The court decided and we already know that football is open to organizing competitions outside the mandate of UEFA, which has abused its power from a monopoly position. As there is no other possible interpretation, Florentino Pérez took a minute to issue a triumphant statement proclaiming a new era, one that frees football from the yoke of UEFA. Joan Laporta then appeared – in this matter, the hierarchy is clear – and launched a more vibrant speech than that of the president of Real Madrid, but with less interest in going down in history as the leader of the revolution. In matters of leadership, Florentino Pérez is only obsessed with Santiago Bernabéu and the verdict that history issues. Florentino Pérez is right: the decision of the European Court of Justice marks the possibility of a radical change in the future of football. It is the logical consequence of the famous Bosman ruling, which 28 years ago transformed an extremely popular game into a full-fledged industry, with all the characteristics of the most delicious businesses: greed, globalism, aristocracy and inequality. In short, neoliberalism to the fifth power which, from Bosman to this part, explains the massive presence of actors who had never been interested in football: American capital, Arab petrodollars and, until the beginning of the war ‘Ukraine, from the Russian money.
An hour after the triumphant statements of the two presidents, their competition model was presented, with three categories (Star, Gold and Blue) that sounded like credit jargon and plasticized football, which is what these people have in mind. There was no reference to the funding system and this deficit in the presentation explains the current weakness of the project, rejected by all the clubs that were traveling companions in the 2021 uprising. At that time, the columns of the empire A dozen big clubs – six English, three Spanish and three Italian – conspired to dynamite the old football regime and create an exclusive and closed competition outside of UEFA, in the American way of understanding sport professional That operation, which had the bank JP Morgan as financier, placed UEFA in a critical situation, but it faced the power of the street.
The technocracy of football understands the supporter as a simple consumer, with nothing to say and nothing to decide. The fan exists to be squeezed. It is a vision of football that forgets and despises its atavistic part: the tribal, primal, emotional feeling that presides over it. In some places, the follower still feels indispensable and resists being considered a useless and manipulable object.
The first project of the Superliga, with which Florentino Pérez truly dreamed, was not defeated by UEFA with its threats, nor by governments, nor by media pressure, which was in fact non-existent in Italy and Spain. If the 12 Levantine clubs had been united, the chances of victory would have been very high, but the reaction of the English supporters ended the unity of the project.
England fans rose up in arms against their clubs and within two days put down the revolution. One by one, the leaders of the rebel six – Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham – were forced to abandon the plan and, in each case, to apologize to their fans for their inability to understand the community factor of football. Even JP Morgan acknowledged his mistake.
Without the English teams, the model that Florentino Pérez and Joan Laporta are now proposing is worthless. They have all rejected the plan and are staying where their fans want them to be. It means a mortal blow for the new Superliga, to which even their old allies do not go. However, the door is already open and there ambitions are unleashed. Those who have bought the best golf league, probably think that you can also buy a football super league.