Today, 12 elite clubs (FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico, Internationale, AC Milan, Juve, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, City, Liverpool and ManU) have made official that they will join a new created competition that will replace the UEFA Champions League. Apparently, the new model is very advanced, they already have the funding secured, $5bn provided by JP Morgan, and they are in advanced negotiations with Amazon, Disney and Facebook for the broadcasting rights (it will be approximately $4bn per year).
As a Barcelona fan, I must say that I am very excited for this new super league, as we are going to be able to enjoy amazing games week in, week out. It is also true, that it may be unfair, since this new model is much more elitist, and exclusive to the richest, but I prefer to watch European games against Juve, Chelsea or Liverpool rather than face CSKA Moscow, Dyamo Kyev or any random Austrian or Swedish team.
I have seen a lot of hate on the media against this new format, but I would love to see other's opinions on here.
PD: American peers are also welcomed to give their opinions, as this mode its similar to theirs NBA and NFL, but do not dare to call it "Soccer"
its a fuckin disgrace and a complete lack of respect towards the fans
It’s a fucking disgrace and completely contrary to sport values. Btw seeing every week the same clubs playing against each other won't be fun at all (it's precisely the rarity of the confrontations that makes it attractive for me).
The British and French governments have already spoken out and announced upcoming measures
... next weeks will be interesting
And nothing to compare with the NBA which has a salary cap system and especially the draft which allows to rebalance the championship.
LMAO, I love how they snuck Arsenal and Spurs in there like we wouldn't notice.
Lol while I'm here as an MLB and NFL fan that has no fucking clue what any of this means
Yes, Yes and a thousand times Yes!
Football fans are very conservative and they struggle to accept changes, but this format will boost football to a whole new level. I am sure that Bayern and PSG will end up joining the Super League (PSG can't join now because of their strong link with the FIFA and the Qatar WC). From the entertainment point of view, this is going to be amazing. Also, the competition is not as elitist as it seems, 15 spots will be for the founding teams, and 5 extra spots will be for invited teams that will rotate, so we will see in the future teams such as Ajax, PSV, Lyon, Seville or AS Rome playing.
Maybe the downside effect will be reflected on domestic competitions. Super League clubs will get a huge revenue boost, so we'll see a bigger inequality in budgets and the subsequent talent concentration. But as a football fan, I can wait for this super league to start.
I have to say that I do not agree with Arsenal and Tottenham's inclusion, I can easily come up with at least a dozen teams who deserve more their spots.
Haven’t you just disproved your own theory by saying that you can think of a dozen clubs more deserving of being in the “elite tournament” than the tournament founding members who have positions in the tournament for life?
Plus you say “as a football fan”, does that evident passion of yours for the game extend to a certain club? Are they part of the select few and if not, how do you feel about the ability of them to now be able to compete at the highest level being curtailed by the fact that no matter how good they are and how bad the other 12 are, they will always have to do more to even get near a tournament that others are guaranteed access to.
For context the club I’ve supported all of my 27 years on the planet is part of the 12 and I haven’t ever felt ashamed of my club as I do now.
Found the fucker who works with JPM, who's financing the whole thing.
Terrible. Absolutely ruins any idea of competition. Its a monopoly play driven by billionaires looking to "de-risk" their businesses. After levering up their balance sheets they complain that they aren't profitable. Cunts. All of them. No respect for anything that isn't a "return on their investment". I would have no issue with any of them being shot in the street.
My only wish is that there was a way to penalize the key individuals who would push for this type of nonsense: Woodward, Agnelli, etc + the owners. The players need to stand up for something for once in their fucking lives and oppose the idea by not playing games. UEFA & FIFA should allow none of them to join Euros, Copa America, or WC.
Who gives a fuck how "advanced" the model is? Not every sport has to be blasted with ads like the NBA, NFL, etc are.
