The A22 organization proposed, Thursday December 21, “a new open European competition” football, with “64 clubs divided into three leagues” for the men’s tournament And “32 clubs divided into two leagues” for the women’s edition, based on the decision of European justice on the Super League.
This structure created in October 2022, after the failure of a first private tournament project in April 2021, says nothing about the calendar or the level of support among European clubs, but promises free broadcasting of its competition “on a streaming platform” called Unify, advances A22 in a press release.
A22 considers that the European Court of Justice has “end to the UEFA monopoly” by invalidating its 2021 rules banning the Super League and threatening sanctions against its promoting clubs and their players, even if the European organization completely rewrote this text in June 2022.
The organization therefore details a new private project, very different from the first version of the Super League, since it will not include “no permanent members” and will operate with a system of promotions and relegations, also providing for “solidarity payments” of at least 400 million euros to European football. Essentially, it is therefore a question of erasing the main criticisms made of the first project – being a club of the ultra-rich modeled on the model of North American private leagues – by taking up the characteristics of the “European sports model” protected by the treaties, i.e. open competitions according to sporting merit and providing for financial redistribution.
“For the first year of the competition, clubs will be selected based on a set of transparent and performance-based criteria”adds A22, specifying that the matches would be held in the middle of the week, therefore competing head-on with the three UEFA European club competitions.
Financially, A22 promises that its platform “will generate revenue through advertising, premium subscriptions, distribution partnerships, interactive services and sponsorships”without revealing partners supporting the launch of the project.
Clubs and supporters firmly opposed to private projects
In a statement released after the European Court of Justice (CJEU) ruling, the powerful European Club Association (ECA) renewed its support for UEFA and affirmed that European football is “more united than ever against the attempts of a few individuals” to relaunch private tournament projects. For the ECA, the CJEU ruling invalidating the rules opposed in 2021 by UEFA to a first attempt at a competing competition “does not support or approve in any way any Super League project”, and “major reforms” have been carried out in the meantime.
Same argument on the side of UEFA, which recalls that the judgment of the CJEU “rather highlights a pre-existing gap” in UEFA regulations, “a technical aspect which has already been recognized” and corrected in June 2022 with new texts. The European association then adopted a twenty-four page regulation providing for an authorization system for “international interclub competitions”.
The Football Supporters Europe association estimated on Thursday that there was no “no place in European football for a separatist Super League”. ” Come what may “ after this judgment, the project of an elite private competition competing with the Champions League “endangers the future of European football”estimates the organization in a press release, promising that its members “will continue to fight” to prevent it.