Friday October 15, 2021
No more closed league
Super League is planning a spectacular restart
The European Super League would like to be an alternative to the Champions League. At the new start, however, not as a closed concept, but “100 percent open”. Before that, however, a corresponding judgment by the European Court of Justice is required.
Led by Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Juventus Turin, the Super League, which failed in the spring, is apparently working on a restart. The new soccer league will then have no permanent members, contrary to what was initially planned, but “be 100 percent open”. This emerges from a concept paper that is available to “Wirtschaftswoche”.
The concerns of many fans, who had largely led to the failure of the project, should also be incorporated into the new plans. “That is why we commit ourselves to the fact that the format of the proposed European Super League abolishes the concept of permanent members and is open to European clubs,” says the paper.
The league sees itself as an alternative to the Champions League and wants to be ready as soon as the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has decided on the UEFA competition case. A verdict is expected next summer. A Super League with 20 teams and a second league with 20 teams, for which all clubs could qualify, would be possible, writes the “Wirtschaftswoche” on the paper. Special attention is paid to the spectators. Fans should receive grants to travel to away games. In the final game, 70 percent of the seats are to be reserved for the fans of the finalists. For half of the fan tickets, the prices should be limited to a maximum.
Twelve European top clubs had published their plans to found a Super League on the night of April 19. German clubs were not among them. Under great public pressure, nine founding members abandoned this idea again.
Bayern Munich’s former CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, on the other hand, considers a renewed attempt for a Super League to be unrealistic. “The Super League issue is over, it’s dead. It will never flourish again, that’s perfectly clear. It was a big failure, the fans’ vote was clear,” he said last.