European soccer used to be rocked by the biggest story in a minimum of a generation when 12 of Europe’s biggest clubs announced plans to break absent from the established soccer order and form a Super League. The development originally looked find it irresistible could remake the European soccer landscape dramatically, but it now looks find it irresistible might totally crumble. As of Tuesday evening, less than 48 hours after the official announcement of the league, all six of the Premier League clubs in the Super League — Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham — had announced intentions to leave the project.
Atletico Madrid are rumored to be wanting out as timed, according to Ben Jacobs.
The basics on the deal struck before the fallout? A group of 12 clubs from across Europe’s biggest leagues announced plans to form a new competition called the Super League. The league, must it be established, would offer permanent spots to probably the most world’s biggest clubs and play matches midweek, while allowing the involved clubs to remain in their domestic competitions. This plan is currently objected by FIFA and UEFA, the governing bodies for international and European soccer, respectively.
Here is what else we do realize so far:
Latest news
In a stunning turn of events, Chelsea became the first team to back out of their Super League deal, CBS Sports insider James Benge confirmed. Manchester City made an announcement soon thereafter, and the other four Premier League clubs followed suit Tuesday night. The sudden reversals pose a enormous challenge to the breakaway group’s continued chances to achieve their endeavor and also ends hypothesis approximately if their Champions League semifinal run in this year’s tournament can continue.
Danish FA chairman and UEFA member Jesper Møller originally said to Danish outlet DR Sport that Champions League semifinalists involved in the Super League would be expelled from this season’s competition. Then again, Real Madrid is the only semifinalist still attached to the Super League project.
UEFA wrapped up its election held for positions on UEFA executive committee and FIFA council in Montreux, Switzerland, and the 55 member associations unanimously approved a declaration strongly condemning the Super League on Tuesday. FIFA president Gianni Infantino, a former UEFA general secretary, used to be in attendance and warned the 12 breakaway clubs that they could not be “half in, half out.”
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin, who earlier this week called those execs involved in breakaway plans “snakes” and a “spit in the face of football lovers,” declared European soccer’s governing body as “unbeatable” when allied with FIFA before challenging the Premier League’s big six to make the difference.
“For some, supporters have turn into consumers, fans have turn into customers and competitions have turn into products,” Ceferin said. “Selfishness is replacing solidarity. Money has turn into more important than glory, greed more important than loyalty, and dividends more important than ardour.”
Meantime, the 14 Premier League clubs not involved in the initial proposal held an emergency assembly and “unanimously and vigorously rejected the plans for the competition.” Sky Sports reports that one board member from a Premier League team involved in breaking absent has warned they’ll not “back down,” but has been told splits are emerging.
The group of 12 teams responded earlier on Monday by sending a letter to FIFA and UEFA leaders, informing them that the Super League has already taken legitimate action to give protection to anyone having a look to block their competition. The Associated Press obtained the following letter:
“We are concerned that FIFA and UEFA may respond to this invitation letter by seeking to take punitive measures to exclude any participating club or player from their respective competitions
“Your formal commentary does, then again, compel us to take protective steps to protected ourselves against such an adverse reaction, which would not only jeopardize the underwriting commitment under the Grant but, significantly, would be illegal. Because of this, SLCo (Super League Company) has filed a motion before the applicable courts with a view to ensure the seamless establishment and operation of the Competition in accordance with relevant laws.
“It is our duty, as SLCo’s board members, to make certain that all fair actions to be had to give protection to the interests of the Competition and our stakeholders are duly taken, provided the irreparable damage that would be suffered whether, for any reason, we were disadvantaged of the possibility to form promptly the Competition and hand out the proceeds of the Grant.”
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What’s the Super League?
The Super League is a long-discussed idea for a closed competition that would feature Europe’s biggest clubs. Over time, there have been many different theoretical proposals for what that league would appear to be. On Sunday, 12 clubs announced their intention to break absent from Europe’s governing body, UEFA, and form their own league. They plan to add three more permanent members and leave five spots open in the 20-team format that European clubs could qualify for from across Europe’s domestic competitions.
