12 Leading European Soccer teams agree plans to break away and create "Super League"

[LukeS1]

Thought this deserved its own thread away from the Soccer one

What do you guys make of it

[LukeS1]

My opinion is that it could be a good thing if done correctly...


People are upset because of the way this has been announced, the timing, and the way its all been driven by $$£$$


Truth is football needs a shake up, and its no different to what every institution has been doing for years. The FA has expanded the Caraboa cup to have 2 legged semi finals, Uefa has introduced a further International tournament with the Nations League and was trying to add further teams to the UCL.

Every governing body is trying to expand their schedule of games and TV money, at the expense of players who are now overworked. Kroos came out in an interview saying how they feel about all that


If its all about the money, why make it so there can be 70+ games in a calendar year, when a Super League/NFL style format would make a hell of a lot more in much less matches?

Are we wasting the talent of our top players by making 90%+ of their games against much inferior opposition? We could have a situation where every single game Ronaldo & Messi plays is against a huge team, so you get to see your favourite player in 40 big games rather than 5 every year...

[DigDeeper1]

One of the most beautiful things about football is that anything is possible in it.

With this super league you are killing the domestic leagues, outside of these so called big clubs no other teams can qualify for this tournament.

You won’t see teams like Porto winning, Leicester winning the pl will mean nothing now or West Ham success has no value/

It becomes just about money

What makes these European nights so special is that it’s meant to be special and earned not just another game which is what it’ll be under this new regime.

Great Chelsea vs Barcelona this week for the 7th time this year

These football clubs won’t field their best players in league games because they will be saving them for the super league.

What about the fans? You won’t be able to go to these games as they will be played all over the world. You will be seeing Man Utd vs Liverpool at 5am in Singapore.

It’s all motivated by greed and money.

The people in charge of this no nothing about football and don’t care about the fans.

2 years ago Ed Woodward said he didn’t even understand the offside rule and yet he is running this.

Football was born out of the working class and now elitist rich are stealing it.

Absolutely disgusted in this

[DigDeeper1]

[LukeS1]

One of the most beautiful things about football is that anything is possible in it.

With this super league you are killing the domestic leagues, outside of these so called big clubs no other teams can qualify for this tournament.

You won’t see teams like Porto winning, Leicester winning the pl will mean nothing now or West Ham success has no value/

It becomes just about money

What makes these European nights so special is that it’s meant to be special and earned not just another game which is what it’ll be under this new regime.

Great Chelsea vs Barcelona this week for the 7th time this year

These football clubs won’t field their best players in league games because they will be saving them for the super league.

What about the fans? You won’t be able to go to these games as they will be played all over the world. You will be seeing Man Utd vs Liverpool at 5am in Singapore.

It’s all motivated by greed and money.

The people in charge of this no nothing about football and don’t care about the fans.

2 years ago Ed Woodward said he didn’t even understand the offside rule and yet he is running this.

Football was born out of the working class and now elitist rich are stealing it.

Absolutely disgusted in this

Are you against it in all formats?


What if it was a new league of 20 teams that replaced the domestic league for those teams.

Each year the bottom 3 is automatically relegated back to their domestic league. The next 2 bottom sides go into a playoff system with the winners of all the domestic leagues to decide who plays in the Super League next season.

That would only be 2x you face each other each year, but all will be top sides

[DigDeeper1]

Are you against it in all formats?


What if it was a new league of 20 teams that replaced the domestic league for those teams.

Each year the bottom 3 is automatically relegated back to their domestic league. The next 2 bottom sides go into a playoff system with the winners of all the domestic leagues to decide who plays in the Super League next season.

That would only be 2x you face each other each year, but all will be top sides

That would never happen. The owners of Real Madrid, Man Utd and Arsenal are the ones who are in charge of the super league, do you think they would allow their clubs to be relegated and lose that revenue? you would also never see certain clubs get relegated back to the domestic league. It also effects the domestic league for the other teams not just the big 6. I mean what if you are a west ham fan you would never see them play these big teams, they would lost out on revenue due which would effect their operations. You would also never see your players play in the domestic league or in person. It would completely devalue the current tournaments we have in place. Maybe the champions league needs to be revised but not this. Also it is plain stupid and only relevant now. How does Man Utd, Tottenham and Arsenal qualify for it automatically when they aren't even in the champions league. How are Leicester not included ? they won the league a few years ago, top 3 right now and in FA cup final. They have had more success in the last 10 years then Tottenham and Arsenal so why aren't they in the super league.

