European Super League

[KingLeo10]

I'd accept a promotion/relegation system without founders where the top league is initially comprised of top 3/4 from England, Spain, Germany, Italy top 2 from France plus the winners of Eredivise, Portuguese league.

Then the second tier comprised of the winners some of the lower profile leagues and second place from Eredivisie etc.


They all basically got there on domestic merit. I cannot accept clubs like 10th placed Arsenal who are so useless they could fall into a barrel of tits and they'd still come out sucking their thumb still somehow be rewarded.

Pretty much this competition should replace the CL.

And preferably not be run by UEFA.

 

[Adversus]

Its not a real League (at least for now). More of a CL replacement. With knockouts and spending limitations, and more wealth in general, I dont think "bottom" teams like Arsenal cant have good runs and maybe even win it. Much more likely than the current CL or Premier League for them.

The only reason they want to stay in their domestic leagues is because they want to keep winning things since this competition will only have one winner. The problem is UEFA and the domestic leagues won't allow that. It will skew those leagues even more than they have been already by the CL and make them unwatchable just like most of the European leagues already are.

 

[Jenks]

If City pulls out of it... It's done.

I think it'll happen. The entire purpose of the City Group project is international relations and soft power. They throw that in the trash by putting their name to something like this. The only thing they get out of it is money, which they don't really need.

 

[Donauwelle]

Not to mention PSG fans (like Newcomer) taking a staunch stand against this movement.

Maybe should have shown the same staunchness when Qatar took over your club.

This is why I don't like morally grounded arguments. Basically no one has 0 dirty laundry and therefore the perfect leg to stand on. I understand the criticism of the ESL from the sporting perspective and don't like the founder status in any way, shape or form, but that's on sporting grounds, not moral grounds.

But that just makes grey black without shades. Each of the big clubs (even the smaller clubs) has some dirty laundry and has had outside help somewhen in their history. And yes, it is a business and not just sports and that survive best that combine both sides of it best. But that just does not justify everything.

 

[Mrgandalf]

If you would just update the CL, reduce it to 16 teams, make it an elite competition only, have a groups stage with better, more balanced teams, with play-offs, like East and West in the NBA, then quarters with seeding based on group ranking (1A-4B, 2A-3B, 3A-2B, 4A-1B), this would be the best of both worlds.

You'd have stacked groups (8 teams in each with great derbies in each round), you'd get rid of dumb draws, random idiotic rules (like no teams from the same country can play together before QF), and have great playoffs too.

Do something with the CL groups, because what happens there is nearly irrelevant.

Where's the money?

 

[Birdy]

I'd accept a promotion/relegation system without founders where the top league is initially comprised of top 3/4 from England, Spain, Germany, Italy top 2 from France plus the winners of Eredivise, Portuguese league.

Then the second tier comprised of the winners some of the lower profile leagues and second place from Eredivisie etc.


They all basically got there on domestic merit. I cannot accept clubs like 10th placed Arsenal who are so useless they could fall into a barrel of tits and they'd still come out sucking their thumb still somehow be rewarded.

Football-wise I totally agree,
as Pep said reward/punishment should be there for being good or bad.

There should be a way that allows a team to become a great team, and conversely to decline.

But again, I don't think they see this from a sporting point of view primarily, but from a financial point of view

 

[Adversus]

No it won't
European leagues have a long history. I hate this arrogance.
CHL 1992-93 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992–93_UEFA_Champions_League

Where are those 12 super clubs. Nowhere. Europe did just fine and probably even better than now.

Exactly. Personally I think this may be great news for domestic fans.

If they get booted from their leagues the European game may go back to what it was before when it was for domestic fans and where there was true competition between clubs who were in constant flux.

Have this "league" be the league for the worldwide fans. I'm ok with that.

 

[FCBfan22]

I think that if City pulls out, the likes of Chelsea and maybe even us will follow soon.

If this falls like the house of cards, RM, United, Pool and Juve will be the last 4 left.

