Bruce Vail
Yesterday, 12 of Europe’s most established football clubs announced plans to create the “Super League”, a competition in which an eventual 20 teams will contend for a new trophy.
These 12 founding clubs include football giants from across three different countries (as of now): Real Madrid, Athletico Madrid, and Barcelona out of La Liga in Spain; Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United out of the Premier League in England; and finally, Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan of Serie A in Italy.
These 12 teams have all left the European Club Association, and word still waits on who the remaining eight clubs will be. This might not be a shock to many, as there have been rumors of Europe’s elite meddling for some time in wishes to manifest their own Super League for some time.
As details continue to emerge of this rouge “Super League,” it has been revealed that J.P. Morgan and Chase Co. are financing the league, in which the clubs receive a share of $4.2 billion to support investment agendas and to help ease the negative financial impact of the pandemic. That is one hell of a stimulus check if I’ve ever seen one, and is sure to help out the founding members of the “Super League”. But what about everyone else?
The announcement has certainly rocked the soccer world hard as opinions have been flowing in left and right. The clubs were instantly accused of greed and cynicism and often mocked across all platforms of social media. The widespread criticism includes that of British Prime Minster, Boris Johnson, and well known football pundit, Gary Neville.
Plans for a European Super League would be very damaging for football and we support football authorities in taking action.
They would strike at the heart of the domestic game, and will concern fans across the country. (1/2)
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) April 18, 2021
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— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) April 18, 2021
The founding clubs say the new league will generate economic growth support for European football, especially in the long-term. While that may or may not be true, the question still remains: “What about the smaller clubs?”
This is surely to hurt domestic clubs, the smaller clubs who have surely been hit harder than the bigger clubs who are now getting this “economic relief.” Imagine sending out stimulus checks to the rich but not the middle class and poor. Completely unfair! Because of this money grab, we may never see the likes of a Leicester City Cinderella as we did in 2016, or an Ajax making a deep run in the Champions League.
Will there even been a champions league anymore? UEFA has threatened to ban clubs who have joined this rouge league from any UEFA football competition. Imagine if the big schools in college athletics did something like this. Imagine a March Madness without the likes of a Duke, Kentucky or Louisville (oh wait, we actually saw that this year), but you get my point. The potential of a smaller school upsetting a bigger school. It’s all about the madness, and that certainly can be found in the world stage of football, too.
There are still mainly questions to be asked and answered in light of the newly formed “Super League”, but one thing is for sure, this all seems to be a big time money grab and the football giants of the world are surely looking to cash in big time.
You can follow Bruce Vail on Twitter (@BruceJVail) and e-mail him at [email protected].
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