You have to also understand the sole motivation for this in money and greed, the owners of these clubs aren't even in the country. The Glazers are American and just want to franchise it out. These owners are so far detached from football.

I can't imagine NFL fans would be too happy if a bunch of Chinese owners came in and changed their whole league and started moving games to china and players out of the country.

You have to look at the big picture and where this takes the sport

And I suppose it is to do with your values, for me football is about the people and the fans and this move takes it away from the people and gives it to the rich.

Like I love the Packers because of the way it is ran and how it is owned by the fans

[LukeS1]

That would never happen. The owners of Real Madrid, Man Utd and Arsenal are the ones who are in charge of the super league, do you think they would allow their clubs to be relegated and lose that revenue? you would also never see certain clubs get relegated back to the domestic league. It also effects the domestic league for the other teams not just the big 6. I mean what if you are a west ham fan you would never see them play these big teams, they would lost out on revenue due which would effect their operations. You would also never see your players play in the domestic league or in person. It would completely devalue the current tournaments we have in place. Maybe the champions league needs to be revised but not this. Also it is plain stupid and only relevant now. How does Man Utd, Tottenham and Arsenal qualify for it automatically when they aren't even in the champions league. How are Leicester not included ? they won the league a few years ago, top 3 right now and in FA cup final. They have had more success in the last 10 years then Tottenham and Arsenal so why aren't they in the super league.

You have to also understand the sole motivation for this in money and greed, the owners of these clubs aren't even in the country. The Glazers are American and just want to franchise it out. These owners are so far detached from football.

I can't imagine NFL fans would be too happy if a bunch of Chinese owners came in and changed their whole league and started moving games to china and players out of the country.

You have to look at the big picture and where this takes the sport

And I suppose it is to do with your values, for me football is about the people and the fans and this move takes it away from the people and gives it to the rich.

Like I love the Packers because of the way it is ran and how it is owned by the fans

Seems like you are more against the proposed structure than a shake up in general?


I think something needs to give. We cant have domestic football associations adding extra legs to tournaments, Uefa adding in bullchit nations league etc bloating the season to 70-80 games just trying to squeeze every piece of revenue out.

[LukeS1]

Using the NFL comparison.

Imagine if Patrick Mahomes only played against NFL calibre teams 2-3 times a year, the rest he was playing CFL/XFL level sides in blow outs. That would suck

[DigDeeper1]

Seems like you are more against the proposed structure than a shake up in general?


I think something needs to give. We cant have domestic football associations adding extra legs to tournaments, Uefa adding in bullchit nations league etc bloating the season to 70-80 games just trying to squeeze every piece of revenue out.

Yes I am not against a shake up and the modernisation of tournaments etc but this is not the way to do it.

Using the NFL comparison.

Imagine if Patrick Mahomes only played against NFL calibre teams 2-3 times a year, the rest he was playing CFL/XFL level sides in blow outs. That would suck

I don't follow the NFL to much so excuse my naivety but isn't it already like that? I mean it hardly like teams like the Jaguars, Jets or Bengals are doing good. Would you be in favour of the NFL removing all those teams and creating a new tournament consisting of teams that have won the superbowl over the last decade

[markkillerings]

I follow international soccer very casually. Like rarely. But my thoughts on this is that it really is sh!tty of these clubs to do this since they're basically sh!tting on the formats and tradition of their domestic leagues and the soul of soccer. And the other side of me is saying YOLO. Hehe. I guess I kind of approach with the idea that isn't this where the global market is heading anyway? So few teams across the world have all the fame and money. Was there ever really fairness in European soccer? I get it. But sometimes it really is all about the money and businesses acting like business. History and traditions be damned. I just don't care enough to be mad.

[DigDeeper1]

I follow international soccer very casually. Like rarely. But my thoughts on this is that it really is sh!tty of these clubs to do this since they're basically sh!tting on the formats and tradition of their domestic leagues and the soul of soccer. And the other side of me is saying YOLO. Hehe. I guess I kind of approach with the idea that isn't this where the global market is heading anyway? So few teams across the world have all the fame and money. Was there ever really fairness in European soccer? I get it. But sometimes it really is all about the money and businesses acting like business. History and traditions be damned. I just don't care enough to be mad.

