What is European Super League and who benefits?

The European Super League has been the issue of discussion since the Premier League condemned their top six clubs involvement explaining that its existence 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.”

Football Whispers have given a vivid explanation of what the European Super League is all about and how threatening it is to domestic footballs and the current European Champions League.

What is a European Super League?

In 2018, Germany’s Der Spiegel reported on a European Super League after uncovering documents from Football Leakes outlining the competition. The idea was for the top European football clubs to break away from UEFA and start their own competition in 2021. The report by Der Spiegel sent shockwaves through football with clubs afraid they wouldn’t be a part of the competition and fans feeling that another tournament would be too much in the landscape of football. 

Plans outlined by Der Speigel claimed a 16-team tournament would begin as early as 2021. The competition would be similar to the Champions League except UEFA would play no part in the European Super League. Teams would play in a group stage followed by knockout rounds to claim a Europea Super League champion. 

The format of the competition would favour some of the strongest, biggest clubs in European football. Of the 16 teams contesting the competition, 11 would be labelled as “core founding” clubs. These 11 clubs would be guaranteed their places in the Super League for 20 years. The clubs would be “immune to relegation”. The other five places would be made up of teams that could be relegated from the competition. 

It is claimed that a European Super League would usher in the end of the Champions League, the most popular cup competition in world football. It is also believed that a Super League would negatively affect domestic competitions as clubs would focus on the breakaway competition due to the amount of money at stake. 

Which teams would play in the European Super League?

In the documents uncovered by Der Spiegel, a who’s who list of teams were listed as founding members. Those clubs included Barcelona, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Juventus, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, and Bayern Munich. It is a list that features 11 of the most historic and currently, strongest clubs financially in the world. 

According to the document, the five guest clubs in the competition would be Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan, Marseille, and Roma. The rotating guest teams could change from year to year as a secondary competition would be set up to provide promotion and relegation to those rotating clubs. In essence, the secondary competition would be similar to a second division league akin to the Premier League and the EFL Championship.

Why establish a European Super League? 

Television money is a key ingredient in the European Super League recipe. Building a competition with the best clubs in Europe would eliminate the predictability of the Champions League group stage. A predictable group stage leaves fans uninterested in tuning into watch games which has plagued the Champions League in recent seasons. 

Unfortunately, the biggest clubs in Europe do not see the forest for all the trees. They claim playing each other in the European Super League will increase revenue amongst themselves. The problem with the biggest clubs playing multiple times a season is that fans will become jaded to the matches. 

The mere thing that has made the Champions League, and its precursor the European Cups, so great to watch is clubs earning entry into the competition. Look at the 2019-20 Champions League and the excitement it has brought to fans. Atalanta made it to the quarterfinals while teams such as RB Leipzig and Lyon eliminated two of the biggest teams in Europe – Atletico Madrid and Manchester City, respectively. 

A revamped Champions League could be the way forward for clubs. However, even revamping the competition won’t completely end the talk of a European Super League. 

What would happen to the Champions League?

In the plan that was published in Der Spiegel from the documents the newspaper uncovered, there was no mention of UEFA or its cup competitions, the Champions League and Europa League. The European Super League could experience legal issues if it were to attempt to end the Champions League. However, with the biggest clubs in Europe moving to the proposed super league, it is likely the Champions League would fall by the wayside. 

The Champions League’s only alternative would be to find a way to co-exist and potentially run alongside the new competition. There is no clear idea about what would happen to the domestic competitions such as the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A, or Ligue 1. Most likely, the teams in the European Super League would play in those domestic competitions as well.

UEFA have fought to preserve its role in European football and its competitions previously. At the turn of the century, Italian firm Media Partners, looked into the idea of a Super League. To combat any potential formation, UEFA ended the Cup Winners’ Cup and further expanded Champions League tips. Individuals within the game have championed the idea of a European Super League over the last decade-plus. Real Madrid president Florentino Perez believed the proposed league to be a great plan. Arsene Wenger believed there would be a European Super League by 2020. Former Celtic manager Gordon Strachan even claimed Scotland’s biggest clubs – Celtic and Rangers – would be a part of a 38-team, two division European Super League. 

Competition Format

• 20 participating clubs with 15 Founding Clubs and a qualifying mechanism for a further five teams to qualify annually based on achievements in the prior season.
• Midweek fixtures with all participating clubs continuing to compete in their respective national leagues, preserving the traditional domestic match calendar which remains at the heart of the club game.
• An August start with clubs participating in 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. 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.