Which teams are involved?
Here are the 12 teams who were listed as founding members:
Arsenal (have asked to leave agreement)Chelsea (have asked to leave agreement) Liverpool (have asked to leave agreement) Manchester City (have asked to leave agreement)Manchester United (have asked to leave agreement)Tottenham Hotspur (have asked to leave agreement)Atletico Madrid (have reportedly asked to leave agreement) Barcelona Real Madrid AC Milan Inter Milan Juventus Which notable teams were not included?
Paris Saint-Germain: “Paris Saint-Germain holds the firm belief that football is a game for everyone. I have been consistent on this since the very beginning. As a football club, we are a circle of relatives and a community; whose material is our fans — I consider we shouldn’t overlook this,” said Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the head of Qatar Sports Investments, which owns and operates PSG, and also holds a seat in the UEFA executive committee.
”There’s a lucid want to advance the existing UEFA competition mannequin, presented by UEFA the day prior to this and concluding 24 months of extensive and collaborative consultation across the whole European football landscape. We consider that any proposal without the beef up of UEFA — an association that has been working to progress the interests of European football for just about 70 years — does not get to the bottom of the issues currently facing the football community, but is instead driven by self-interest. Paris Saint-Germain will continue to work with UEFA, the European Club Organization (ECA) and all stakeholders of the football circle of relatives — based on the principles of good faith, dignity and respect for all.”
FC Bayern Munich: “Our members and fans reject a Super League,” club president Herbert Hainer said. “As FC Bayern, it is our wish and our aim that European clubs live the wonderful and emotional competition that’s the Champions League, and develop it in conjunction with UEFA. FC Bayern says no to the Super League.”
“On behalf of the board, I wish to make it explicitly lucid that FC Bayern might not be taking part in the Super League,” said CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who has taken Juventus president Andrea Agnelli’s seat at ECA and is expected to do the same at UEFA. “FC Bayern stands in solidarity with the Bundesliga. It at all times used to be and is a smart pleasure for us in an effort to play and represent Germany in the Champions League. We all take note fondly our 2020 Champions League victory in Lisbon – you do not overlook any such joyful moment. For FC Bayern, the Champions League is the most productive club competition on the planet.”
Borussia Dortmund: ”The board members of the European Club Organization (ECA) came together for a virtual assembly on Sunday evening, where it used to be agreed that the board’s decision from final Friday still stands,” Dortmund chief executive officer Hans Joachim Watzke said. “This decision dictates that every one clubs want to execute the proposed reforms to the UEFA Champions League. The ECA board members took a lucid stance in rejecting plans for the establishment of a Super League.”
RB Leipzig: “We are advocates of sporting competition. And sporting competition in professional football means fighting to succeed in a position in the domestic league table that allows the team to participate in international competition. For us, changing this is absolutely out of the question,” Leipzig CEO Oliver Mintzlaff said. “We reject any plans to set up a Super League.”
Borussia Monchengladbach: “This Super League is a club for the super rich, who are flouting the long-established constitution of football. It is an attack on UEFA’s club competitions, but above all on the domestic leagues,” Stephan Schippers (CEO) and Max Eberl (sporting director) said in a commentary. “It is cynical and hypocritical to claim that this move is for the good of football and is what football fans want, as those backside this league are doing. We will be able to be proud that the entire German clubs have objected this league, and we will be able to fight to make certain that those clubs involved are expelled from all competitions both domestically and internationally.”
West Ham: “West Ham United shared its views and those of its supporters expressing vehement opposition to the proposal for a Super League at a Premier League assembly held on Tuesday morning.
“Following a assembly between senior club officials and the independent supporters’ committee inside 24 hours of the news breaking, vice-chairman Karren Brady met with representatives from 13 other Premier League clubs to share the Hammers’ unequivocally strong disapproval of a proposal by six clubs to create a breakaway league that undermines our values and those of the game we all hold so dear.