And that's what's incredibly sad about it all, the history and tradition of these clubs just getting erased in the name of money. It's not like these owners aren't rich enough. Multi-billionaire owners wanting more money. Fuk em

[markkillerings]

And that's what's incredibly sad about it all, the history and tradition of these clubs just getting erased in the name of money. It's not like these owners aren't rich enough. Multi-billionaire owners wanting more money. Fuk em

Isn't some of the owners of Manchester United owners of the 49ers as well?

[LukeS1]

Yes I am not against a shake up and the modernisation of tournaments etc but this is not the way to do it.



I don't follow the NFL to much so excuse my naivety but isn't it already like that? I mean it hardly like teams like the Jaguars, Jets or Bengals are doing good. Would you be in favour of the NFL removing all those teams and creating a new tournament consisting of teams that have won the superbowl over the last decade

There are bad teams of course but the league is set up in every way to have as much parity as is reasonably possible, with the draft and salary caps


The worst team in the NFL is still the 32nd best Football team in the world, and will have a total salary spend of $150m+ or within 10-20% of the highest. CR7 and Messi routinely play against sides that are not close to top 100 soccer teams, whose total salary spend is less than Cristiano earns in 2 months

[LukeS1]

I follow international soccer very casually. Like rarely. But my thoughts on this is that it really is sh!tty of these clubs to do this since they're basically sh!tting on the formats and tradition of their domestic leagues and the soul of soccer. And the other side of me is saying YOLO. Hehe. I guess I kind of approach with the idea that isn't this where the global market is heading anyway? So few teams across the world have all the fame and money. Was there ever really fairness in European soccer? I get it. But sometimes it really is all about the money and businesses acting like business. History and traditions be damned. I just don't care enough to be mad.

Its true, and the governing bodies in each country and Uefa across Europe have been trying every single way they can to make themselves more money. Exercising their control as a monopoly, and a damn corrupt one at that

This feels like people beating them at their own game

[LukeS1]

Isn't some of the owners of Manchester United owners of the 49ers as well?

No its the Buc's (Glazer family) own United

Liverpool has US owners, City and P$G have Arab owners, Chelsea Russian.... big football is more and more owned by wealthy external countries. Makes sense how they are pushing for a system more similar to US sports

[markkillerings]

No its the Buc's (Glazer family) own United

Liverpool has US owners, City and P$G have Arab owners, Chelsea Russian.... big football is more and more owned by wealthy external countries. Makes sense how they are pushing for a system more similar to US sports

Thanks.

[DigDeeper1]

There are bad teams of course but the league is set up in every way to have as much parity as is reasonably possible, with the draft and salary caps


The worst team in the NFL is still the 32nd best Football team in the world, and will have a total salary spend of $150m+ or within 10-20% of the highest. CR7 and Messi routinely play against sides that are not close to top 100 soccer teams, whose total salary spend is less than Cristiano earns in 2 months

Well your kinda missing the magic of football though, I mean for example Ronaldo and Juventus lost to Atalanta yesterday and are 3rd in the league struggling to qualify for Europe.

All these big clubs do lose to smaller clubs and that's what makes leagues like the PL so exciting. Like Chelsea lost 5-2 to West Brom last week. The big teams don't always win. West Ham look like they could qualify for european football this season and they aren't included.

Also the tournament is flawed, I mean where are Celtic, Ajax and Blackburn all of which are more successful then Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea etc.

How does it work too? I mean say in 5 years a multi billionaire owner buys Newcastle Utd and become more wealthy then Man City why don't they qualify for this tournament?

The super league sounds boring too, like what is there to play for? I mean say your a Man Utd fan are you going to get excited about the prospect of your club finishing mid table in the super league year in year out?

What are they playing for? Oh I can't wait to see my club win the JP Morgan Cup. Dreadful

[LukeS1]

Well your kinda missing the magic of football though, I mean for example Ronaldo and Juventus lost to Atalanta yesterday and are 3rd in the league struggling to qualify for Europe.

All these big clubs do lose to smaller clubs and that's what makes leagues like the PL so exciting. Like Chelsea lost 5-2 to West Brom last week. The big teams don't always win. West Ham look like they could qualify for european football this season and they aren't included.

Also the tournament is flawed, I mean where are Celtic, Ajax and Blackburn all of which are more successful then Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea etc.

