It appears that reports of the death of the new European Super League following the announced intention of withdrawing by the six UK clubs from the project may have been premature.
The Real Madrid president, Florentino Pérez, said the 12 clubs announced last week as founders of the European Super League cannot abandon it due to binding contracts and promised the project would return soon.
Pérez, whose club is one of three along with Barcelona and Juventus yet to withdraw, said it was not so simple for clubs to leave. “I don’t need to explain what a binding contract is but effectively, the clubs cannot leave,” Pérez told Spanish newspaper AS. “Some of them, due to pressure, have said they’re leaving. But this project, or one very similar, will move forward and I hope very soon.”
I somehow cannot see that the existence of a ‘binding contract’ will be sufficient to bring back the six clubs. Lawyers are going to be busy combing through the wording of those documents to find loopholes.
There appear to be other major changes being considered.
Uefa had hoped to stave off the threat of a European Super League with a new 36-team Champions League, which was agreed on Monday.
In announcing their proposals for a Super League that would eventually comprise of 20 teams, the 12-club group said the Champions League reforms did not go far enough.
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, who was named as the ESL’s chairman, said the competition was set up “to save football” because young people are “no longer interested” in the game because of “a lot of poor quality games”.
None of the Spanish and Italian sides have yet released a statement after the six Premier League teams pulled out.
I cannot believe that the clubs in the ESL, with their high priced lawyers and media people, did not foresee this fiasco. The normal thing would have been to publicly announce that they were considering it and then gauge the response. To present such a major change as a fait accompli was just asking for trouble.
I was also surprised by Perez’s statement that young people are drifting away from the game. Is that true or is he just finding a reason to justify what on the surface looks like a money grab?
I work a lot with English as a Second Language — I was wondering why you thought it was being phased out!
I’d like to see the evidence he has for that… but I wouldn’t be surprised. Life is short, and there are far more entertaining options for most average youngsters available now than running about a field kicking a ball about (or, in my experience, watching other, more coordinated kids kick a ball about and occasionally punch me in the face. I fucking hate football, does it show?).
Off topic: The “militant Karen” meme is going to need reworking.
Ethnic Karen guerrillas said they captured a Myanmar army base Tuesday near the border with Thailand…
Perez is full of self-serving shit. If anything, the quality of the game has gone up in the last decade and more. Most support is still local, so how is imposing a ceiling on the progress of most clubs going to draw more interest?
I agree with the pundits who have suggested that the 12 clubs, whether they have backed out or not, should be docked points in their leagues. And if at some point there is a Super League established, the players should be barred from playing for their country.
If young people are drifting away from the game, it is because of the ticket prices. It is simply not financially feasible for most parents to take their children to go and see the big clubs. A friend of mine took his kids to see the local lower league team instead. Enthusiasm for football won’t diminish, but I do wonder if support for the big clubs and their “super league” will wither away.
Ex-Bayern and Germany player Philip Lahm writes a regular column in the Die Zeit. He likes the idea of a European wide league, but only if it involves teams from every country in Europe and not just the big clubs from England, Spain and Italy.
@1 brucegee
I had the same thought about ESL—and what about EFL?
brucegee1962, jrkrideau, in my area the term ESL is no longer used, has been replaced a while back by ELL (English language learners) because many of the immigrant students already spoke 2 or more languages prior to starting to learn English.