“As a club that used to be founded by working-class shipbuilders over 125 years ago, is deeply rooted in its own community and is acutely aware of the traditions of English football, we passionately consider that there must be no barrier to supporting West Ham United and these proposals go entirely against the integrity of our beautiful game.”
Everton: “Everton is saddened and disappointed to see proposals of a breakaway league pushed forward by six clubs,” the board of directors said in a commentary. “Six clubs acting entirely in their own interests. Six clubs tarnishing the repute of our league and the game. Six clubs choosing to disrespect each and every other club with whom they sit down around the Premier League table. Six clubs taking without any consideration and even betraying the majority of football supporters across our country and beyond.
“Right now of national and international crisis – and a defining period for our game – clubs must be working together collaboratively with the ideals of our game and its supporters uppermost. Instead, these clubs have been secretly conspiring to break absent from a football pyramid that has served them so timed.”
Sevilla: The winners of final season’s Europa League, expressed their “outright rejection of a tournament based exclusively on economic parameters and outdoor the scope of action of UEFA.” More from the commentary sent out by their board of directors on Monday: “The creation of this Super League would only serve to harm football in general and the remainder of the teams. At the same time, it would severely hit society and punish the huge majority of real football fans, who would be left without the true essence of the sport: The phantasm of enjoying their team and seeing it compete for the highest aspirations.”
Lyon: Olympique Lyonnais president Jean-Michel Aulas took to Twitter to observe publicly that “the Super League does not obtain popular beef up as it highlights the virtues of money over the spirit of reasonable play” and expressed his hope that “we should build bridges, not walls, in conjunction with (PSG Chairman and CEO) Nasser (Al-Khelaifi) for a future football where sporting meritocracy and emotion isn’t forgotten.”
Lille: “What is important is the unity that we found on the subject, between dressing clubs,” said club president Olivier Létang, whose club sits atop the Ligue 1 table. “It kind of feels difficult to me that those who have performed timed on the field do not participate in competitions. We are touching on what makes the essence of sport.
“It isn’t essential to take a personal position,” said Létang, via RFI. “But we don’t seem to be used to the precept of a closed league in Europe. We are used to meritocracy.”
AS Roma: “AS Roma is strongly objected to this ‘closed’ system, as it fundamentally flies in the face of the spirit of the game that we all love,” the club said in a commentary. “Some things are more important than money, and we remain firmly dedicated to Italian football on a domestic level, and to reasonable, open European competitions for all. We look forward to continuing to work with Lega Serie A, the Italian Federation, ECA and UEFA to grow and develop the game of football in Italy and all over the world.
“Fans and grassroots football are at the core of our sport, and this should never be forgotten.”
FC Porto: “There were casual contacts from some clubs, but we did not pay much attention for two reasons,” club president Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa said. “First, the European Union does not allow a closed circuit of evidence as there is in the NBA. Second, since our organization is against this and a part of UEFA, inside this framework, we cannot participate in anything that is against the rules of the European Union and UEFA. Whether that goes forward, and I have my doubts, UEFA will not end and will continue to have evidence, the evidence that is official.”
AFC Ajax: “Ajax are totally taken aback and disappointed by the announcement of a conceivable Super League. We beef up the new set-up proposed by UEFA, as confirmed on Monday,” the team announced on social media.
Leeds United: Players called out the Super League on shirts worn before Monday’s match against Liverpool, one of the vital founding Super League clubs. The shirts read “Football is for the fans” on the back and “Champions League: Earn it” on the front.
Getty Images
Who is in charge of the Super League?
The first head of the Super League is Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, who will serve as chairman. He is supported by two vice-chairmen. Here’s the full list:
Chairman: Florentino Perez (Real Madrid)Vice-chairman: Andrea Agnelli (Juventus)Vice-chairman: Joel Glazer (Manchester United)
Real Madrid and Super League president Florentino Perez said the financial loss from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is a part of the chief reason why he chose to team up with other top clubs to break absent. Perez, who spoke to Spanish TV personality Josep Pedrerol on El Chiringuito TV, revealed that the Super League would not be “closed” and would eventually have a pyramid format for others to sign up for.