How does it work too? I mean say in 5 years a multi billionaire owner buys Newcastle Utd and become more wealthy then Man City why don't they qualify for this tournament?

The super league sounds boring too, like what is there to play for? I mean say your a Man Utd fan are you going to get excited about the prospect of your club finishing mid table in the super league year in year out?

What are they playing for? Oh I can't wait to see my club win the JP Morgan Cup. Dreadful

Make it a fair relegation/promotion system and the deserving rise to the top. Have a US style playoff system where the top 6/8 go into a knockout stage. There should be very good parity between these sides so most would end up close to either relegation or playoffs

Imagine the Prem without the top 6, La Liga without Real,Barca or Atleti, Germany without Bayern/Dortmund... those domestic leagues would be more interesting if anything

[DigDeeper1]

Make it a fair relegation/promotion system and the deserving rise to the top. Have a US style playoff system where the top 6/8 go into a knockout stage. There should be very good parity between these sides so most would end up close to either relegation or playoffs

Imagine the Prem without the top 6, La Liga without Real,Barca or Atleti, Germany without Bayern/Dortmund... those domestic leagues would be more interesting if anything

No they wouldn't, the fan base would be a lot lower. Sales would go down and interest would go. Sponsors would leave the league and this would trickle down the lower leagues. If you were a Burnley fan you would love to go to a game where you see your team play sides Chelsea who have world class players. This format favours the big clubs involved and not the smaller clubs. You are looking at this solely on the side of those involved. I am not arguing whether it is good for those involved I am arguing how bad it is for clubs that are not.

A lot of what you are saying isn't the case with this super league. your talking about fair relegation/promotion etc but that's not what the super league is saying. I think you are deviating from what the reality of it is. I am not saying changes shouldn't be made but the changes the super league are making is terrible. They aren't talking about fairness and the health of the sport. These points you are making with regards to the super league aren't what the super league is your basically just creating a new league.

Don't mean to sound angry or anything but I think it may be somewhat hard to understand if you didn't grow up with football and it's history. Not sure where you are based but I wouldn't expect Americans to understand it due to the fact you don't really have this link to the sport and you are used to your clubs being like this.

I mean as I said before would you be happy if Chinese billionaires came into American sports, buying clubs and changing the way your leagues work. What happens if Chinese owners came into the NFL and bought all the top top teams and created a new league where others couldn't join and ay you are are Titans fan and you weren't included. And you wouldn't be playing against teams like the Pats or Chiefs because they aren't competing in your league anymore.

And chiefs wouldn't be playing at Arrowhead anymore they would be playing in London now

And the superbowl would be Titans vs Colts. would that be good for NFL?

[AWSbruh]

Good idea serious. There are only like 5 good teams per league.

[LukeS1]

No they wouldn't, the fan base would be a lot lower. Sales would go down and interest would go. Sponsors would leave the league and this would trickle down the lower leagues. If you were a Burnley fan you would love to go to a game where you see your team play sides Chelsea who have world class players. This format favours the big clubs involved and not the smaller clubs. You are looking at this solely on the side of those involved. I am not arguing whether it is good for those involved I am arguing how bad it is for clubs that are not.

A lot of what you are saying isn't the case with this super league. your talking about fair relegation/promotion etc but that's not what the super league is saying. I think you are deviating from what the reality of it is. I am not saying changes shouldn't be made but the changes the super league are making is terrible. They aren't talking about fairness and the health of the sport. These points you are making with regards to the super league aren't what the super league is your basically just creating a new league.

Don't mean to sound angry or anything but I think it may be somewhat hard to understand if you didn't grow up with football and it's history. Not sure where you are based but I wouldn't expect Americans to understand it due to the fact you don't really have this link to the sport and you are used to your clubs being like this.

I mean as I said before would you be happy if Chinese billionaires came into American sports, buying clubs and changing the way your leagues work. What happens if Chinese owners came into the NFL and bought all the top top teams and created a new league where others couldn't join and ay you are are Titans fan and you weren't included. And you wouldn't be playing against teams like the Pats or Chiefs because they aren't competing in your league anymore.

And chiefs wouldn't be playing at Arrowhead anymore they would be playing in London now

And the superbowl would be Titans vs Colts. would that be good for NFL?

