The world’s richest clubs like Real Madrid, Manchester United and Juventus want to make a closed-shop league that they themselves govern.
World football has been rocked by 12 of Europe’s richest football clubs announcing the launch of a controversial NFL-style “Super League,” governed by the very clubs that founded it.
The plans have drawn widespread condemnation from supporters groups, high profile football personalities, and politicians. Clubs and players involved in the so-called European Super League face possible sanctions.
The founders are Arsenal FC, Chelsea FC, Liverpool FC, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur from England, AC Milan, FC Internazionale Milano and Juventus FC from Italy, and Spain’s Atlético de Madrid, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid CF. The league has not been joined by any French or German clubs.
Europe’s main footballing bodies condemned the announcement. A joint statement by UEFA, the English Football Association, the Premier League, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), LaLiga, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and Lega Serie A said that they “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.”