“The important clubs of Spain, England and Italy have to find a solution to this very naughty situation that football is in,” Perez said. “We came to a conclusion that by creating a Super League, instead of playing Champions League midweek, we will alleviate missing revenue.
“Football needs to evolve, like life does … Soccer needs to adapt to the times we are living in. Football is losing interest … Something should be done and the pandemic hastened that. We are all ruined.
“Instead of playing the Champions [League] as it is, which is losing interest, now we should find something enticing which is to play amongst the big clubs. We are at a critical moment. Fifteen teams generate value, and five other teams will make the Super League through sporting merit. It isn’t a closed league. We consider in the merit of teams in order that they fight to deserve to play in a competition like this.”
Perez said he believes the clubs and players involved cannot be banned by UEFA or FIFA.
“The players must remain calm because [not being able to play with national teams] will not happen,” Perez said. “Nobody must threaten anybody. We’ve offered to talk, to negotiate … They would possibly not kick out Real Madrid, City or anybody. I’m certain of that.”
On the new Champions League format that used to be announced on Monday, Perez said he did not consider it would be a viable option to produce revenue and prevent financial loss for the top clubs for future years.
“With all due respect, I did not understand the new format,” Perez said. “And it would possibly not create the essential revenue to save football … We wish to save football so the next 20 years we will be calm and not say we missing $200 million.
“We are not looking for the big clubs to be richer and the smaller teams to be more bad. We want to do something. We are in a freefall.”
What approximately the financial backing?
The estimated earnings for would-be fixtures signing up to the proposed Super League are a minimum of $425 million. Every of the would-be permanent members of the proposed Super League are being promised €350 million ($425 million) to enroll, per documents obtained by the New York Times.
JP Morgan Chase & Co. were reportedly approached to bring financing for the project that has seen FIFA back UEFA by threatening to ban any players involved in any such league from future World Cup competition.
Here is what the Super League had to say in their announcement:
The new annual tournament will supply significantly greater economic growth and beef up for European football via a long-term commitment to uncapped solidarity payments which will grow in line with league revenues. These solidarity payments will be considerably higher than those generated by the current European competition and are expected to be in excess of €10 billion throughout the class lesson of the initial commitment period of the Clubs. Moreover, the competition will be built on a sustainable financial foundation with all Founding Clubs signing up to a spending framework. In exchange for their commitment, Founding Clubs will receive an amount of €3.5 billion solely to beef up their infrastructure investment plans and to offset the have an effect on of the COVID pandemic.
Weren’t there plans to reformat the Champions League?
UEFA and the ECA on Monday released the finalized version of an up to date format to the Champions League this season, switching the tournament to a “Swiss Mannequin.”
Gone are the days of six group-stage games. Instead, UEFA plans to expand from 32 to 36 participants and have every play 10 group stage games, five home and five absent. This shift produces over 100 new matches. We would still see a pretty similar knockout stage in comparison to this current season. The big difference is that the winner of the competition would have played a minimum of 17 matches versus 13 under the current format.
Latest UEFA news
On Monday, in a fiery press convention, Ceferin, the UEFA president, emphasized the potential consequences for players participating in the league. “The players that will play in the Super League will be banned from playing in the World Cup and Euros.
“They are going to not be allowed to play for their national teams,” Ceferin said while also calling on teams participating in the Super League to be banned from all UEFA competitions.
UEFA has taken a hardline stance against the proposed Super League. On Sunday as news of the conceivable breakaway occurred, Europe’s governing soccer body released the following commentary:
“Whether this were to happen, we want to reiterate that we — UEFA, the English FA, RFEF, FIGC, the Premier League, La Liga, Lega Serie A, but also FIFA and all our member associations — will remain united in our efforts to stop this cynical project, a project that is founded on the self-interest of a couple of clubs at a time when society needs solidarity more than ever, UEFA said in a commentary.
