Fifteen of Europe’s greatest clubs are in converses with launch an European Super League, wanted to begin on schedule for the 2023-24 season, with a $6 billion (£4.3 billion) fund backing the project, sources have told ESPN.
In the event that the activity is successful, it would undermine the presence of the Champions League – football’s greatest club rivalry – with UEFA due to report in Monday another 36-group format for the tournament designed to stave off attempts by the game’s top clubs to break away.
As detailed by UK newspaper The Times, English top-flight clubs Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham are among 11 European teams to have joined to the Super League plan.
ESPN has been told by a person familiar with the outline that the proposed framework includes a sum of 20 teams, with 15 permanent members who can’t be consigned.
A further five groups will be rotated all through the competition, in light of competition, yet the permanent members will include six Premier League clubs, three from La Liga, three from Italy’s Serie A, two from the Bundesliga and one from France’s Ligue 1.
Sources have disclosed to ESPN that New York-based venture bank JP Morgan will guarantee the task, with $6 billion conveyed as credits to the groups.
Under tension from the European Club Association, UEFA has attracted up plans to reshape the Champions League design, with the new-look rivalry due to be divulged Monday, in front of UEFA’s leader advisory group culmination in Switzerland this week.
UEFA criticised the plans in a statement and said: “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 Federations, 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.”
Intended to come into power in 2024, the renovated Champions League would include a day and a teams playing 10 group games as opposed to six. The greatest clubs would likewise get an expanded share of prize cash.
Sources disclosed to ESPN that UEFA plan to press ahead with their declaration Monday, and that any breakaway league stays an distant prospect, with national associations UEFA and FIFA both needing to sanction the proposal.
In the mean time, the European Clubs’ Association issued a statement in which it reiterated commitment to working with UEFA on rivalry change, adding that a “closed super league model … would be strongly opposed.”
Serie A called a crisis board meeting on Sunday to examine a paper report saying telecaster DAZN is engaged with new designs for the breakaway class, a source told Reuters.
The meeting was called by class president Paolo Dal Pino, and Italian paper Corriere dello Sport detailed that DAZN, which is claimed by tycoon Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries, has been chipping away at the formation of the league for quite a while.
The report guarantees the meeting is being gone to distantly, with the three Serie A clubs who might actually be important for the new task: Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan.
FIFA has prior said that players who feature in any breakaway European Super League would be prohibited from playing in FIFA competitions, including the World Cup.
It covers a turbulent week for Serie A after seven clubs submitted a composed solicitation for Dal Pino to leave over issues that include his management of plans to sell a stake in the league’s media business.
The plans to grow the Champions League are additionally liable to meet opposition from allies; ESPN revealed a week ago that fans’ gatherings have effectively enlisted their displeasure regarding UEFA’s proposed changes.
On Sunday, an statement from the Premier League censured the breakaway plans.
It read: “The Premier League condemns any proposal that attacks the principles of open competition and sporting merit which are at the heart of the domestic and European football pyramid.
Fanatics of any club in England and across Europe can at present dream that their group may move to the top and play against the best. We accept that the idea of an European Super League would obliterate this fantasy.
“The Premier League is proud to run a competitive and compelling football competition that has made it the most widely watched league in the world. Our success has enabled us to make an unrivalled financial contribution to the domestic football pyramid.
“A European Super League will undermine the appeal of the whole game, and have a deeply damaging impact on the immediate and future prospects of the Premier League and its member clubs, and all those in football who rely on our funding and solidarity to prosper.
“We will work with fans, The FA, EFL, PFA and LMA, as well as other stakeholders, at home and abroad, to defend the integrity and future prospects of English football in the best interests of the game.”
