On April 19, 2023, it will be three years since Florentino Pérez announced the birth of the Super League. Little remains of that closed format. Real Madrid, Barça and Juventus, the clubs that continue to promote the project, appointed the German Bernd Reichart CEO of A22, the company that has redesigned the idea. Now the new Super League is committed to an open competition that is accessed by sports meritocracy and that before the summer expects to know the decision of the European Court of Justice that will determine its future. Meanwhile, they continue working on the creation of a competition that arises from the need, according to its ideologues, for self-management that depends on the clubs.
Without the backing of European justice, the power of attraction of the Super League to seduce the clubs would be greatly diminished. So the decision taken by the 15 magistrates of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) will act as a switch to either give the green light to its evolution or to turn it off until new mechanisms are found. It is expected that the CJEU will issue at the end of the month of May or in June the ruling that will decide whether UEFA and FIFA abuse their dominant position as organizers of international competitions.
Although the previous report of the general lawyer of the EU, the Greek Athanasios Rantos, was favorable to UEFA, which he legitimized to organize and authorize European competitions, the Super League maintains that the opinion of the magistrate, who usually agrees 80 percent hundred of the occasions with the ruling of the CJUE, it does not have to be the same. The lateness of the decision, which at first should have come in the spring, also makes the creators of the Super League think that the ‘no’ to free European sports competition is not as clear as it seems and they maintain that convincing 15 judges is not the same as one. Before the agreement is made official, there will be a three-week notice in which the verdict will be translated into all the languages ​​of the European Union.
In the last year and a half, specifically since November 2021, the Super League has corrected some of the most controversial points in its initial approach. A competition of 20 clubs has been ruled out with 15 of them always being permanent to move on to another format in which the best in Europe have a place according to their sporting merit without there being permanent members. The Super League then becomes an open competition with up to three divisions made up of between 60 and 80 clubs that will be the ones to design the final format in the event that the CJEU decision is positive. The classification system would be based on their performance in national competitions, thus allowing all clubs access to the competition.
The project provides for a minimum of 14 games in each division and in no case would it mean a resignation from the national leagues. It would not be played on a weekend either, since the traditional calendar would be respected so as not to wear out its main asset: the players. In the self-management regulations, which the clubs will decide economically and politically, the participation of an owner in charge of several clubs is expressly prohibited. Likewise, a salary cap is set to control financial fair play and sponsorship contracts are controlled under the premise that everyone must adapt to the market. At an economic level, the organizers defend that the distribution of income will be equitable, always respecting the football pyramid. To do this, in the decalogue that specifies the 10 principles on which the Super League is based, it is noted that three times more will be contributed to the women’s football budget with 400 million compared to the 130 of UEFA, in addition to the creation of a Women’s Super League.
The outbreak of the Negreira case, the announcement by Real Madrid to appear as a private prosecution in the matter and the consequences of the absence of Florentino Pérez in the Camp Nou box in the last league classic have not taken their toll on the Super League. The message that emerges from the organizers of the competition is clear and concise: that they have a mission in common (the Super League) does not mean that there are not things that bother them on the pitch because they are rival clubs. And they add that the vision of both entities is not to doubt the Super League. Quite the opposite. The need to continue and advance in the project is getting bigger and bigger. FC Barcelona blames LaLiga, chaired by Javier Tebas, for a large part of its ills and, together with Florentino Pérez’s Real Madrid, considers that the Super League will allow clubs to start on equal economic and sporting terms.
The Super League, which saw how the first project presented in April 2021 generated many doubts due to the format and later due to the popular rejection that the streets of England staged, has absorbed all the reluctance by throwing the gauntlet to historical entities with teams that have won the Cup of Europe or the extinct UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and Cup.
Those responsible for the Super League have held talks with up to 50 clubs from Germany, Scotland, France, Portugal or the Netherlands, countries that have conveyed their desire to obtain more influence than the current model provides them. “There is more consensus than it seems,” they insist after the trial. After the conversations held, several consulted clubs agree: there is a crisis of attention with little transcendental and attractive matches and it is necessary to seek to be more competitive to get closer to the level of the Premier League. The classic between Barcelona and Real Madrid is also another oxygen ball, the same as the possible return of Leo Messi to Barcelona, ​​increasingly possible.
The meetings with the clubs have not been able to go much further since article 51 of UEFA defines as “prohibited relationships” any conversation, meeting or alliance between the Leagues and clubs affiliated with UEFA that differ from this without the authorization of the same UEFA. Nor can friendlies be organized or tickets sold without your authorization.
The promoters of the project assume that talking about attractive matches without having Premier League clubs is not coherent, but they are confident that, despite the British popular rejection, they will finally be able to count on them when the judicial panorama clears up. They maintain that the first binding 200-page contract signed by the 12 clubs – Milan, Arsenal, Atlético de Madrid, Chelsea, FC Barcelona, ​​Inter Milan, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur – is still valid. and that no one has jumped ship. Finally, they underline that the English football reform project presented at the end of February and which is not yet binding, speaks of the prohibition of clubs from playing closed competitions. And the new Super League is no longer. In addition, the Premier considers that the new regulator would take away its power and that the new restrictions on owners would scare away potential investors.