Also I doubt you're anything more than a plastic Barcelona fan if you really support this. Fuck yourself
Associate 1 in PE LBOs: Why would this be amazing from an entertainment point-of-view? Fuck American sports broadcast styles and fuck this nonsense
Yes, Yes and a thousand times Yes!
The fact there are 'fans' who think this a good idea is beyond shocking...
UEFA is a monopoly. Preventing the players from partaking in the World Cup and/or national leagues violates Europe’s anti competitive laws. The Super League is literally the best thing for football (look at the declining audience numbers without it, look at how much better the NFL is doing with only a fraction of European football’s audience) and is pro-competition and pro-free market. UEFA, FIFA, and this whole mafia is an oligopoly that should not be allowed to dominate football the way they do
Where are you getting your numbers from regarding declining audience numbers? How is the NFL doing so much better as you say? Isn’t it also a bit rich describing UEFA as a monopoly and oligopoly when the new format suggested provides guaranteed entry to 75% of the tournament for all of time and financial incentives to an invite only group of clubs decided by themselves?
There is also the fact that a lot of the prestige and branding that has been built up around these clubs has developed from what they have done in their domestic leagues, the competition that has developed within them and the culture and people of the regions to which they belong, many of which are historic and prestigious parts of the world for their contributions to world culture on the whole. And if you disagree with the notion that the region and place, and therefore also the people, to which a football club belongs is not important, how did you come to support the team you did, presuming that you actually do support a team?
UEFA is a monopoly the same way the SEC is.
Fuck your audience metrics. Maybe numbers are declining because every network provider is jacking up prices and younger generations are (a) watching something else, or (b) streaming.
Fuck the NFL. Most Americans who love football are bigger fans of their alma mater than a "franchise" that plays out of their city.
Completely agreed. This is a naked money grab by billionaire owners to make their investments a sure thing- aka any major league team in US where mediocrity is rewarded.
What makes any of these clubs what they are the domestic leagues and traditions and dream of any one team potentially making it to Europe.
Not sure what legal venues leagues and governments will have to counter this but I can see a dueling UEFA and Super league competition at least in the first few years as Bayern, PSG and others refuse to join.
Domestic leagues will not ban these teams as that will be a death knell for revenues and I doubt FIFA / UEFA will ban players so this will likely happen. But I dont think i'll watch.
Absolutely sh$t idea only motivated by $$$$.
Basically frauds that can't even make it to the Champion's aka Arsenal/ManU/Tottenham/Inter/Milan are looking to join an "elite league".
What a shame. I hope that there will be a massive boycott. If you remove uncertainty and competitiveness from football, it's gone.
And fuck the retarded morons that think that real football fans want to be flooded by ads like in US sports.
No real football fan thinks the ESL is a good idea. Full stop. Anticompetitive to the bone.
Barcelona v Man City, Chelsea v Milan, Madrid v Juve, United v Inter >>>> PSG v Bate Borisov, Borussia v Malmo, Bayern v St Ettiene or Ajax v Dynamo Bucharest
Besides, any initiative against the mafias of UEFA and FIFA has my total support. Football belongs to clubs and fans, not to corrupted executives based in Switzerland.
For those who complain about the unfairness of the competition, TVs pay for Barcelona, Madrid, City, Arsenal, Milan games, not for second tier teams. This is the market.
Agree 100%
You said football belongs to the club and its fans. Rich American/Emirati/Russian owners are not the club; they should be custodians of historic institutions that are often at the heart of their community. Very few fans are for this, as the opinion polls show. The fans - nor the players or managers- were never even consulted.
No shit that big teams playing each other is more exciting. But the scarcity of those matches is what creates that. The same way that the scarcity of the Olympics and the World Cup generate worldwide audiences.
I am not a staunch supporter of UEFA or FIFA either, but if football belongs to clubs and fans, how does the ESL solve that? All it does it solidify future cash flows for the billionaire owners.
