The football world has dealt hard with the Super League. 48 hours after the announcement of the exclusive competition, the concept was abandoned and the biggest plans are a thing of the past. Almost all twelve clubs have withdrawn and what remains are apologies from chairmen.
Founders Super League
AC Milan, Arsenal, Atlético Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Internazionale, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur released a statement on the official club channels on Sunday night in which the arrival of the European Super League (ESL) was announced. “The Super League is born at a time when the pandemic has increased the instability of the current economic model in football,” the statement said. founding clubs. “The clubs that are at the cradle of this competition have been wanting to increase the quality and intensity of the existing European competitions for some time now and create a format that will allow top clubs and top players to compete against each other on a regular basis.”
The idea behind the Super League
The founders of the ESL are unhappy with the new format of the Champions League, which was announced on the same day as the announcement of the Super League. Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez, also the first president of the Super League, explained in the Spanish television program El Chiringuito explains why the ESL was founded: “One of the main reasons for creating this league is that we want to save football, in general. We want to implement this as soon as possible. We sit down with UEFA and FIFA. I don’t know why they get so angry. UEFA was working on a new model that, firstly, I understood little about, and secondly, it did not provide the necessary income to save football. And I mean saving everyone. We just want to make sure that football is saved for the next 20 years. That everyone doesn’t have to worry. The situation is dramatic. ” By insured participation, the founding clubs be sure of hundreds of millions of euros in income every year.
Real president Florentino Pérez: ‘Super League is needed to save football’
Clubs against the Super League
The twelve founders of the ESL come from England, Spain and Italy. The clubs would have liked support in the Bundesliga, but Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig quickly turned against the plan. Also Benfica and FC Porto were mentioned, but the Portuguese top clubs also spoke out against the arrival of the Super League.
Like Bayern and Dortmund, the organization of the ESL had too Paris Saint-Germain in the crosshairs as additional founder. PSG was not involved in the set-up of the tournament and soon announced that they did not see any participation. More and more clubs spoke out against the arrival of the tournament. Ajax, Everton and Sevilla, among others, released a statement in which the ESL was rejected.
Dutch input
Because Ajax was mentioned as a possible Dutch participant in the Super League, a reaction from Amsterdam could not be delayed. General director Edwin van der Sar spoke out against the ESL on the club website. He is happy with the new format of the Champions League. “Ajax is completely surprised and disappointed in the announcement of a possible Super League. We actually support the new set-up proposed by UEFA, as confirmed on Monday,” said Van der Sar, among other things. the club from Amsterdam feared ‘an uncertain time for football’.
Ajax comes with a long-awaited response to Super League
Read here the complete reaction of Ajax to the Super League.
PSV director Toon Gerbrands also sees nothing in the plans. “It is the right of every club to investigate what is good for the future. We all do that all the time, including PSV. We are also looking at whether a Beneliga could be something or not ”, he replied Football International. “But the announcement of these clubs to establish a Super League strikes me as a form of power play which will not lead to such a competition. The entire football world is fairly unanimous about this initiative, which is quite unique. If the Super League continues, existing leagues will be blown up. ”
Opponents Super League
The announcement of the Super League turned the football world upside down. The reactions were generally negative. Clubs, players, coaches, presidents and football associations spoke out en masse against the arrival of the ESL. The main reaction came from UEFA, through chairman Aleksander Ceferin. He threatened exclusion from participation in the European and World Championships for players under contract with the founding fathers. “The players who will participate in the Super League will be banned from the World Cup and the European Championship. They will not be able to play for their national team.”
The KNVB stated in a statement that it fully supports UEFA and does not see anything in the plans. Other football associations such as the Premier League and Bundesliga also followed the European football association. FIFA also spoke out strongly against the arrival of the Super League. FIFA boss Gianni Infantino warned the participants. “The clubs that want to continue this initiative will have to live with the consequences of their choice. They are entirely responsible for that themselves. In concrete terms, it means: Either you come with us or not. You can’t just participate in half, “said Infantino.
Everyone turns against the Super League
That the Super League would not see the light of day became clear on Tuesday, April 20. Trainers, players and supporters of the founding clubs turned against the format. Josep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp, among others, question the concept. Support continued to decline, partly due to professional footballers who spoke out against the Super League. The entire Liverpool squad even came out with a statement that talked about the Super League with horror. Supporters took to the streets in England to protest. Prior to the Premier League match between Chelsea and Brighton & Hove Albion (0-0), the fans of the Blues hear from themselves. Rumors have now surfaced in England that Chelsea and Manchester City would withdraw.
– Jordan Henderson (@JHenderson) April 20, 2021
Super League is falling apart
Manchester City was the first club on Tuesday evening at 10.23 p.m. to announce that it had started the procedure to leave the Super League. Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Chelsea followed. The six English clubs came out with varying statements, but the message was the same: afterwards, participation in the Super League turned out not to be such a good idea. Following the lead of the Premier League clubs, Atlético Madrid, Internazionale and AC Milan have also officially announced that they are leaving the Super League.
Officially, Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid are still in the Super League, but it has now been announced that the tournament will not come. Agnelli has said the competition will be canceled. “To be open and honest: no, the competition can clearly not continue”, Agnelli responded to the news agency on Wednesday. Reuters after it became known that the English clubs have withdrawn.
Ok bye ????
– Raheem Sterling (@ sterling7) April 20, 2021
What are the consequences?
The Super League has caused the first victim in England: Ed Woodward announced that he will be pulling his conslusions as a result of the fiasco and will leave after this season as vice-chairman of Manchester United. Liverpool owner John W. Henry went through the dust in a video posted on the club website. He apologizes for his role in the fiasco. Club icon Jamie Carragher would like the owners to leave. “Of course they can’t just leave, because the club is worth a lot of money, but I don’t see a future for them. This will never be forgotten, ”he added Sky Sports.
John W Henry’s message to Liverpool supporters. pic.twitter.com/pHW3RbOcKu
– Liverpool FC (@LFC) April 21, 2021
Disagreement among clubs over ‘Big Six’ penalties after breaching Rule L9
Premier League clubs have been divided over which sanctions should be imposed on the Big Six after taking part in the Super League.
The position of directors is also under pressure at clubs such as Arsenal, Juventus and Real Madrid. The time to come will show whether the position of chairmen Agnelli and Pérez is tenable. In England, the six clubs may face sanctions at an administrative level. The remaining fourteen Premier League clubs would think of excluding the six clubs from future meetings and decision-making. Sanctions from UEFA seem to be forthcoming. Ceferin said in a reaction to the withdrawal of Manchester City from the Super League that he welcomed the English top club with open arms. “I am delighted to welcome Manchester City back into the family of European football,” said Ceferin.