La Liga President Javier Tebas has slammed the new plans for a European Super League as ‘the wolf’ from the fairytale Little Red Riding Hood, which has ‘disguised itself as the granny to try to fool European football’ in his latest outburst against the idea.
The Superleague, which was dissolved just days after it was announced in April 2021 amid widespread backlash, reared it’s head once more on Thursday as fresh plans for the competition were announced.
The new proposal would include up to 80 teams across four divisions 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], in turn ensuring increased revenue for each participating side.
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”, thus removing the previous major issue, which had been the lack of relegation for the founding members.
However, the concept has still be met with plenty of backlash, with Tebas taking to social media to make his own opinions clear on the subject.
“The Super League is the wolf, which today disguises itself as a granny to try to fool European football, but its nose and teeth are very big”, he wrote. “Four divisions in Europe? Of course, the first for them, as in the 2019 reform. Government of the clubs? Of course, only of the big ones”.
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.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta has since confirmed that “the Super League process is underway, it is a more attractive competition for everyone”.