“We will be able to imagine all measures to be had to us, at all levels, both judicial and sporting with a view to prevent this happening. Football is based on open competitions and sporting merit; it cannot be any other way.
“As up to now announced by FIFA and the six Federations, the clubs concerned will be banned from playing in any other competition at domestic, European or world level, and their players could be denied the possibility to denote their national teams.
“We call on all lovers of football, supporters and politicians, to sign up for us in fighting against any such project whether it were to be announced. This persistent self-interest of a couple of has been going on for too long. Enough is enough.”
Latest ECA news
The ECA executive board met again on Monday to form an executive committee “to work under the auspices of the executive board to administer daily work throughout this transitional period.”
Agnelli, who used to be the ECA chairman, has now resigned from his seat to sign up for the Super League. Rummenigge, Bayern’s CEO, has taken Agnelli’s seat at ECA and is expected to do the same at UEFA.
Here are the board members in the committee:
Nasser Al-Khelaifi (Paris Saint-Germain)Michael Gerlinger (FC Bayern Munich)Edwin van der Sar (AFC Ajax)Dariusz Mioduski (Legia Warsaw)Aki Riihilahti (HJK Helsinki)Michele Centenaro (Independent member)
Here’s more from ECA, via a commentary sent out on Monday:
The Board used to be unanimous in its condemnation of the actions of the departing members, which it holds to be self-serving and to the detriment of the game’s well-being and in lucid opposition to ECA’s values. We consider that European Club Football can also be reformed from inside the system to succeed in the collective best interests of all stakeholders in the game. The Board reiterated ECA’s lucid position as the only legal and fully recognized voice of the leading clubs in Europe and, as such, has taken a variety of decisions to make certain that it is in a position to continue to perform its role efficiently and effectively.
Latest FIFA news
Back in January, FIFA announced it would ban clubs and players from participating in domestic and international competitions whether they were to sign up for a breakaway league. On Tuesday FIFA president Gianni Infantino addressed the UEFA Congress and strongly condemned the actions taken by the breakaway clubs. Here is what he had to say.
FIFA is a company which is built on values, the true values of sport. It is a company that is built on our statutes, the statutes that define the institutional framework, with the pyramid, with FIFA, the confederations, the associations, the leagues, the clubs, the players. And at FIFA, we will only strongly disapprove the creation of a super league which is a closed shop, which is a breakaway from the current institutions, from the leagues, from the associations, from UEFA and from FIFA, which is outdoor of the system. There’s no doubt whatsoever of FIFA’s disapproval for this.
Latest Premier League and English soccer news
The Premier league issued the following commentary on Tuesday.
The Premier League, alongside The FA, met with clubs today to speak about the instant implications of the Super League proposal.
The 14 clubs at the assembly unanimously and vigorously rejected the plans for the competition.
The Premier League is thinking about all actions to be had to prevent it from progressing, in addition to holding those Shareholders involved to account under its rules.
The League will continue to work with key stakeholders including fan groups, Government, UEFA, The FA, EFL, PFA and LMA to give protection to the most productive interests of the game and call on those clubs involved in the proposed competition to cease their involvement immediately.
The Premier League wish to thank fans and all stakeholders for the beef up they have got shown this week on this remarkable issue.
The reaction proves just how much our open pyramid and football community means to people.
Along with the joint commentary sent out by the major federations in Europe, the Premier League also issued a commentary condemning plans from their big six on Sunday.
“The Premier League condemns any proposal that attacks the principles of open competition and sporting merit which are at the heart of the domestic and European football pyramid. Fans of any club in England and across Europe can currently dream that their team may climb to the top and play against the most productive. We consider that the idea that of a European Super League would destroy this dream.”
Here is what the FA said:
“The FA has been made aware of sure English clubs planning to form a closed European Super League with other European Clubs. It is lucid that this would be damaging to English and European football at all levels and will attack the principles of open competition and sporting merit which are essential to competitive sport.
“For new competitions to be formed involving clubs from different associations, approval would be required from the applicable National Associations, confederation and/or FIFA. We would not supply permission to any competition that would be damaging to English football, and will take any legitimate and/or regulatory action essential to give protection to the broader interests of the game.