Im in the UK and grew up with football since I was little. I get the thing with the history and stuff

I feel a need for changes in the structure overall, and Im excited by the prospect of something along these lines but I agree the proposed implementation is shockingly bad. In particular the inclusion of Arsenal is criminal given their league position

[lsiberian]

Honestly this makes a lot of sense. I see them expanding to the USA too.

[wildchild11]

Just a way for the big teams to hog as much money and power as possible

[CougarP01]

What is the difference between this and Champions League

[LukeS1]

What is the difference between this and Champions League

Champions league is designed to be shared across all leagues and countries, so you get a few teams included from countries like Beglium, Ukraine, Greece, Turkey, Sweden etc. This would be focused on the ultra wealthy clubs, the Prem "top 6", 3 from Italy (Milan, Juve, Inter), 3 from Spain (Real, Barca, Alteti) and an unnamed further 3 (assuming Dortmund, Bayern and PSG)

This would be a league format with 2 sets of 10 teams that each play each other twice, so more games and more cash

Power would be taken away from Uefa as its being set up by the clubs themselves backed by Morgan Stanley

[lsiberian]

Champions league is designed to be shared across all leagues and countries, so you get a few teams included from countries like Beglium, Ukraine, Greece, Turkey, Sweden etc. This would be focused on the ultra wealthy clubs, the Prem "top 6", 3 from Italy (Milan, Juve, Inter), 3 from Spain (Real, Barca, Alteti) and an unnamed further 3 (assuming Dortmund, Bayern and PSG)

This would be a league format with 2 sets of 10 teams that each play each other twice, so more games and more cash

Power would be taken away from Uefa as its being set up by the clubs themselves backed by Morgan Stanley

UEFA kept tv money as I understand it. People are acting like these clubs are more corrupt than UEFA lol. With the super league they could do salary caps, revenue sharing, etc to make it very competitive. Even have more extended playoffs like American sports.

[LukeS1]

UEFA kept tv money as I understand it. People are acting like these clubs are more corrupt than UEFA lol. With the super league they could do salary caps, revenue sharing, etc to make it very competitive. Even have more extended playoffs like American sports.

Yeh UEFA is a horrible organisation and needs a shake up. They are livid about these plans of course

[CougarP01]

Champions league is designed to be shared across all leagues and countries, so you get a few teams included from countries like Beglium, Ukraine, Greece, Turkey, Sweden etc. This would be focused on the ultra wealthy clubs, the Prem "top 6", 3 from Italy (Milan, Juve, Inter), 3 from Spain (Real, Barca, Alteti) and an unnamed further 3 (assuming Dortmund, Bayern and PSG)

This would be a league format with 2 sets of 10 teams that each play each other twice, so more games and more cash

Power would be taken away from Uefa as its being set up by the clubs themselves backed by Morgan Stanley

Are teams locked in or is there room for promotion and relegation?

I mean it sounds like an okay idea...not all change is bad...it just seems that if the teams are locked in and its final, then there's 0 room for any 15-16 Leicester City underdog stories because its just going to be a league full of money and stars.

Also, is UEFA is just going to wither away? At the very least they should run a tournament that can allow for the remaining teams to earn a spot for the year in the Super League. That would at least give middling Top division Euro League teams some hope.

Also teams in the Top Euro Leagues' 2nd and 3rd divisions are all dropped down a peg. Can't imagine how some of the top teams in 2nd divisions are feeling, knowing they're on pace to get promoted only to get smacked in the face that they won't really be playing in the best league.

I'm not against the change. They are trying to solve problems in their league and be proactive, although it is an obvious cash grab, but if they are so set on this, I just hope they come up with a solution that is inclusive of the teams left behind instead of giving the rest of the teams the middle finger and splitting apart.

[MatthewChav]

This is just the worst news ever and all i can say is Expel all of them from the Prem Asap - though it's tempting to say they'd be no loss (they are for smaller clubs like Bournemouth, Brighton, Watford, West Brom who dream of beating these Big 6!!

Also as well it is ripping the heart of communities etc and Manchester wont represent Manchester anymore - but if they wanna go and do it PLEZASE DO!! An I hope they all fail and have to re-start at Level 8/9 in the English Pyramid - if they dare even be admitted or beg by liking the Authorties feet to return (which on both sides I hope NOT)!!

[MatthewChav]

In-box me Lukey Bro!!!