 

[Yannik]

Whatever breakaway from UEFA ever happens should never be spearheaded and administred by the likes of Florentino Perez or any PL sugardaddy. These people are not your friends and are not intending to make football more competetive, or closer to the fans.

 

[messi2140]

But that just makes grey black without shades. Each of the big clubs (even the smaller clubs) has some dirty laundry and has had outside help somewhen in their history. And yes, it is a business and not just sports and that survive best that combine both sides of it best. But that just does not justify everything.

Literally every club out there is playing with kits that are made in sweatshops , child labour or are even using the Uighur folk that are in concentration camps. Any type of moral argument needs to be thrown out the window.

 

[Adversus]

Yes there is, which would be these 12 clubs would be banned from all UEFA sanctioned competitions and domestic leagues, if the ESL were to go ahead and become a reality.

If you meant no penalty for merely agreeing to join or signing up for the ESL, which might or might not fly, right, no penalty that I am aware of.

I think they have already broke the rules of the premier league. It's very possible if they do try and push this through even if it doesn't go through all those teams may find their points deducted for this season and if that happens they will all be out of the CL next season whatever happens.

 

[Devils]

City won't pull out lol.

The prospect of having Manchester Derbies in Abu Dhabi and other parts of the Middle East will be a dream of the Sheikhs.

It's borderline terrifying how much money they could make by hosting those matches.

 

[Bulgroz]

Cynical? Cynical my ass. Again, if Barca had used UNICEF purely to introduce shirt sponsorship and without ever donating money to them, or stopped donating money as soon as shirt sponsorship was introduced then you can rightfully call it cynical. Since when donating money to a charity like UNICEF year in and year out a cynical act?

I wasn?t trying to brag, as I am aware many clubs do charity work of some sorts. I came here to defend my club?s or any club?s good work when your showed your cynicism.

Had they done it without giving any money, it wouldn't have been "cynical", it would have been just pure evil. What they did is give a bit of money to Unicef (again, less than 0.5% of their budget) to pave the way for a shirt sponsor deal that gave them 30M euros a year (that number has since doubled).

If I give 20 euros to a homeless person, but call in a photograph to take a lot of pictures of it so I can put in on instagram just to get a brand to sponsor me on social medias with a juicy 1.000 euros deal, won't you think what I did was a bit... cynical?

Sure, I gave 20 euros to a homeless person, so in a way it's better than doing nothing. But you'd be right to call me out on my bs if I start parading around claiming I'm doing god's work.

Again, if that can give you any peace, I puked a little in my mouth when I read Al Khelaifi's statement about ESL.

 

[DonAK]

Literally every club out there is playing with kits that are made in sweatshops , child labour or are even using the Uighur folk that are in concentration camps. Any type of moral argument needs to be thrown out the window.

Which is why the arguments about UEFA being just as bad is stupid.

UEFA pay forward a lot of solidarity money to smaller clubs around Europe. Something that will stop with this Super League. A closed format is not competitive, it is against the integrity of competition.

That's not to say UEFA isn't bad and doesn't have to change. They do. They have shit the bed which made this a possibility, but the whataboutism is embarrassing.

Florentino made one thing very clear last night. They don't give a damn about anyone else but themselves. The pandemic is not the reason Barca, Real Madrid and Juventus are struggling. Piss poor management and bad investments are.

These clubs won't die by 2024.

That said, the CL format should be changed, so should the revenue sharing and they should open up for more invention rather than sticking to their traditional ways.

 

[DonAK]

There's a lot of people on this forum who I see support and cheer for their local teams as well, and get happy when they get far into the CL or EL and are able to meet some top teams.

That will stop. Your teams are going to die. There's no two ways about this.

Florentino says that children are losing interest in football.

Why is that? Could it be because of the bad timings such as playing games as late as 9pm or 10pm? Could it be that almost every single game is behind a paywall that costs literally 100+ euros/pounds per month in some countries to watch?