[Nicky91]

Ajax club icon Sjaak Swart (81) was at talk show Op1 last night, more to celebrate their title win of this weekend but was asked the question if he wants his club to be a part of ESL

and he said not entirely sure, he did say it is mainly about the money though this ESL, sort of a copy from NFL in the US

he was surprised anyway how Guardiola wanted Ajax to be a part of this

[Calderyon]

Originally Posted by Financial Times

New European Super League boss eyes kick-off in 3 years with different format

New European Super League boss eyes kick-off in 3 years with different format
Contentious breakaway football competition pledges to consider all options after collapse of original project

By Josh Noble, Arash Massoudi and Samuel Agini in London YESTERDAY

The new boss of the failed European Super League expects it to relaunch within three years and has promised to consider all options for its format after the original project collapsed in the face of widespread anger among fans, clubs and existing leagues.

Despite falling apart within days of launch in April last year, the league has continued to operate as a corporate entity backed by three remaining member clubs: Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus.

A22 Sports Management, a company representing the Super League clubs, is planning to revive the competition and has appointed Bernd Reichart, a German media executive, as its new chief executive. His first job will be to open an “active and extended dialogue” across the game, the company said, with the aim of creating a new “sustainable sporting model” for European football.

“We want to reach out to stakeholders in the European football community and broaden this vision. Even fans will have a lot of sympathy for the idea,” Reichart told the Financial Times. “It is a blank slate. Format will never be an obstacle.”

Under the ESL’s original template, 12 elite clubs announced a breakaway competition to rival Uefa’s Champions League. The closed structure — with members guaranteed involvement regardless of their domestic league performance — drew sharp criticism from across football and helped precipitate its rapid unravelling.

The architects of the plan have long complained that European club competitions are badly run, with too many matches that fail to engage audiences. Their original aim was to increase the number of games between top clubs but they now acknowledge that the model must change if the ESL is to succeed.

“There is a reassessment. There is a clearly stated move towards an open format and that permanent membership is off the table,” Reichart told the FT. “We want to see whether or not there is broader consensus about the problems facing European football.”

But resistance to the idea seems as entrenched as ever with Uefa, the domestic leagues and governing bodies, and the European Club Association — a lobby group of elite clubs — all firmly opposed.

Reichart, a former chief executive of RTL Deutschland, said he was optimistic that the barriers to a new contest would be overcome and that a launch in 2024-25 was a “reasonable” expectation.

The three ESL clubs are involved in legal action against Uefa that accuses European football’s governing body of operating a monopoly. The case is with the European Court of Justice. An initial recommendation is due in December and a formal ruling expected in the spring.

“If fundamental change is to come, we want to be prepared,” said Reichart.

The presidents of the three ESL clubs have embarked on an outreach campaign, striking a conciliatory tone in a bid to build support for the fight with Uefa. Florentino Perez, president of Real Madrid, said in a recent speech that football was “sick” and “losing its position as the world’s leading global sport”.

Uefa has previously described the ESL project as a “danger to European football”.

https://www.ft.com/content/28a6bb35-...2-7d6e1a57d3e9

[bitontheslide]

cant see it happening in the next 10 years

[Mystic Mock]

For the ESL to be popular it needs to have theoretically the possibility of Real Madrid vs Birmingham City.

Obviously it doesn't have to be Birmingham City, but you get my point.

They talk about wanting more quality Football between top teams, but the ESL were gonna put Arsenal forward who at the time were sitting 11th in the Premier League table.

It needs to be an open competition as Football has way more teams than most team Sports to just close it off.

[James]

EU court rules in favour of the Super League.

European Super League: Uefa and Fifa rules banning breakaway league unlawful, says court
Last updated 8 minutes ago.


Banning clubs from joining a European Super League was unlawful and Uefa and Fifa are "abusing a dominant position", the European Court of Justice has said.

It comes after a case was brought by the ESL and its backers claiming Uefa and Fifa were breaking competition law by threatening to sanction those who joined the breakaway league.

Europe's highest court found against the governing bodies.

It added that did not mean a breakaway league would "necessarily be approved".

An initial report released last December by the ECJ said the rules of football's European and world governing bodies were "compatible with EU competition law".

The verdict will be seen as a blow to the authority of Uefa and Fifa and how they govern the game.

However, Uefa said it was "confident in the robustness" of rules it has brought in since the ESL was first proposed, and that they would "comply with all relevant European laws and regulations".

It added it trusted that football's existing set-up would be "safeguarded against the threat of breakaways by European and national laws".

The ESL was set to be a new midweek competition consisting of two groups of 10 teams, followed by a play-off phase.