“We note FIFA confirmed earlier this year that they and the six confederations would not recognize one of these competition and, as such, any player or club involved will not be permitted to take part in any official competition which falls inside the auspices of FIFA or their respective confederation.
“The FA will continue to work with UEFA, FIFA and the Premier League to seek to make certain that nothing is approved that has the potential to damage English football. We will be able to work with fans, The Premier League, EFL, PFA and LMA, in addition to other stakeholders, at home and in another country, to defend the integrity and future prospects of English football in the most productive interests of the game.”
And the English Football League’s commentary:
The EFL stands with the Premier League, The FA, PFA, LMA, the FSA and colleagues across European professional football in condemnation of proposals which attack the foundation of open and reasonable competition upon which our game is built.
A strong pyramid based on promotion, relegation and in the end European qualification, is essential to our game’s continued success. The EFL opposes any reform that does not beef up competition integrity or offer Clubs the prospect of at some point competing at the highest end of the game.
Latest news from other European soccer leagues
The Spanish league chimed in on Monday:
“LaLiga strongly condemns the recently published proposal for a breakaway, elitist European competition that attacks the principles of open competition and sporting merit which are at the heart of the domestic and European football pyramid.
“Today football fans across Europe can dream that their club, no matter the size, may excel, climb to the top and compete at the pinnacle of European football. LaLiga defends this European tradition of football for all. The idea that proposed by 12 European clubs destroys that dream, shutting the door to the top of European football, allowing in just an elite few.
“LaLiga has a proud, 90-year history as an open, merit-based competition. Millions of fans all over the world follow the 42 clubs of LaLiga Santander and LaLiga SmartBank. The success of our competitions has helped football to turn into a key contributor to the Spanish economy, accounting for just about 1.4% of GDP and providing employment for just about 200,000 people.
“The newly proposed top European competition is nothing more than a egocentric, egotistical proposal designed to further enrich the already super rich. It’ll undermine the appeal of the whole game and have a deeply damaging have an effect on on the instant and future of LaLiga, its member clubs, and the entire entire footballing ecosystem.
“Moreover, the breakaway league threatens the remainder of Spanish sports to which, in the current season, LaLiga will contribute more than 126 million euros as a part of its agreement with the Spanish government and the Spanish FA.
“This destruction of the European football ecosystem will also in the end cause the failure of this new competition and its participating clubs, which have built their success based on the achievement of sports titles and triumphs, which will now be more limited.
“We use all measures at our disposal and work with all stakeholders to defend the integrity and future of Spanish football in the most productive interests of the game.”
Apart from the Royal Spanish Football Federation chiming in with UEFA and the top European domestic leagues, La Liga president Javier Tebas lashed out at the breakaway plans, which entail three Spanish clubs: Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.
“At final, the ‘gurus’ of the ‘powerpoint’ super league, inebriated with selfishness and lack of solidarity, are going to leave the ‘5 o’clock bar,’ from the ‘underground,'” Tebas tweeted. “UEFA, the European leagues and La Liga have been working at this for a very long time and they’ll get their due answer.”
Serie A clubs met Monday to speak about the Super League and Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan — Italian participants of the Super League — were surprise participants. The three breakaway clubs expressed their intentions of staying in Serie A while also participating in the Super League, Romano reports.
How would the Super League be formatted?
The Super League would be a 20-team league made up of 15 permanent members with the remaining five members of the league comprised of teams which qualified through domestic European League competition. The 20 teams would compete in two groups of 10 teams every with a balanced schedule of home and absent matches against each and every team in the group.
The top three finishers in every group would qualify for the quarterfinals, while the fourth- and fifth-place finishers would play in a two-legged play-in round to qualify for the knockout stages. Then a two-legged knockout format would be used to play down to the finals, which would be a unmarried match to crown a champion.
