Following the reporting of the New York Times The arrival of the Super League has now also been announced by means of a statement. In a statement shared by various international media outlets, AC Milan, Arsenal, Atlético Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona, Internazionale, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur are cited as founding clubs. Several clubs have already announced the arrival of the Super League through a statement through the official channels.
“Twelve leading European clubs are jointly announcing a new midweek competition: the Super League, which will be organized by the founding clubs“, The statement begins. It means that UEFA is being sidelined. “AC Milan, Arsenal, Atlético Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona, Internazionale, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur are the founding clubs. In addition, three more clubs will join prior to the first season. ”
“The Super League is looking forward to meeting UEFA and FIFA for one partnership to bring about. In this way, a competition can be created that is good for football ”, the statement of the Super League continues. “The arrival of the Super League comes at a time when a pandemic has accelerated the instability of football’s economic model. The founding clubs aim to improve existing European competitions and create a format in which top clubs and players can compete. ”
“The new annual tournament will deliver significantly more economic growth and support for European football, thanks to solidarity contributions that grow with the competition’s revenues,” the statement read. “These solidarity contributions will be many times higher than they are now in current European competitions. This is expected to exceed ten billion euros during the club’s commitment to the Super League. The competition is built on a sustainable financial foundation, as the founding clubs adhere to a spending pattern. In exchange for them commitment, get the founding clubs a total of 3.5 billion euros to spend on investments in their infrastructure and to cover the consequences of the corona pandemic. ”
The Super League also announces what the competition format should look like. Twenty clubs have to participate every year, while fifteen founding clubs be assured of a place. Five teams can qualify based on their performance in the previous season. It is a midweek competition, which means that the clubs ‘just’ keep playing in their national competitions.
In August – when exactly is still unclear, but various international media report that the Super League should start this year – the competition will start with two groups of ten clubs, each playing against each other twice. The three winners of both groups then qualify for the quarter-finals. The teams that finish fourth and fifth play in a play-off for the two remaining places in the quarterfinals. The quarter- and semi-finals will be completed over two games, after which the final battle will be over one game on neutral ground.
The plan already provoked furious reactions on Sunday, from Gary Neville to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Sky Italia says that UEFA wants to exclude every club and player who will participate in the Super League. FIFA has expressed in a statement its disapproval of ‘closed competitions consisting of runaway clubs’. “We will help football at every level. Football is not a global sport, with more than four billion fans worldwide and it is the responsibility of the big clubs to fulfill their wishes, ”said Florentino Pérez, president of Real Madrid and the Super League.
“Our twelve founding clubs represent billions of fans around the world and 99 European awards. We make sure that the competitions are overhauled so that we can secure the future for the long term. The fans will be presented with top matches on a regular basis, which will enhance their passion, ”said Andrea Agnelli, Super League Vice President. Until Sunday, the president of Juventus was spicy enough as a board member of the European Club Association (ECA), which spoke out strongly against the arrival of a Super League in a statement.