Maria Laura Avignolo
04/19/2021 20:05
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 04/19/2021 20:05
Rumors of the birth of a European Super League circulated for years. It seemed like a chimera. But at midnight on Sunday it happened. The announcement about his birth with the backing of twelve of the largest clubs on the continent financed by the US bank JP Morgan fell like a neutron bomb and unleashed a civil war in the world of football. A bomb whose splinters could fatally injure not only UEFA's main business, the Champions League, but could also hit Argentine football squarely: FIFA has warned that it will disaffiliate those clubs and players participating in the brand-new competition. An example: if Lionel Messi plays just one second of that tournament, he will not automatically be able to defend the colors of the National Team.
Will this power struggle push Messi to leave Barcelona to keep the dream of winning a World Cup alive and returning to raise the
Orejona
? What will happen to Cristiano Ronaldo who is frantically pursuing the same goal? Doubts and more doubts that do not stop arising since the earthquake began.
"The Super League will open a new chapter for European football, ensuring world-class competition as well as facilities and increased financial support for the football pyramid in the broadest sense," said Joel Glazer, North American co-owner of Manchester United and one of the vice-presidents of the European Super League together with the owner of Juventus, Andrea Agnelli, heir to the FIAT empire and who served as president of the European Club Association (ECA) until a few hours ago. The presidency was in the hands of Florentino Pérez, construction magnate and head of Real Madrid, the most successful club in the history of European competitions. The other
"founding partners"
They are Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid, Inter, Milan, Juventus, both Manchester, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham (who this Monday fired José Mourinho).
Those twelve teams are the backbone of a Super League that is already negotiating to invite another eight clubs to fill the quota of 20 that appear as the goal of participants.
What clubs will join?
Florentino Pérez, owner of Real Madrid, is the president of the new Super League.
Photo: EFE
Until now, Paris Saint-Germain, the all-powerful French, is staying away from the project.
Neymar and Kylian Mbappé, for example, could continue to play under the FIFA umbrella.
The same position took Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, the two giants of German football.
Porto de Portugal revealed that it withdrew from the invitation it had received in the last hours.
For the Danish Football Federation "this project represents everything that football should not be". And they follow the signatures from the associations and leagues that are grouped behind UEFA and, above all, under the shelter of Gianni Infantino. The voices of rejection among players, former players and coaches are also multiplying. Jürgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola, Dani Alves, Ander Herrera, Gary Lineker and Rudi Völler are some of the many who spoke out against the Super League.
Leeds United, a team that is a public limited company, showed their dissatisfaction on Monday before the game against Liverpool. The players warmed up with a T-shirt with the message
“Win it on the court. Football belongs to the fans ”
, accompanied by the Champions League logo. And Marcelo Bielsa, true to his principles, did not keep his opinion: “What gives health to the competition is the possibility of development of the weak, not the excess growth of the strong. The logic that prevails in the world is that the powerful are richer at the cost of the weak being poorer ”. Clearer ... And that Leeds could be one of the beneficiaries of the secession. If the big six of England leave, the Yorkshire team would enter the next Champions League.
Leeds United's protest before the game against Liverpool.
Photo: DPA
“We did not know that there were snakes among us. Now we know, ”
denounced Aleksander Ceferin, UEFA's head, with his sights set on Agnelli.
“I won't talk much about Agnelli, but it's probably the biggest disappointment.
I had never seen a person who could lie like this.
I spoke to him on Saturday, he told me it was just rumors, then he turned off the phone ”, confessed the Slovenian leader, who was not only a friend of the strong man from Juventus, but is also a godfather to one of his sons.
“All of our associate members will stand united in our efforts to stop this cynical project. A project that is based on the interests of some clubs at a time when society needs more solidarity than ever ”, added Ceferin while announcing a renewal of the Champions League format from 2024 as to counteract part of the attractions of the nascent Superliga. There will be no division into groups, but it will be a league between all. The eight best would qualify directly for the round of 16 and there would be a heads-up between the ninth and the twenty-fourth to know the other eight classified. The losers of that playoff would go to the Europa League. Will it serve to bring positions closer? The concrete thing is that the future Champions is much more similar to the Superliga that is coming.
