UEFA “ambush” the Super League in Nyon

While the decisive resolution of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) arrives, scheduled for early 2023, the Super League and UEFA held a long two-and-a-half-hour meeting on Tuesday at the European body's headquarters in Nyon.

It was the first institutional contact between the opposing parties since the plan for the new tournament was presented in April 2021, and the appointment served each side to present its current position: UEFA maintains its opposition speech to what was presented ago year and a half, while the Super League underlines the changes that it has introduced in these months in its plan and that it ensures that they respond to the criticism of that time.

The day did not start as expected by the emissaries of the Super League, the CEO of A22 Sports, Bernd Reichart, and its two founders, Anas Laghrari and John Hahn, whom opponents call "Florentino's men".

When he was appointed on October 19, Reichart sent a letter to the president of UEFA, Aleksander Ceferin, asking him to meet to open the dialogue.

They were summoned this Tuesday in Switzerland, and the A22 delegation expected to find three other people on the other side of the table, but Ceferin was waiting for them accompanied by almost thirty.

Various sources from both the UEFA and A22 delegations describe the scene as "an ambush", with Ceferin's tone being "aggressive" from the start.

They were Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga;

representatives of the English, Italian, German and French championships;

Nasser Al-Khelaifi, President of the ECA;

other leaders of the association of European clubs;

David Aganzo, president of the international soccer union, Fifpro;

and representatives of the European Fans Association.

According to the first statement issued on Tuesday by UEFA, the members of their side of the table "underlined together that the opposition to the self-proclaimed Super League remains overwhelming today."

Our CEO Bernd Reichart shares his observations on today's meeting with #UEFA in Nyon in this video 👇 pic.twitter.com/ibp5rnl6Qn

– A22 Sports (@A22Sports) November 8, 2022

A22 gave his version with a video in which Reichart, smiling, said that it had been "a very frank, open and direct conversation".

He acknowledged the disagreements and also that he had received criticism at the meeting, and wanted to see some positive point: "We had the opportunity to explain how our initiative has evolved, the key aspects that have changed along the way, such as openness, coexistence with domestic leagues and sporting merit at the center of any approach.

The best thing for us is that we explain why and how we continue the dialogue with clubs and actors in the football community.

And that's the next thing we're going to do."

In addition to the video, A22 published its own statement, in which it maintained that this dialogue "must be held in an environment free from threats and other coercion", and said that it had asked "UEFA to refrain from carrying them out", and that " UEFA provided guarantees that this will be the case”.

The text did not satisfy Ceferin, and UEFA published a second statement to respond to A22's story: "UEFA is checking the recording to see if it is the same meeting," it begins.

"A22 wanted to talk, so we gave them two and a half hours of time from all the football stakeholders and every single one of them rejected their approach."

They didn't see what Reichart saw: “They refuse to define what their supposed new approach is.

They say they want dialogue.

But when the opportunity presents itself, they have nothing to say.”

UEFA does not believe that there is anything to talk about, and while the judicial decision arrives, it maintains command, as Ceferin noted during the meeting: "I make the rules, I say when one speaks and when one is silent," he said, according to attendees to the meeting.

The CJEU will define the scope of its power to make rules in European football.

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