Fresh plans for a European Super League, featuring 80 teams and all places based on merit, are being suggested by A22′s chief executive, Bernd Reichart.
A22 Sports management is in charge of promoting the competition, which was met with significant backlash when it was initially suggested in 2021 due to it’s “founding members” not having the ability to be out of the competition even if performing poorly.
Now, a new format is being suggested, which would include up to 80 teams and would see each side guaranteed a minimum of 14 games, rather than the 6 that the Champions League currently offers (for those that finish bottom in the group stages].
It would replace the UEFA competition rather than the domestic leagues, with the Guardian reporting that it would take the shape of ”an open competition, with qualification via performance at national level and all its teams competing in their domestic leagues”.
It follows fears that the gap between the Premier League and other leagues around Europe has already become insurmountable, with the English top flight outspending the rest of Europe combined twice over in January, and players from the likes of Real Madrid, AS Roma and Atletico Madrid joining relegation-threatened sides in the Premier League.
(Photo by Ritchie Sumpter/News Images) 2MX8MG8 Nottingham Forest sign Keylor Navas on loan from Paris Saint-Germain at City Ground, Nottingham, United Kingdom, 1st February 2023
(Photo by Ritchie Sumpter/News Images) (Alamy Stock Photo)
“The foundations of European football are in danger of collapsing”, Reichart wrote. “It’s time for a change. It is the clubs that bear the entrepreneurial risk in football. But when important decisions are at stake, they are too often forced to sit idly by on the sidelines as the sporting and financial foundations crumble around them.”
🚨 A22 Sports Management, promoters of the European Super League (ESL) have released a ten-point manifesto outlining their core principles following stakeholder dialogue with around 50 clubs. pic.twitter.com/h5RCZiUjde
— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) February 9, 2023
There will be financial restrictions too, as there have been under UEFA. “Club spending must be based solely on the funds generated and not on competitively distorting capital injections,” Reichart added. In a week that has seen Manchester City referred to an independent committee amid accusations of doing just that, the Super League could be more popular this time around, but could still take years to come to fruition.