Anger grew when details emerged that the 12 founding clubs would never have to forfeit their places in the league, locking out all but five other clubs across the whole of Europe in the process, once another three founding clubs had been confirmed.

Fans protested that the ESL would be detrimental to leagues across Europe and that greed was the driving factor for clubs joining, with no consideration for supporters.

The report said that when new competitions are "potentially entering the market" Fifa and Uefa must ensure their powers are "transparent, objective, non-discriminatory and proportionate".

The report adds: "However, the powers of Fifa and Uefa are not subject to any such criteria. Fifa and Uefa are, therefore, abusing a dominant position.

"Moreover, given their arbitrary nature, their rules on approval, control and sanctions must be held to be unjustified restrictions on the freedom to provide services.

"That does not mean that a competition such as the Super League project must necessarily be approved. The Court does not rule on that specific project in its judgment."

Bernd Reichart, chief executive of ESL backers A22, wrote on X - formerly Twitter - that the ESL "have won the right to exist".

He added: "Uefa's monopoly is over. Football is free. Clubs are now free from the threat of sanctions and free to determine their own future.

"For fans: we offer free broadcasting of all Superleague matches. For clubs: Income and solidarity expenses will be guaranteed."

The ESL saga began in April 2021 when news broke that 12 teams - including English teams Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham - had signed up to the breakaway competition.

There was widespread fury and condemnation from fans, other European leagues and even government, leading to the collapse of the plans within 72 hours.

The six Premier League clubs plus Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan and AC Milan were fined by Uefa, but action against Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus was halted during the legal process, although Juventus signalled their intention to quit the project in July.

The ESL has not been scrapped completely, however, with Real Madrid and Barcelona remaining interested in pursuing the venture.

Real welcomed the ruling, saying clubs will now be the "masters of their own destiny".

"It is a great day for the history of football and for the history of sports," a statement added.

Meanwhile, Spain's La Liga said European football had "spoken".

The statement said: "Today, more than ever, we reiterate that the "Super League" is a selfish and elitist model.

"Anything that is not fully open, with direct access only through the domestic leagues, season by season, is a closed format."



No one expected this judgement to be so powerful - Analysis from Simon Stone, BBC Sport


This judgement is a massive blow to Uefa and Fifa and their authority to govern the game.

The wording of the ruling from the 15-strong Grand Chamber is damning.

It says their structures mean there is no way of checking whether their operations are 'transparent, objective, non-discriminatory and proportionate'.

It says the rules around commercial rights are anti-competitive.

This does not mean a European Super League is coming. For the English clubs in particular a lot of bad blood was created by the ill-fated launch of the project in 2021. Unpicking that, certainly in the short-term, will not be easy.

However, those who have pushed the project now know they can go away and speak to who they want, when they want, about a vision for European football that suits them, and Uefa and Fifa will have to work with them or risk losing their power.

No-one, including Uefa and Fifa, expected this judgement to be so powerful.

The ramifications will be felt for a long time to come.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/67783970

[James]

New format.

Youtube video

Teams can only qualify from their domestic league for the lowest tier of the Super League i.e. the equivalent of the Uefa Conference League.

[bitontheslide]

It's all about money. If Saudi come in with a proposal involving mega bucks which is inevitable, the european clubs will jump on it with open arms

[Nicky91]

we don't need it


we already have CL, EL, ECL they are perfect as they are now


CL = for the biggest teams in europe

EL = shaping up nicely as a CL 2.0

ECL = the new uefa cup basically



we should though have a super cup match between EL winner and the ECL winner, next to the EL winner having the rights to also face the CL winner, because now the ECL win feels a little meaningless other than having EL group stage rights the next season

[Nicky91]

tbh i can't see any european FA liking this at all, this will hurt the domestic leagues more


so they need to edit some bits, into more an exhibition prestigious tournament for only the best of the best teams, a chance to win one more different trophy to add to their collection

+ some major sponsor deals etc to fund the whole thing, would also be a nice opportunity to raise money for charities through such with the income of tickets, merchandise, official theme song streams on spotify etc

[bitontheslide]

Football shouldn't be a monopoly, some healthy competition is good for the game. Anything that takes power away from FIFA and UEFA that is also fair to grass roots football, is fine by me

[Nicky91]

Originally Posted by bitontheslide

Football shouldn't be a monopoly, some healthy competition is good for the game. Anything that takes power away from FIFA and UEFA that is also fair to grass roots football, is fine by me

well no, our eredivisie is ruined without top teams like PSV, Feyenoord


we already are struggling with our first division making up the numbers with youth teams from ajax, az, psv, fc utrecht because we netherlands are one of the poorest countries in europe