From the Super League announcement:
20 participating clubs with 15 Founding Clubs and a qualifying mechanism for a further five teams to qualify once a year 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 10, playing home and absent fixtures, with the top three in every group automatically qualifying for the quarterfinals. Teams finishing fourth and fifth will then compete in a two-legged play-off for the remaining quarterfinal positions. A two-leg knockout format will be used to succeed in the last at the end of May, which will be staged as a unmarried fixture at a impartial venue. What would this intent for women’s soccer?
On Sunday, Paris Saint-Germain turned in a come-from-behind effort to slay five-time winner Lyon in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Women’s Champions League. PSG sign up for Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Chelsea in the semifinal round. Whether a breakaway league were to be formed, a minimum of two of those clubs would be involved in what can be a new competition, but it doesn’t appear that it would begin play the same time as the men’s breakaway league.
“As soon as practicable after the start of the men’s competition, a corresponding women’s league can also be launched, helping to advance and develop the women’s game,” according to the announcement from the Super League.
Latest comments from players, coaches, execs
Pep Guardiola, Manchester City coach: “It isn’t sport whether it’s not relevant whether you lose.” More on his comments here.
Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool coach: “An important a part of football are the supporters and the team, and we need to make certain that in reality nothing gets in between them.”
Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea coach: “I’m here to be in the hardest competition, that’s why I came here, that is what I love, to play in the toughest competitions in Europe. That’s why I’m at Chelsea.” More on his comments here.
Andrea Pirlo, Juventus coach: “Evaluations have been made approximately the Super League, but I do not have to discuss it. We are self-assured because we have a state-of-the-art president [Andrea Agnelli] who can provide an explanation for these things and it is correct for him to take action.”
James Milner, Liverpool vice-captain: “I don’t find it irresistible and I are not looking for it to happen.”
Bruno Fernandes, Manchester United: “Dreams can’t be [bought],” the club’s leading scorer for this season said, via Instagram.
Ander Herrera, PSG midfielder: “I love football and I can’t remain silent approximately this … I consider in an improved Champions League, but not in the rich stealing what the people created.
Mesut Ozil, ex-Arsenal star: “Kids grow up dreaming to win the World Cup and the Champions League — not any Super League. The enjoyment of big games is that they only happen a couple of times a year, not each and every week. Actually tough to understand for all football fans available in the market.”
Gary Neville, Manchester United ex-captain: It’s “an absolute shame” … the club owners are “bottle merchants” motivated by “pure greed.”
Neville added throughout Sky Sports’ broadcast of the Premier League:
“I am not against the modernization of football competitions, we have the Premier League, we have the Champions League.
“But to cause forward proposals in the course of COVID, in the course of the economic crisis that exists for all clubs is an absolute scandal. United and the remainder of the big six clubs that have signed up to it against the remainder of the Premier League must feel embarrassment about themselves. Are Arsenal in that? They’ve just drawn with Fulham, Manchester United are drawing with Burnley. … To enroll to the Super League throughout a season is a prank, they must deduct points off all six of them.”
Sir Alex Ferguson, legendary Manchester United coach: “Talk of a Super League is a move absent from 70 years of European club football,” Ferguson told Reuters. “Both as a player for a provincial team Dunfermline in the 60s and as a manager at Aberdeen winning the European Cup Winners’ Cup, for a small provincial club in Scotland it used to be like climbing Mount Everest. Everton are spending £500 million to build a new stadium with the ambition to play in Champions League. Fans in all places love the competition as it is. In my time at United, we played in four Champions League finals and they were at all times the most special of nights. I am not certain Manchester United are involved in this, as I’m really not a part of the decision making process. With many fans, we are concerned that this plan could create a closed shop at the very top of our national game.”
Luis Figo, ex-Sporting, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter Milan star: This so-called “Super League” is anything but “Super,” Figo chimed in on Twitter on Monday. “This grasping and callous move would spell catastrophe for our grassroots, for women’s football, and the wider football community only to serve self-interested owners, who stopped caring approximately their fans long ago, and total omit for sporting merit. Tragic.”
