In case you had any doubt as to the importance of football in Europe — you should know by now that it is much more than just a question of sport. Now more so than ever with the dream or, quite possibly nightmare, of a European Super League inching ever closer.
If realised, the new Super League would comprise a total of 12 clubs from: Britain (Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City, Man United, Liverpool, Tottenham), Italy (AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus) and Spain (Real Madrid, Atlético de Madrid, Barcelona). The overriding goal is to create a continental championship that will not only change the face of European football — but that will also rake in the cash.
So monumental a prospect is this that on Monday, all the major newspapers around the continent shunted Covid-19 updates off the front page to give due attention to a game that sees men in shorts kicking around a ball for big bucks. Bring on the revolution! Even European presidents and prime ministers couldn’t keep shtum. Thus we were treated to the spectacle of seeing Italy’s Mario Draghi, Britain’s Boris Johnson and France’s Emmanuel Macron rally against project Super League; buoyed on by footie supporters from across the continent as well as those whose teams did not make the final cut. Also on the opposing team were European football governing bodies, including: UEFA (Union of European Football Association), ECA (European Club Association), FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) and national Football Associations, did.
Thus the war for the future of European football is on. But why now? In a word, money.
If European football is a metaphor for life — all we can do, then, is hope for the best
Before getting to the bottom of things — it is important to point out that the 12 founding teams are among the strongest at the national competitive level as well as at the European level, such as the UEFA Champions League and the UEAF Europa League. Moreover, if we look at the results over the last 10 years, we can see that the magic 12 won on an overwhelming majority of occasions. However, two equally strong European teams — Paris Saint Germain (France) and Bayern München (Germany) — are not joining the Super League, but for different reasons. The former is owned by Qatar Sports Investment and the president is Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, who also own beIN Media Group. In addition, since Qatar will host the next FIFA World Cup in 2022, he likely has little interest in pitching his team against FIFA and UEFA. Supporters of Bayern München, by contrast, own 75 of the club and remain staunchly opposed to the team joining the Super League. (This type of shareholding model is common practice at German football clubs.)
But let’s follow the money.
As already mentioned, the 12 ‘rebel’ teams are the most successful in their respective national championships by far — so, in terms of result-based performance, an already huge gap exists between these elite squads and the comparatively ordinary teams in Italy, the UK and Spain. The rebels are so strong because their clubs have always invested more when it comes to buying players, building stadiums and expanding business to other markets like merchandise. All of which translates into increased leverage over sponsors and fan bases alike. Nevertheless, the pandemic impacted balance sheets and now these clubs are debt-ridden and are currently struggling to remain solvent; within the actual scheme of national and continental competitions. Thus the urgent need to come up with new ways to cash in and the European Super League project was conveniently born to create a model where teams can earn more. Furthermore, the whole project is fully financed by the US investment bank JPMorgan, which committed to initial investments of about 3.5 to 4 billion euros (4.8 billion dollars) — the biggest single investment in European football since the 1950s.
Let’s continue to follow the money. On the other side there is the established system of national and continental football associations. These are now complaining that the Super League is monetising football and that meritocracy has been thrown out of the window. The gauntlet has been thrown down: if these 12 clubs proceed with their elitist club — they will be banned from competing in national championships.
As for the national and European associations, the Super League represents an enormous financial loss. If they lose the best teams from Italy, Britain and Spain, the value of matches will be considerably less attractive to sponsors and those who own TV rights. In addition, their ability to fill stadiums (in the post-Covid environment) will be greatly hampered.
Both sides claim merit, loyalty as well as the true spirit of sportsmanship as the main reasons for creating — or not creating — the European Super League. Yet the overriding factor remains the financial sustainability of a system that went too far and was hard hit by an unprecedented global pandemic.
‘Created by the poor and stolen by the rich’, read a banner in a stadium some time ago. This has now been co-opted by those opposing the Super League. But it must also be remembered that money also helped to create modern football, which is today more of a sport-cum-show business venture. So, what will happen next? It’s still to early to tell if the 12 rebels will pursue the dream of a Super League or if UEFA will, for example, be reformed in order to allow big clubs to inhale more oxygen (money). A proposal towards this end is already on the table, though it will likely not be enough.
What is certain, however, at least for now, is that within the European context — football rapidly snowballs into the economic, political and social spheres. This is also deeply reflective of a world coming to terms with a ‘new normal’. And once the current health crisis is overcome, many more issues will potentially come to the fore. Maybe we can say that European football is a metaphor for life. All we can do, then, is hope for the best.
The writer is an Italian-based journalist of Lebanese origin. He is founder and director of Startupbusiness magazine. He tweets @emilabirascid