2023-12-21 14:01:23
The first outlines of the new Super League project have been revealed. This Thursday, the A22 organization proposed “a new open European competition”, with “64 clubs divided into three leagues” for the men’s tournament and “32 clubs divided into two leagues” for the women’s edition.
The organization relies on the decision of European justice on the Super League, which dealt a setback to UEFA on Thursday by ruling that its 2021 rules aimed at preventing the Super League, a dissident of the Champions League, were contrary to the law. A decision which could reignite the battle over the future of European football.
A22 also promises “free broadcasting” of the meetings. “For supporters: we offer free broadcasting of all Superleague matches,” said Bernd Reichart, the boss of the company promoting the Super League. Fourteen matches per club per year are planned.
A promotion-relegation system
The organization therefore details a new private project, very different from the first version of the Super League, since it will include “no permanent members” and will operate with a promotion-relegation system, also providing for “solidarity payments” of at least 400 million euros to European football.
Basically, it is therefore a question of erasing the main criticisms made of the first project – being a club of the ultra-rich modeled on the model of North American private leagues – by taking up the characteristics of the “European sporting model” protected by the treaties, i.e. competitions open according to sporting merit and providing for financial redistribution.
“For the first year of the competition, clubs will be selected on the basis of a set of transparent and performance-based criteria,” adds A22, specifying that the matches would be held in the middle of the week, therefore competing head-on with the three competitions. UEFA European Club Championships.
Revenue from advertising and sponsorships
Financially, A22 promises that its platform will “generate revenue through advertising, premium subscriptions, distribution partnerships, interactive services and sponsorships”, without revealing partners supporting the launch of the project.
The structure created in October 2022 after the failure of a first private tournament project, currently says nothing about the calendar or the level of approval among European clubs. In April 2021, twelve major clubs announced their own private competition with enormous commercial potential, with an offensive launched at midnight just before a vast reform of the directly competing Champions League. Attacked by surprise, UEFA and Fifa had threatened sanctions.
The disastrous communication from the mutineers and then the strong opposition from supporters, particularly in England, had prompted several countries to consider legislative measures, pushing nine of the rebel clubs to throw in the towel. The dissident adventure collapsed in less than 48 hours. Two years later, only the Spanish clubs Real Madrid and FC Barcelona had not disarmed.
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