integrity and the future of football. Give me a break. These… Read more »
I just find it funny that the Super League is being opposed by UEFA and FIFA from the perspective of maintaining the integrity and future of football.
Two organisations who neither have any integrity nor have any concern about football or football fans other than to make as much money legitimately or illegitimately as possible.
I would be happy to see both of them flounder and fade away..
I don’t understand all this pontification. We all demanded and contributed to this by asking for part time footballers to become professionals. Just as we want more for our labor based on market conditions, so does the game. Let’s not kid ourselves, this is a profit making machine masquerading as a game where my friends and I bonded over tackles, theatrical flops, scared headers and achy bodies the day after.
There is almost no chance that an entity similar to the Super League, even if there is the theoretical possibility of relegation, will succeed. First, it is opposed by three of the biggest clubs in Europe (and the world): (1) PSG because their owners have huge influence in UEFA and are major rivals of the Saudis in the real world; (2) Man City, more quietly, for the same reasons; (3) Bayern because their supporters would not tolerate it and the supporters, with a couple of exceptions, have veto power over German clubs’ big decisions. And all this without the likely… Read more »
Don’t care about the supporters or owners of other clubs, or even the interests of ours- billionaires and petro states are a cancer on the planet and systematically ruining everything for everyone while they seek profits over sustainability and life itself.