The Global Quest for a New European Super League 2.0 - 2023 and Beyond

Oh yes it’s apparently still a go to start in September 2025.
The rationale is simple.

  • Top clubs will play ONLY top clubs.
  • Top clubs will have more matches at home in a Super League season than the current four, before postseason play, in the current UEFA Champions League.

In [CEO Bernd] Reichart’s eyes, the European Super League will give fans more matchups like Manchester City against Inter Milan or Arsenal against PSG. The former of those fixtures happened in this season’s Champions League, but that was a drab and scoreless draw.

Today in UEFA CL action where was a match between the side FK Crvena zvezda, better known outside of Serbia as Red Star Belgrade, 2 and Barcelona 5. The latter side essentially were able to just toy with the former side, who to their credit did score two great goals.

This match had in it everything WRONG with the current format, for the teams were clearly mismatched, although each having qualified for the elite league.

In addition to having highlight-level matches, Reichart went on to add that the European Super League will also be more cost-effective. Currently, one of the biggest complaints among soccer fans is how expensive it is to watch. For example, watching a top Premier League club [in the US] involves three different providers to watch all the games.

This is a very strong argument that will win over fans, for NO MORE PAYWALLS!

But given the timeline is merely 10 months away and there are merely two clubs signed onto the project, I am not buying the projected launch date though am buying there is a stronger and more viable plan in the works for over four years after the failure of the first launch in April 2021.

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Well folks, the European Super League is still a thing.

Now either this is all promotional BS ultimately originating in Barcelona with the nod in agreement from Madrid, or there is a heavy earthquake looming for 2025 or 2026 to upset the stranglehold of FIFA and UEFA on the play of clubs based in Europe and the UK.

Now I do not doubt at all that many of the clubs mentioned or referenced in Italy, France, and Portugal are having discreet conversations, for they are only conversations, but how much of these conversations are going anywhere forward?

A year after the CJEU said that FIFA and UEFA’s pressures went against free competition in the markets, A22 has been in contact with hundreds of teams over the last few months. Their response? At least 60 have already said they are willing to participate in the Super League.

Although there was an initial scare following threats from world and European football’s governing bodies, the Super League organisers believe that all the signatories to the initial agreement will be in. Only Inter Milan would be left out because they agreed that they would not be in if their creditors’ council rejected it, and that is what happened when they saw that the English also dropped out. Despite this, they also claim to have the Premier League giants, Juventus and big teams from Italy, France and Portugal.

The principal voice who continues to be all over the matter, with support from his counterpart at Barcelona, continues to be Florentino Perez, the owner of Real Madrid.

As a fan, I do have some interest here no doubt, for the current format of the UEFA Champions League, though an improvement, is bloated in my opinion for the league stage.

I do NOT like my Premier League side Liverpool playing matches all through January, with two in the Champions League, due to the new format either.

In related news, shocking not shocking:

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Okay this now sounds confusing. I’m not convinced the proposal solves more problems than it might create, but greater financial incentives for interested clubs will rule the day anyway.

Now the new UEFA Champions League format in its debut season has been an overall success so far, but the new format also has not solved some issues, including several more less meaningful games than even before in a heavily bloated and watered-down aggregate schedule amidst all those great games more often.

That is where it is already tricky. Spain’s La Liga is the only one to publicly comment on the proposal, predictably excoriating it. This has largely been put down to Liga president Javier Tebas’s animosity towards Real Madrid president [Florentino] Perez, and an inability simply not to comment. Most stakeholders have taken the latter stance. The European Leagues group, which represents the domestic leagues, didn’t even issue a statement. It is understood that, like many relevant parties, this is down to not wanting to give the proposal any credence.

Privately, most have been highly dismissive of the new plans. It is a long way from the shock that greeted the headline news back in April 2021.

Unlike that tight and closed competition, the new proposal would be for 96 clubs to participate, building up to a Star League and Gold League that would be split into 16 teams each with two groups of eight within those. The top two clubs from each of the four groups would then go through to a final eight, amid plans for all of this to be streamed for free.

All of this would seek to run alongside the Uefa competitions, with the ultimate ambition of replacing them. A22 believe it is a “great proposal”.

A problem is nevertheless like the one the new Club World Cup faced before its Dazn deal. The commercial level of teams supplied is dependent on the money that is guaranteed, but the money guaranteed is dependent on the commercial level of the teams. It’s still only Real Madrid and Barcelona, and tentative interest in Italy and mid-tier leagues. This is where it goes full circle again.

There are meanwhile no suggestions of Gulf backing, although that prospect hasn’t been ruled out.

