Football: the Super League, "a huge game of poker"

Pierre Rondeau, sports economist, deciphers the mechanism that can lead to the creation of a private league and opposes the moral arguments of some to those of others.

What does the will of twelve big clubs inspire you to create an independent entity, the famous European Super League?

PIERRE RONDEAU.

It is clearly a standoff.

On March 30, there should have been a meeting between the Association of European Clubs (ECA) and UEFA to discuss the reform of the Champions League.

But the two Manchester clubs have derailed everything.

From now on, the slinging clubs want all the commercial rights of the competition.

And with this threat of Private League, we are at the epilogue of a huge poker game.

Everything is played out now.

Is this a huge bluff to scare UEFA and force it to cede all commercial rights?

But even these clubs take a big risk vis-à-vis their supporters.

Why ?

Because they are attached to the strength of the Champions League, the cup with the big ears, the anthem etc.

To think that they are going to follow the clubs like that without saying anything, just because the latter want more money, it may be presumptuous.

Will the threat agitated by UEFA to exclude rebellious clubs and their players from all competitions be enough?

Be careful, there is a case law that can serve UEFA and that lawyers could use.

In 2018, two speed skaters were deprived of a championship for having competed in a private competition.

They contested this decision and the European High Court of Justice agreed with them: a federation does not have the right to deprive an athlete or a team of any competition for such a pretext.

Any athlete could challenge it.

As there was a Bosman stop, there could be a Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo stop in this direction.

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Is the European public attached to the notion of qualification on merit for a competition or can they accept a closed League?

Let's be cynical: is the European public the most important?

Today, clubs want this competition to be the most watched in the world.

And the American or Asian public is used to closed competitions.

And that audience can create audiences in the hundreds of millions of viewers that would compensate for the loss of interest in Europe.

The other bet, as Andrea Agnelli, the president of Juventus Turin, said, is to look for young people who seem less interested, year after year, in the Champions League.

I still remain skeptical.

Because that would distort national competitions.

For example, Real Madrid could play without pressure in La Liga, finish 10th by developing young people and be sure to play European competition anyway.

In the end, don't you believe it?

I want to believe that these clubs would shoot themselves a big bullet in the foot by turning their backs on their history and their record. Afterwards, in the end, what will make the difference is the sporting interest more than the vision of ultraliberalism. Watch the next World Cup in Qatar: everyone has criticized this choice. And everyone will watch it anyway.