Barcelona and Real Madrid are strongly in favor of creating a breakaway league. Photo: Reuters/Sergio Perez
The question for those rebels who support the European Super League project – Florentino Perez, Joan Laporta and the small group of executives and financiers involved in the game – remains the same: what next?
They There have long been proposals to end UEFA's monopoly on club competitions and create, as in the case of the Premier League, competitions owned by clubs, but even they recognize the mountain that can never be climbed. The most optimistic ESL evangelists at the Madrid office near the Bernabeu, where all of ESL's operations are based, including its consultant A22 Sports, would say only that the European Court of Justice's decision could potentially be the start of something.
Under their proposals, a three-tier competition would mean that if, for example, Aston Villa finished in the top four this season, they would not enter either the elite European competition, the Star League, or the second-tier Golden League. Instead, Villa will be relegated to the third tier of the Blue League.
Sometimes it's hard to decide what's worse: the format or the branding. Dividing the best clubs in Europe into classifications that sound like the names of preschool kindergartens does not hide the fact that this is an idea proposed in 2019. UEFA members rejected it at the time as opposition grew from the domestic leagues. This time they did the same – now that any concept of ESL has become so stigmatized that no one can safely approach it.
By Thursday evening, all of the Premier League's big six had rejected the idea, as had other big strikers across Europe. There was no sense that European football was on the verge of change. ESL supporters Real Madrid and Barcelona, as well as A22 and its American financiers, have always been committed to total revolution. Nothing short of a defeat for UEFA. There is growing suspicion that the most damaging influence will come from elsewhere.
UEFA has long been unable to dictate terms to clubs, and as its influence gradually wanes, its fight is to avoid the fate of England's Football League in 1992.
Instead, he is in a marriage of convenience with the European Club Association (ECA), which is headed by Paris Saint-Germain chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi. UEFA President Aleksandar Čeferin and Al-Khelaifi created a new UEFA competition format after 2024 and shared the wealth from it with Qatari negotiations on the club side. Al-Khelaifi has other trump cards: a huge TV deal in the Middle East that UEFA has struck with Qatari company beIN Sports.
Closing The working relationship between Nasser Al-Khelaifi (right) and Aleksandar Ceferin may play a key role in resistance to the new project. Photo: Getty Images/Xavier Laine
Not everyone likes this, especially the lack of effective financial control over national clubs, one of which is PSG. Perhaps this is why Arsenal have once again become radicalized in their opposition to nation-state clubs. However, for now the UEFA-ECA axis remains strong.
To put it bluntly, the tail wags the dog: UEFA takes no action without ECA approval, and they own a joint venture that controls all the billions of euros in competition revenue. The ECA's power will likely only grow, and it can be assumed that at some point a peace deal will be reached with Real and Barcelona that will allow the rebels to quietly return to government. The Great ESL Revolution will end.
Most are now focused on a new front: the expansion of the FIFA Club World Cup, which will begin in 2025. This looks like a much more realistic challenge to hegemony if FIFA can find a wealthy sponsor. Naturally, no one dares to look beyond Saudi Arabia. If the proposed starting prize fund of €50 million (£43 million), which could potentially rise to €100 million (£86 million) for winners, is correct, then this will be a driving force for change.
This will create a new level of clubs capable of operating at a global level when it comes to negotiating commercial deals, and potentially developing revenue streams even larger than those offered in European football. Four-year competitions can become two-year competitions, and then – when the calendar is at its limit – something will have to be sacrificed. This may well be domestic league football and the number of clubs in the top leagues.
In the time since the fall of Super League 1.0, FIFA and the ECA have reached an agreement to secure a place on the calendar for the Club World Cup. The ECA has the same agreement with UEFA for the new Champions League and other competitions. The power dynamics in world football – those who control the distribution of finances and those who monopolize the calendar – have shifted and changed.
If there are further big changes and a transfer of power from UEFA to the clubs, it will most likely happen through an existing arrangement. The break away from ESL may have failed, but it was clear to Čeferin and UEFA that any deal with ECA was better than no deal with ESL.
The extent of the disgrace for Premier League clubs
As for the clubs and their owners, the power of the fans who took to the streets because of ESL was depressing. This won't change their plans to control most of the wealth, but it will certainly affect how they shape public relations around that wealth. Whatever success ESL makes in the ECJ, clubs will find that they are much better served by applying subtle pressure behind the scenes. It's easier than trying to blow up UEFA and rebuild it.
It's a bit of a shame, especially among Premier League clubs, that back in April 2021 they each handed over €2 million (€1.7 million). £) to the ESL and signed contract fines of up to €300 million (£260 million) for leaving. It is unclear what happened to all this money. Some, such as Manchester City and Juventus, chalked it up to financial results. Others seem less inclined.
What was it all for? The ESL project, backed by a small group of executives and financiers close to Perez, has always been something of a mystery. They seem to believe they can topple UEFA, but in the time it has taken to get this far, European football has already seen new key players and new pressures shaping it.
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