Jamie Carragher, ex-Liverpool great: “Football takes you to a place nothing else can,” said Carragher, who may be an analyst for CBS Sports’ coverage of the Champions League. “The Super League will never take you to that place again.”
For more player reaction, click here.
Latest updates from Europe’s political leaders
United Kingdom prime minister Boris Johnson issued the following commentary of disapproval: “Plans for a European Super League would be very damaging for football and we beef up football authorities in taking action. They would strike at the heart of the domestic game, and will concern fans across the country. The clubs involved should answer to their fans and the wider footballing community before taking to any extent further steps.”
Johnson praised Chelsea and Manchester City after they backed absent from the Super League.
Johnson, in conjunction with Keir Starmer, Labour Party leader, are drawing up potential government enforced consequences for clubs whether they go ahead with the Super League, Alex Wickham of Politico reports.
On Tuesday the U.K. government reiterated its stance issuing a commentary.
The Prime Minister and Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden met with representatives from the Football Organization, the Premier League and football fan groups this morning to speak about action against the proposed European Super League.
He expressed his solidarity with football fans and agreed they should at all times be at the heart of any decisions approximately the way forward for the game.
He reiterated his unwavering beef up for the football authorities and confirmed they have got the government’s full backing to take whatever action essential to put a stop to these plans.
All attendees agreed that action used to be essential to give protection to the equity an open competition we expect to see in football, and to uphold the essential precept that any club must have the chance to play and win against the biggest players in the game.
The Prime Minister confirmed the government will not stand by while a small handful of owners create a closed shop.
He used to be lucid that no action is off the table and the government is exploring each and every opportunity, including legislative options, to make sure these proposals are stopped.
dressing president Emmanuel Macron may be condemning a breakaway league: “The President of the Republic welcomes the position of dressing clubs to rubbish to take part in a European football Super League project threatening the precept of solidarity and sporting merit. The dressing State will beef up all steps taken by the LFP, FFF, UEFA and FIFA to give protection to the integrity of federal competitions, if national or European.”
Italian prime minister Mario Draghi said on Monday he supports UEFA’s stance “to maintain national competitions, meritocratic values and the social operate of sport.” Here is what he said, according to ANSA:
“The government is carefully following the debate around the soccer Super League project and supports with determination the positions of the Italian and European soccer authorities to maintain national competitions, meritocratic values and the social operate of sport”
Add the Spanish government and José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes, the country’s minister of culture and sports, among those opposing the Super League.
“The government of Spain does not beef up the initiative to create a soccer Super League promoted by several European clubs, including three Spanish clubs, because it understands that it has been conceived and proposed without counting on the representative organizations of this sport, both nationally and internationally.
“The minister of culture and sports, José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes, has held meetings and conversations all the way through the day with the most representative parts of Spanish and continental football. Specifically, Rodríguez Uribes has spoken with the presidents of UEFA, RFEF, La Liga de Fútbol Profesional, in addition to with the presidents of Fútbol Club Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid and Real Madrid, the Spanish teams that beef up this initiative.
“The government of Spain, through its minister of culture and sports, has defended before its interlocutors that it should return to the path of dialogue and agreement in the areas of decision and association to which these same clubs belong to succeed in an agreed solution that it is convenient for football and sports, both for national and international organizations and for teams, professionals and the fans in general.
“Sportsmanship should be demonstrated through the search for broad agreement. The Government has confirmed the willingness of all parties to this dialogue all the way through the talks held today with minister Rodríguez Uribes and wishes it to affect fruit with an agreement that is really helpful to all.”
What’s next?
UEFA will decide regarding the current semifinalists for Champions League and Europa League later this week after assembly with its legitimate team, according to Romano. They are going to make a decision in that assembly if to exclude Man City, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Man United and Arsenal from this season’s competitions. Ceferin wants to ban them as soon as conceivable, but it all depends on the direction of UEFA’s legitimate team, Romano reports.
According to Romano, Spanish clubs are planning for a assembly on Thursday to speak about Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid’s position after joining Super League.