Friday 23 April 2021
Trouble despite the Super League
Reform of the CL should be “dirt to the power of ten”
The big announcement and the meek failure of the European Super League pushed the Champions League reform into the background in the past few days. But the “new” premier class is also more than controversial.
The Super League quake seems to be over for the time being, except for the last twitches of the hardliners, but the focal points in European football remain – now the “new” Champions League is coming back into the focus of critics. So far, the theater around the commercial project of the super-rich had obscured the dark side of the resolved royal class reform, but resistance against the supposedly lesser evil from the house of the European Football Union (UEFA) continues to grow.
“FIFA, UEFA and the national associations are not the saviors of football that saved it from ruin,” complain nine fan associations in a joint statement. The “lazy compromise” of the Champions League reform that will take effect from 2024 will be sold as “saving football”. True to the motto: “Swallow this pill, because otherwise you will really found a Super League this time”, criticize the fan alliances.
The fact that the topic of the Super League is still not completely off the table for some die-hard supporters is something that UEFA should play into the cards. Further distraction from one’s own, likewise commercially-oriented, product certainly does no harm.
The Super League project is only on “stand-by”, said Real Madrid President Florentino Perez to the radio station Cadena Ser and thus lit another flash in the pan around the “Phantom League of the Rich” (UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin).
“This is pure hypocrisy”
They will “definitely” pursue the plans, “We’re working on it. Something will come out that the world thinks is best.” UEFA “put on a show,” added Perez. “They made it look like we’d dropped an atomic bomb. It seemed orchestrated.” With success, because your own questionable behavior has meanwhile degenerated into a minor matter.
“It is pure hypocrisy that UEFA and FIFA, of all people, have condemned the commercial interests behind this league,” said the renowned player adviser Volker Struth to the Cologne-based “Express”. Because the new Champions League is hardly any better. 36 instead of 32 teams, a total of 225 instead of 125 games – more games bring more money.
The new Swiss model is “a shit high ten. Nobody can take that seriously,” said former international Markus Babbel in an interview with Spox and Goal. Above all, the qualification procedure is also criticized. Because two of the additional starting places are awarded on the basis of a five-year ranking list of the clubs. With places five to seven in the national league, there is still a lifeline for the big players.
This means that UEFA always has the financially strong international draft horses on board, and the changes are mainly aimed at the big clubs anyway. Even the German Football Association (DFB) and the German Football League (DFL) spoke of a “painful compromise” in a joint statement.
“One must not be blinded that this Champions League reform is an achievement,” said Helen Breit, chairman of the fan alliance “Our curve”, the SID: “From our point of view, the reform of the European Cup competitions must be completely reversed.” The protests are likely to pick up speed again in the coming weeks.
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