If Perez or Agnelli complain about making a return on their investment, how about they stop paying 80M euros for 2 teenagers every summer hoping they'll be a star. Why don't they compete to win
Agree 100%, it's a sport and I get the business aspect, but it's not a sport if you cannot lose or get relegated or eliminated.. Creating a "locked" league might work in the US but it is absolutely not adapted to European football
To quote a previous Chelsea player, it's a fucking disgrace and I hope UEFA & FIFA will strike hard at those who instigated all this non-sense
No, this is not "the market", "the evolution of football", or whatever the fuck plastic fans want to call it so they can sleep better at night. This a disgrace and whoever supports it does not understand what football is about and I doubt has ever set foot in a football pitch themselves.
Any competition is only as important as its history and as the difficulty to win it. Winning the Champions League is the holy grail of club football because first you have to earn on the pitch the right to play in it, then you have to go through the various (difficult stages) of the competition where every match matters, and only then you have a shot at winning it. Two years ago, Ajax made one of the most memorable campaigns in CL history, got to the semi-finals and lost on a hail mary at the very last second (it would've made it to the final after eliminating the likes of Juventus and Real Madrid); last year Lyon beat the all mighty Man City; this year, Juventus was eliminated by Porto in one of the most thrilling games of football we have seen in years - and you're telling me that we should just ignore that and move on because it's more appealing to watch Arsenal and AC Milan (which was a Europa League round of 16 match 3 years ago lol) play for the 10th spot in the Super League on a Wednesday? gtfo
As we speak, Tottenham and Arsenal are 7th and 9th in the Premier League while Leicester City and West Ham are 3rd and 4th and you're telling me they should have a guaranteed spot amongst Europe's elite? It's the dream, the possibility that Leicester and West Ham can play next year's Champions League that keeps European football alive. I think it's no coincidence that the first person I see support this idea is a Barcelona fan (or a fan of one of the Spanish teams) while basically everyone in the UK is against it - instead of following the footsteps of the Premier League and taking strides to make football more competitive and entertaining domestically (by redistributing the income like in the PL and therefore creating a more level playing field), you prefer to keep the money allocated to the top clubs therefore basically guaranteeing that you will always qualify for the CL anyway, in which case you prefer to play a big club every week. It's the mentality of keeping the smaller clubs at bay that is the root of the problem.
I could go on and on about this, but if you don't want to take it from me, take it from these two who summarize it quite well:
Brilliantly put Bruvver. I think this is born out of the Spanish and Italian clubs realising they can’t keep up with the Premier League and the global appeal it has as a domestic league, and therefore the power that English clubs will continue to have in Europe (2/4 semi finalists in the Champions League and Europa League as we speak). Consequently, they’ve tried to pull the appeal of the big English clubs into a league where they can benefit from this appeal on a regular basis and certain opportunistic owners have bought into it whilst others have not wanted to be left behind (although I could see that changing hopefully). I think this is clearly supported by the notion that if 2 big UK clubs pulled out, I think the whole thing would fall apart, particularly with no German or French clubs joining. Over to you now Chelsea and Man City.
The Spanish and Italian leagues have indeed failed at understanding the need to evolve and keep domestic competition alive as time passed and especially money flowed in to football clubs.
In the last 20 years we've seen LaLiga go from a competitive landscape with teams like Deportivo (champions in '00), Valencia (champions in '02 and '04), Mallorca, Villareal, etc, which would consistently rank in the top 5 and above either Real or Barcelona (or both), to a two-team league (and more recently, on occasion, three-team with Atletico) with the majority of those historical clubs now relegated to perennial mid-table teams or, in some cases, even disappeared. Instead of leveraging the almost 10 years they had of Ronaldo vs. Messi to attract money, viewership (no football match in the world was bigger than a Real-Barca during the Ronaldo v. Messi era), they used said money to fatten the 2 cows even more, marginalized smaller teams, and focused solely on the Champions League. Now that Ronaldo left and Messi/Barcelona are in shambles, we are left with a boring league where everyone is desperate to create new ways to create something entertaining.
