Munich as a crisis winner: Questions & Answers about the Super League disaster


Munich as a crisis winner
Questions and answers about the Super League disaster

The idea of ​​a European “Super League” as a closed society of some top clubs with the right to invite has been suspended for the time being, it is not buried. But the damage is there, the club’s advance has consequences – and reasons. An overview.

Two wild days of football have left their mark. The debate about the Super League, which ultimately quickly failed, showed how fragile the billion-dollar business can be. For the time being, UEFA has been strengthened. But the economic problems of several industry leaders are not over. The top clubs will be looking for new answers.

What was really behind the Super League plans?

Disgusting greed for money? Visionary football future? The initiators of the Super League around Florentino Perez from Real Madrid and Andrea Agnelli from Juventus Turin planned their project well in advance. The quick implementation on the night before the decisive exko meeting on the Champions League reform was then a deliberate coup. The expected changes were simply not enough for them.

The problem: The billionaires overstimulated, underestimated the factor of fan and football culture, which hardly occurs in their minds. In retrospect, it becomes clear what drove them above all. The money goes out in the first floor. Press billions in debt. New markets are needed. The clubs from England followed, however, not out of general conviction, but as disdainful followers. The fear: The national competition could outrun them as Super League clubs.

Is the construct of a Super League off the table once and for all?

The clear answer: no. The blatant rejection is certainly followed by a break. But the idea of ​​a Super League is not new. As early as 1964, the English football writer Brian Glanville wrote critically about an impending Super League scenario. After a phase of reorientation, the top clubs should regain their influence, presumably within the UEFA hierarchy – or at least with the support of other players. From 2024, the Champions League will come closer to the Super League idea anyway. And FIFA is preparing to host the global Club World Cup.

How will the fans deal with the twelve renegades in the future?

Larger protests such as fan demos in the streets of London should initially no longer take place. The bosses’ expressions of remorse were too clear. And in the season’s final spurt it’s now about titles. That pulls the followers under the spell. But the organized fan groups sense the chance to point out their interests even more emphatically. “The real fight begins now,” wrote the Football Supporters Europe (FSE) network.

What future do the initiators have at their clubs?

Perez is chosen at Real Madrid. Agnelli part of the Juve dynasty. Both should hardly have to worry about their posts. In England, however, there are voices calling for a general move away from investor money from the Emirates, Russia or the USA. Club legend Jamie Carragher called for a new club structure for Liverpool. It was not for nothing that the owners made a deep verbal kipper. Trust that is already limited has to be won again.

Do the twelve co-founders have to fear punishment?

It doesn’t look like that at the moment. The loss of influence at UEFA and the European Club Association is punishment enough for now. And UEFA does not want to damage its current competitions such as the Champions League and the European Championship. The semi-finals of the premier class should take place as planned with the games of Real Madrid against Chelsea and Manchester City against Paris Saint-Germain. No superstar will be banned for the EM.

Will German football get more influence in the future?

German football is definitely a crisis winner. With Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, a big player returns to the stage of functionaries. And UEFA boss Aleksander Ceferin has already expressly praised Bayern’s CEO and Nasser Al-Khelaifi from Paris Saint-Germain for their loyalty. Whether and how this pays off in everyday football could quickly become apparent when UEFA decides on Munich as the German European Championship venue

What is happening now to Munich as the host of the European Championship?

It remains a political issue. But kicking Munich out of the group of European Championship venues would now have a very bitter aftertaste. It has long been rumored that Rummenigge made a clever move in favor of Munich with his Super League cancellation and the subsequent entry into the UEFA Executive Committee. There will be no audience guarantee in the corona pandemic. But UEFA should find a diplomatic solution for the new big friends of their boss Ceferin. Otherwise German football would be a big loser in a dramatic week.

An EM location can feel like a loser. The local organizers of Bilbao announced on Wednesday evening that, according to the UEFA decision, no games would kick off in the Spanish city.

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