European Super League announced with 12 founding members – UEFA and FIFA react

UEFA Champions League Trophy

European football is set for a major transformation with the European Super League announced earlier tonight.

The likes of Manchester City, Manchester UnitedLiverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, BarcelonaReal Madrid, Atletico Madrid, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus have joined the European Super League as the founding members and three other clubs are expected to join them.

According to reports, the aforementioned clubs have already resigned from the ECA and they are unexpected to play a part in the UEFA competitions going ahead.

Apparently, the founding members will be awarded a payment of around €3.5 billion to set up the breakaway tournament which could have massive implications on club football and international football.

There have been rumours that the clubs participating in the European Super League could be banned from their domestic leagues and the players of these clubs will not be allowed to play for their countries at the international level.

Such a backlash would mean that the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are unlikely to play in the 2022 World Cup.

While the 12 founding members have confirmed their participation in the European Super League with official statements it is believed that Real Madrid president Florentino Perez is leading the project.

The idea of the European Super League was floated back in 2009 and the then Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger predicted that the breakaway tournament would arrive within the next 10 years.

UEFA and FIFA have sent out strongly-worded statements against the European Super League and its participants and it will be interesting to see what punishments they decide to dish out in the coming weeks.

UEFA, the English Football Association and the Premier League, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and LaLiga, and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and Lega Serie A have learned that a few English, Spanish and Italian clubs may be planning to announce their creation of a closed, so-called Super League.

If this were to happen, we wish to reiterate that we – UEFA, the English FA, RFEF, FIGC, the Premier League, LaLiga, Lega Serie A, but also FIFA and all our member associations – will remain united in our efforts to stop this cynical project, a project that is founded on the self-interest of a few clubs at a time when society needs solidarity more than ever.

We will consider all measures available to us, at all levels, both judicial and sporting in order to prevent this happening. Football is based on open competitions and sporting merit; it cannot be any other way.

As previously announced by FIFA and the six Confederations, the clubs concerned will be banned from playing in any other competition at domestic, European or world level, and their players could be denied the opportunity to represent their national teams. 

We thank those clubs in other countries, especially the French and German clubs, who have refused to sign up to this. We call on all lovers of football, supporters and politicians, to join us in fighting against such a project if it were to be announced. This persistent self-interest of a few has been going on for too long. Enough is enough.

Joint statement from UEFA and Football Associations on European Super League

It is safe to assume that a legal war is on the cards between the clubs and the two governing bodies over the next few months.

It will be interesting to see how UEFA sustain their dream project, the Champions League, without the involvement of these superclubs.

Furthermore banning these clubs from their respective domestic leagues could mean that the TV revenues would dry up. Broadcasters are unlikely to pay huge sums of money to telecast clubs without a massive global fanbase.

As far as I understand, the domestic leagues of England, Italy and Spain aren’t considering any immediate measures with regards to this season. Any suspension of removal of clubs would probably be a huge breach of contract with television rights holders.