That’s Gulf as in Persian Gulf / Arabian Gulf, whose leadership in associated countries in my opinion stand to be the gamechangers and opportunists at this point, with all those roads in my opinion leading to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia en route to their interests also in the recently awarded 2034 FIFA World Cup as well.

After more than three years since its spectacular failure in April 2021, the very fact that the Super League is still a discussion, even after also all those numerous private dismissals, says that there are a few more influential and interested parties than meets the eye.

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UEFA and FIFA had a good run, but much like the NCAA, I think the era of monopolistic behavior in sports is coming to an end. I never understood how UEFA could stop a club from playing in another competition if they wanted to pack up their marbles and go do it. There’s just too much money to be made otherwise. With a Super League, you could put together a pretty solid league with the bigger, better teams across the continent—maybe a few Portuguese clubs, a few French clubs, some top Italian clubs, the two big Spanish clubs, and maybe a couple of Scottish clubs like Rangers and Celtic. Not sure if those last two are even viable, but I’m just throwing it out there. Either way, this is something that could definitely draw attention and get eyeballs on TV. And that’s probably what scares the hell out of FIFA and UEFA.

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So who really knows on the European Super League 2.0, but I will take the under for any start of play here in 2025.

Then again there is the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup here in the US in June and July, with the number of sides expanded to 32, which will be a trial-run and prelude to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which also has been expanded to a whopping 48 sides.

There are many negative views already on such an expanded FIFA event this summer, especially in discreet media by the players and some of the managers.

And I also have to wonder how, not if, FIFA, the Saudis, Qataris, or Emiratis are tipping the scales with regards to the Super League 2.0 or to UEFA Champions League. Or playing both sides against the other to some degree?

Anyway after today in Champions League play, in the new format, what looks to me like yet another flaw has been exposed.

To some degree after 7 of 8 matches in the league phase with such a large number of teams at 36, only 26 are in heavy probability still in contention for the 24 slots for the knockout rounds.

Any of the 10 headed for elimination, which still have some remote mathematical chance, simply have to win out, score a ton of goals, and hope certain other sides lose.

By tomorrow, we will know even more with regards to the current table and the remaining possibilities for at least those 10 sides facing elimination, including especially if losing tomorrow.

I don’t think this is what UEFA had in mind for the final week of play next week.

Of course for teams already likely qualified, there is some competition to be had for a valuable bye or for a seeded position in the knockout round, so as to likely assure the second / return match of a home and away series.

But perhaps UEFA never cared about quality of play for all games as late as this seventh week of play, so long as there are more games played.

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And after completion of matches for the seventh week of eight total matches, indeed the numbers do work out to the following in the league phase of the new Champions League format:

  • 18 teams of 24 slots already qualified for the knockout / playoff round, of which many will be playing to win for the sake of better seeding
  • 10 teams of the total 36 teams effectively eliminated
  • Teams 19 through 25 will be playing to win in their final games, with anything less likely or certain to lead to elimination, though teams 19 and 20 could prevail with merely a draw (though if doing so, these teams would be punished with the hardest draw in the next round).
  • Mighty Man City is team 25, and though playing to win today in heavy rain but coming up short, will be pulling out all the rest of the stops at home to avoid monumental embarrassment.

The situation for the last day with regards to meaningless games does not appear as bad as I had feared. There are only two games that involve only teams already eliminated of the 18 scheduled next Wednesday 29 January.

UEFA looks to be onto something with this format, but on the other hand notable onlookers with far more capital are also watching for the sake of how to improve the format, starting with Real Madrid and Barcelona amongst any other teams with expressed interest in any proposition for a better financial return and better match-ups than in this bloated UEFA format, including with even possibly fewer games overall.

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Rigged? Champions League Draw for Knockout Phase

So in determination of the eight home and away fixtures for 16 sides, UEFA had their draw last week for all tournaments, including Champions League.

But though I have zero evidence, there’s no way do I believe that the draw to have a final rematch series between Manchester City and Real Madrid was not rigged.

Social media are ablaze with the same line of thought.

Reasons I believe that is the case for this match-up already is because

  1. We have seen this sort of thing before in every season recently via these UEFA draws, which happen to choose top sides to play in an earlier playoff round,
  2. there is no close second place match-up in broad appeal in this new knockout phase for Champions League before the Round of 16
    and
  3. if these sides were not drawn to play each other now, the opponent for each team would be a far less exciting match globally, even it it were Bayern, and thus the entire round of action over two dates here in February would be far lower in ratings globally and in advertising rates.

UEFA will carry on like this in every season unless and until a competitor emerges with a different plan to put into action that does not match up top sides so early in the playoff rounds.