New plans for the European Super League have been unveiled, with organisers making several significant changes to the original proposal. The idea of a Super League emerged in April 2021, with several top sides getting involved before it was clamped down on by FIFA following widespread uproar from fans and key footballing figures.
However, some clubs are still desperate to break away from the traditional league formats. Bernd Reichart, the chief executive of A22 – formed to assist the Super League – has spoken out about the new plans.
He told Die Welt: “The foundations of European football are in danger of collapsing. It’s time for a change. It is the clubs that bear the entrepreneurial risk in football. But when important decisions are at stake, they are too often forced to sit idly by on the sidelines as the sporting and financial foundations crumble around them.”
Reichart and co are hoping that their new structure will convince teams to get on board with the idea. Express Sport takes a look at four key differences that could prove attractive to clubs in comparison to the former plans…
Multi-division format
2021’s Super League had 12 founding members that would be a constant in the competition – six of which came from the Premier League. However, the new plan is a multi-division format that will see up to 80 teams take part. It has also been revealed that the idea of ‘permanent league members’ has been discarded, with no club having a guaranteed spot at the very top of the pyramid.
Participation terms
Clubs in the previous format were selected by A22 based on their history and public ranking, with only the top sides being asked to join the Super League. Following that part of the plan being massively condemned, teams will now participate based on sporting ‘merit’ rather than being cherry-picked by the founders. Therefore, in theory any team would be able to qualify rather than just those with the most glamorous names.
Fixture frequency
There is the guarantee of ‘at least 14 matches’ in the newly drafted idea, with Reichart feeling that having a minimum amount of fixtures will provide ‘stability and predictability’ in terms of revenue. Clubs are also limited to spending only funds raised by the competition to avoid ‘distortion’.
Qualification
As mentioned previously, 2021’s European Super League format had a hand-selected crop of clubs, which consequently caused a stir amongst sides not considered. This time around, it is proposed that clubs would qualify through ‘performances at national level’ as well as in domestic leagues.
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