The Super League is trying a new approach. The promoter of the dissident European competition, A22 Sports Management, appointed, Wednesday, October 19, the German Bernd Reichart as CEO.
“European football needs an open and honest dialogue about its future”, declared to AFP the former boss of RTL Deutschland, who wishes to initiate a revival of the Super League. It is therefore an opportunity to return 18 months later to the ins and outs of this burning issue.
Bernd Reichart appointed CEO of A22 Sports Management
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—FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) October 19, 2022
What is the Super League?
On Sunday April 18, 2021, twelve major European clubs (Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Juventus Turin, Tottenham, Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Atlético Madrid, Inter Milan and AC Milan) announce, in a joint press release, their desire to create a “Super League”, in order to compete with the Champions League, whose new format was to be unveiled the following day by UEFA.
If this project is motivated by financial interests, the other objective is sporting, because the twelve founding clubs would have a permanent member status, ensuring them to compete in the competition each season. The other eight places for the Super League would then be reserved for other clubs (notably French and German), which did not take part in the secession.
Why did the project fall through?
The reactions are immediate. On the one hand, UEFA and FIFA promise financial and sporting sanctions against the mutineers, such as their exclusion from the Champions League. On the other, the supporters are mobilizing. On Tuesday April 20, English supporters demonstrate massively and push the six Premier League clubs to withdraw.
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Deprived of half of its founders, and soon of Atlético Madrid or Inter Milan, the Turin president Andrea Agnelli announces, on Wednesday April 21, the suspension of the project. The Italian, as well as his counterparts from Real Madrid and Barça, Florentino Pérez and Joan Laporta, nevertheless remain attached to the project.
In May 2021, UEFA announced a range of financial sanctions before retracting on September 27, complying with a court decision from a commercial court in Madrid. A blow for the body of European football, chaired by Aleksander Ceferin, which also saw the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) seize the case, to determine a possible abuse of dominant position on the part of the ‘.
Why this return to the front of the stage?
While the Advocate General of the CJEU must deliver an advisory opinion on December 15, before a final decision in 2023, the Super League is ready to come out of the shadows in the event of a favorable decision. “Clubs should prepare to chart their own future and consider what the new landscape might look like” threw Bernd Reichart, convinced of public distrust of the new format of the Champions League.
To counter the Super League, UEFA had adopted, in May 2022, a profound reform of the C1 for 2024-2027 with, among other things, 36 teams instead of 32 and an eight-day mini-championship instead of the group stage. Pointing to the increase in the number of games without real stakes before the round of 16, Bernd Reichart took the opportunity to begin his seduction operation.
“There is no longer any question of permanent members, we want to discuss on the basis of an open competition, based on sporting merit” he assures. “The format should not be an obstacle for clubs to define their future together”. To see if European clubs will be receptive to this Super League 2.0, which should see the light of day “after a structured, well-organized and professional dialogue” between the different partners of A22 Sports Management.