"I can confirm that we will finance the operation," said a JP Morgan spokesman in London.
They also promise a women's league.
They will deliver 3,500 million euros to the clubs - about 4,200 million dollars -, destined to "infrastructure investments to the founding clubs and to compensate for the Covid 19 crisis."
The initial total bet will be around $ 6 billion.
The TV rights would imply income of about 4 billion extra dollars - they assure that DAZN would bite into a tip to stay with the exclusivity.
These are infinitely higher figures than those currently distributed by UEFA.
Aleksander Ceferin, UEFA president, feels betrayed.
AFP
Today the winner of the Champions League raises 100 million dollars. A third of what the founding partners will receive for the mere fact of having caused this schism. The greater number of commitments also ensures a greater amount of income on match days, one of the sources of profit that evaporated in times of pandemic and empty stands.
UEFA and the associations, leagues, players and coaches were not the only ones who shouted to the sky. They were instantly joined by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron, and the Spanish government led by Pedro Sánchez. Even Prince William, heir to the crown of Elizabeth II, spoke on the subject within hours of his grandfather's funeral. They want to prevent this schism that, they understand, will destroy the nature of football, its identity and the love of the jersey. A look similar to that of Ander Herrera, the Spaniard from PSG trained at Athletic Club de Bilbao. “I fell in love with popular football, with the football of the fans, with the dream of seeing the team of my heart compete against the greatest. If this European Super League advances, those dreams will end ”, said the Basque midfielder.
European governments are ready to regulate football and monitor their finances in response to curb this inordinate ambition of millionaire clubs to share the largest share of the cake among themselves.
Johnson promised that his government "will analyze everything that can be done" to block the plan of the six English football clubs that have already joined in the Super League.
The British prime minister will have to deal with giants who have already become a stone in his shoe in the Premier League.
In recent months he has come under pressure from Saudi Arabia's Prince Mohamed bin Salman, who came to his aid to buy Newcastle, a deal that was blocked by the English league.
Boris Johnson, British Prime Minister, stood up against the Super League.
Photo: AFP
In Downing Street, however, they believe that little by little they will destroy the sports spirit, the link of the clubs with their origins, with their cities and their fans and that all that mystique will be replaced by
ambitious financiers, sheiks and businessmen, who are not interested in soccer, but in dollars and financial operations
. It would be something like an emotional and anthropological emptying of the sport that was born in Great Britain. France also opposed a tournament that competes against the traditional European Cup. "The French state will support all procedures to protect the integrity of federal competitions," Macron said.
Those who reacted positively to the announcement of the creation of the Super League were the markets.
At the moment, it seems that those clubs that have said yes to the Super League are strengthened on the Stock Exchange.
Juventus saw its shares soar 18 percent and Manchester United 10 percent.
Different is the case of Olympique de Lyon, which is not among the "founding partners" of the Super League and lost more than 2%.
Was expected.
The Super League says
"Soccer is the only global sport in the world with more than 4,000 million followers and our responsibility as big clubs is to respond to the wishes of the fans," explained Florentino Pérez, president of Real Madrid and the brand new Super League.
The other clubs are Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid, Liverpool, both Manchester (United and City), Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea, Inter and Milan.
"By bringing together the best clubs and players in the world to play against each other throughout the season, the Super League will open a new chapter for European football, ensuring world-class competition and facilities," added Joel Glazer, President of Manchester United .
UEFA strikes back
UEFA has support, resists and threatens “We did not know that we had snakes so close.
Now we know.
It is a shameful and selfish project, which has the rejection of the whole society.
It is a cynical project that goes against what football should be and is a slap against the values of football and against the whole of society.
We will never allow such a project to get under way, ”said Aleksander Ceferin, UEFA President.
In addition, he threatened heavy sanctions, not only for the clubs: "Whoever plays in that Super League will not play with the national team again."
He added support from politicians, players and former players, also from fans.
Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain will not join the project of the 12 founding clubs.
Paris.
Correspondent.
Look also
The rich, the weak and the indispensable: Bielsa's criticism of the European Super League
Bayern Munich stands handshake: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge's tough letter against the creation of the European Super League