Compare that to England - even though it is not as rich in terms of tactical and technical ability of its coaches and players, England has the fan culture and had the vision to understand that a level playing field was the way to go. The Premier League has undoubtedly become the domestic competition to watch, as unpredictable and difficult to win as a Champions League (with its differences, obviously), and that has allowed the English clubs to resurface by also attracting the European talent they need to rise to the top of football again after a period of mild insignificance. This trend will grow stronger as there will not be another Ronaldo or Messi to draw attention somewhere else, and talent will continue to flow to England even more. That's why it's so difficult for me to understand the decision of these 6 English clubs, especially Man Utd and Liverpool, who are deeply rooted in their communities and with such a rich past.
I obviously don't agree with the Super League and I can't see it standing with the current backlash. Hopefully the clubs will understand what is actually at stake for everyone in the world of football, take a step back, and maybe we can look at this as a wake up call and make the changes that football very much needs.
American here curious to hear what people think about this.
How much does them banning the potential super league players hurt events like the World Cup?
Without players like Messi, Ronaldo, etc. it becomes a watered down product and it's no longer about showcasing the best players playing for their country in a tournament. If you're on the England, Germany, Spain, etc. national teams if you ban players from those clubs I don't think winning a world cup would be feasible and would elevate more mediocre teams (US) above where they'd normally finish because most of their top talent would be eligible. IMO FIFA and UEFA have no teeth because of this. I also think it's funny how FIFA is one of the most corrupt organizations out there and is complaining about this after all they've done.
It's also interesting that the French and UK governments can ban private businesses or could try force sales of the clubs for doing this. I'm not a fan of the super league and don't want it happen but it seems a little ridiculous that the governments can step in and do that. Could that hurt foreign investment in these countries in the future?
Few points to dissect here.
Appreciate the response and feedback.
Do you not think that Argentina would be worse off without Messi though? As a casual fan I agree that he isn't the best international player and the Argentinian team has struggled but I still think he's likely a net positive player in international play. If you take Messi and others off of Argentina, Neymar and others off of Brazil, Mbappe and others off of France, etc. than are you really watching the best teams play in the competition? At that point I'd personally just rather watch teams of regular people who play for the love of the game and get training/meals/practice time subsidized by their countries soccer federation. There was an island whose team was basically comprised of people like this (school teachers, doctors, etc.) and was competing for a world cup spot a few years ago. If you had people like that from around the world I think that would be more fun to watch than France without Mbappe, Griezmann, Pogba, Lloris, etc.
Never really considered that players would leave the EPL as a result of this and will definitely make things more interesting over the next few months.
Funny that you dare to say that Messi is not a TOP International player when he has been the best player of his national team over a decade, becoming their historic leader in goals and assists. He carried a bunch of farmers to the 2014 World Cup final in which their lost against the Germany who beated Brazil 7-1 in their home. In fact he would be probably a World Champ if it wasn't for Higuaín and Palacios.
Additionally, he has carried Argentina to 3 Copa Americas finals, and has won a gold medal in the Beijing Olympics.
It would be illegal for FIFA to do so, so they won’t. That’s why FIFA president Gianni Infantino has never mentioned the idea himself
NO it is fucking stupid and completely throws fan's loyalties out the door. I fucking hate John Henry and think he isn't a good owner for my beloved Red Sox, let alone fucking Liverpool. I knew that greedy POS had his hands all over this. Premier League and Serie A don't deserve this. Big thanks to PSG and Munich for holding out.
San Jose Red Socks Soccer Club fans be like "yeah I just wanna put on my cleats and smash a point past the goal tender"
Your argument that it'll make for more exciting huge games every week is kinda like saying all new movies going forward should be directed by Michael Bay... completely deluded... have some taste and recognise that this is a terrible idea that will have a hugely negative effect on your own interest level in these big matches, on the ease of access to viewing football matches and on the fans of the smaller clubs who will be left by the wayside.
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