With the introduction of the European Super League, UEFA and FIFA have taken a strong stand against it, with Real Madrid President, Florentino Perez claiming that the European Super League was created “to save football”.

The European Super League

Perez’s claims for saving football might be eccentric, but it has an underlying tone of truth to it. In the haste to implement a footballing vigor with an invite-only proposition, it seems that the underdog glory has been forgotten. More importantly, it promotes an elitist mentality that can never be the goal of ANY sport whatsoever. 

The European Super League had European giants like FC Barcelona, Real Madrid CF, Atletico Madrid, the Premier League Big Six – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus, and some more non-permanent teams that would have qualified.

You may have noticed that I wrote about the teams in the past tense. It is because all the six English teams have pulled out of the Super League, after receiving severe backlash from fans. In a world where money matters more to some, it was a genuine relief to see these clubs listen to their fans. 

The Backlash

The UK Government said that it was ready to put everything on the table to prevent this from happening. UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin said that it was a spit in the face of all football lovers. He went on to say that players who play for teams involved in the closed league would be banned from the World Cup and Euros. 

After its announcement on Sunday, FIFA expressed disapproval of the proposed competition and urged all heated parties to take part in a calm, rational, and peaceful discussion to come to a constructive solution for the good of the game.

With not a single French team in the mix, President Emmanuel Macron said that this idea risked threatening the principle of solidarity and sporting merit. The Premier League issued a strong statement, “Fans of any club in England and across Europe can currently dream that their team may climb to the top and play against the best. We believe that the concept of a European Super League would destroy this dream.”

Also Read: Negligence And Bittersweet Victories: The Story Of Indian Football

A Compromise, Maybe?

As much as fans are crucial for any club, so is revenue generation. The fiscal year of 2019-2020 saw a steep fall in revenue generation due to closed-door matches across Europe. In theory, this idea, with a few tweaks could actually work in creating substantial revenue for the clubs taking part. 

In my opinion, instead of making the European Super League an annual event, maybe a quadrennial approach would be more suited. Like FIFA World Cup, or the Euros, and Copa America, this approach would actually make it worth the wait for the fans.

The clash of the best of European Clubs makes sense, has huge profits, and makes sense to have it quadrennially. The current path of having it annually makes these special matches, not so special anymore, and would be like any other fixture.

Moreover, instead of having 12 permanent founding members, there should be at most 5 permanent members. The rest could have qualification criteria that have to be consistent over the course of four years, making the rest of the spots up for grabs for any club that make the cut. 

Do comment down below what you think about this approach towards the European Super League and your ideas about the same.

Image Sources: Google Images

Sources: Sporting News, BBC, Author’s Own Opinion

Find The Blogger: Shouvonik Bose

This post is tagged under: European super league, super league, what is European super league, European super league teams, UEFA superleague, European super league football, what is the European super league, ESL, Jose Mourinho, euro super league, Europe super league, European Superleague, tottenham, new European super league, breakaway European super league, Europa League, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Florentino Perez, Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan

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