Thunderclap on the football planet: creation of the Superleague

Rumours of a private competition between Europe's biggest clubs have been igniting world football for several months. On the night of Sunday to Monday, the project of a European competition called Superleague becomes official. It aims to compete with existing federal competitions such as the famous Champions League. The threat seems so concrete that UEFA and FIFA have been quick to react by threatening to exclude dissenting teams and punish players who participate. French and German clubs would not take part in the competition. A revolution to come in the world of football? Back on this bombshell…

An elitist competition?

"Twelve of Europe's leading clubs today announced that they have reached an agreement to create a new competition, The Super League, governed by its founding clubs. AC Milan, Arsenal FC, Atlético de Madrid, Chelsea FC, FC Barcelona, FC Internazionale Milano, Juventus FC, Liverpool FC, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid CF and Tottenham Hotspur have united as founding clubs. Three additional clubs will be invited to join them before the start of the inaugural season which will start as soon as possible," a joint statement said. This European Superleague, led by Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez, will bring together a total of 20 clubs. 15 founders (three of whom are still to be determined) plus 5 other clubs who will have the opportunity to "qualify each year according to their results of the previous season". A semi-closed league, therefore. This European Superleague will start each season in August with two pools of ten clubs that will compete in home-and-away matches. There will be games scheduled in midweek, in addition to their national championships. At the end of this long group stage, with 18 matches for each team, the first three clubs will qualify for the quarter-finals, while the fourth and fifth will face each other in a play-off to win the last two remaining tickets. A knockout phase will be played in the wake with home-and-away matches until the final, on neutral ground.It should be noted that the founding clubs of the Superleague will share the sum of 3.5 billion euros. A project in which PSG has decided not to take part, just like Bayern Munich and other French and German clubs.

The opposition of UEFA and FIFA

Before the formalization of the European Superleague, UEFA, FIFA and several federations threatened all clubs wishing to participate in this new competition. As in January, when FIFA and UEFA signed a joint statement to curb any dissident projects, the football authorities threatened clubs and their players with exclusion from current competitions, including the Euro or the World Cup: "The clubs concerned will be banned from participating in any other competition at national, European or world level, and their players could be denied the opportunity to represent their national teams. In addition, clubs could be banned from all European competitions but also from their respective championships. For any founding club wishing to withdraw from the Superleague, after exclusion from their national championship, it will be necessary to start again from the 5th division. FIFA also expressed its opposition to the project: "From our point of view and in accordance with our statutes, any football competition, whether national, continental or global, must embody the principles of solidarity, inclusiveness, integrity and fairness in financial redistribution. In view of this, FIFA can only express its disagreement with a 'closed European Super League', outside the structures of international football and which does not respect the principles mentioned above."