Opinion Analysis by Tala Majzoub, Featured Writer and Tala Karkanawi, Contributor

April 23rd, 2021

The European Super League is on the verge of collapsing less than 48 hours after its announcement. Immense pressure from fans and supporters all around the world affected the decision immediately. Chelsea was the first club among the 12 founding members to formally withdraw from the league, followed by Manchester City and the rest of the ‘Big Six’ from the Premier League. Within 24 hours, the founding members of the Super League had already received criticism and condemnation from fans, team managers, players, and even politicians.

Twelve of Europe’s most dominating clubs broadcasted that they are forming their own ‘mid-week’ competition, which will be governed by the founding clubs. The clubs being – AC Milan, Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur. Notably however, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain have been approached to join, but decided to go against it.

The European Super League is scheduled to kick-off in August, at a time when most domestic leagues usually begin. The format will consist of fifteen permanent members governing the tournament, with five remaining teams having to qualify each season. Two groups of ten would be playing both home and away matches. After the group stage, eight clubs will qualify for the knockout stage until two clubs arrive at the final game that determines the champion of the league. However, the main issue behind the whole concept is that only five teams would qualify to the league because of their actual success and merit, whereas the fixed fifteen teams could never be relegated. 

 

The idea of the Super League is not foreign to football supporters and has long persisted, but the possibility seemed more legitimate this time for multiple reasons. The current agreement on the international match calendar will expire in 2024, meaning there is scope for restructuring the club game. Further, the coronavirus outbreak has exacerbated the sense of panic in boardrooms across Europe. Perez stated at Madrid's Annual General Assembly earlier this week that the pandemic has changed everything and has made football very vulnerable.

When asked why the Super League was founded, Florentino Perez, president of Real Madrid and Chairperson for the European Super League cautions: “Today, with the incomes of the Champions League like it is now, we are dying. There is less and less audience and less and less money. We’re all dying: the big ones, the medium sized ones and the small ones.” In other words, the interview hinted that the main purpose behind the Super League was to increase revenue and profit. 

Financial forces: Bad for the game - good for the owners

The twelve clubs who signed up to the Super League were promised 200-300 million euros each as a welcome bonus by the American investment bank, JP Morgan Chase. In total, an estimate of 4 billion euros was granted to the league solely to support infrastructure investment plans and to offset the impact of the pandemic. An expert in media mentioned that this is a scheme by the clubs to increase their income in the Champions League. Sports media analyst, François Godard, explains that both leagues ‘can’t co-exist’ and if ESL were to launch, the champions league ‘will just collapse.’ 

 

Meanwhile, governing football associations FIFA and UEFA vocally disapproved of the Super League. Fifa president Gianni Infantio said that a lot is at stake for the ‘short-term financial gain.’  Ironically, the opposition comes from corrupt football bodies that have leeched off football for decades. They criticize the Super League in fears of sharing their slice of the pie. 

“UEFA and Fifa have come out of this looking pretty good, but let's not forget they are a big part of the problem” says Keith Wyness, from Business of Sport Podcast 

Evidently, this bickering was never about the fans and the supporters of the clubs, rather a capitalist fight between elitists on who can snatch the game in their favour. The balance of power is already tipped in favor of the top teams through unequal distribution of TV income and prize money within various domestic and European competitions. Despite the systemic corruption of the governing bodies, football has vigorously retained its popularity among its audiences. However, with every domestic league safeguarding its own unique history and tradition, the threat of a pan-European league did not sit nicely for staunch football supporters. 

“Earn It”: Football Fans Unite in Anger

While Super League Chairman Perez explains that ESL is “for the sake of football”, a YouGov poll of 1,730 football fans found 79% opposed the idea of a Super League. Fans and players of so-called the “Big Six” were left disappointed by the Super League announcement and were quick to mobilize and speak up against it. 

 

Some 700 supporters gathered outside Leeds United’s Elland Road ground ahead of the club’s Premiere League game against Liverpool. Leeds United’s players wore t-shirts with the Champion’s League logo, alongside the message “Earn it!” on the front, and “Football is for the fans'' on the back. The supporters’ trust urged protestors to demonstrate “responsibly and with respect to the ongoing pandemic”. The trust’s full statement about the spin off Super League read: “Today sees the Leeds United Supporters’ Trust disgusted at the actions of six selfish football club owners showing such a blatant disregard for the fans of not only their own clubs, but football as a whole.”

 

This depth of feeling was mirrored by the Liverpool supporters’ groups who announced on Twitter their decision to remove their flags from The Kop, protesting the owners’ decision to “put financial greed above the integrity of the game”. Liverpool supporters’ union, Spirit of Shankly, tweets: “As fan representatives we are appalled and completely oppose this decision. FSG [Fenway Sports Group] have ignored fans in their relentless and greedy pursuit of money. Football is ours not theirs. Our football club is ours not theirs.” 

 

Similar sentiments echoed outside Stamford Bridge prior to their Premier League game against Brighton, with Chelsea supporters stepping up their opposition to the controversial project. Upon Chelsea Football Club’s withdrawal from the Super League, Chelsea’s Supporters Club issued a statement condemning the club’s lack of transparency with loyal fans, highlighting the CST’s “no confidence” in the current leadership at Board level.

 

Arsenal’s Supporter’s Trust was similarly outspoken, insisting that “All and every protest matters. Emails. RTs. Banners. Withdrawing support, podcasts, petitions. Let's all keep going until this nonsense is binned.” AST met with Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Secretary of State Oliver Dowden to express fans’ overwhelming opposition to the Super League. Acknowledging that he is a firm free-marketeer, Boris Johnson said the ESL is ‘anti-competitive’, adding ‘we should drop a legislative bomb to stop it - and we should do it now.’ 

 

Manchester City Official’s also added their voice to their opposition of plans, vowing to fight against the new league that the city will be the heart of. “Manchester City FC Official Supporters Club are totally opposed to anything which creates a breakaway ‘European Super League’. This proposed new competition has no sporting merit and would seem to be motivated by greed, they said in a statement. “We are determined to fight against this proposed Super League and will once again work with the 1894 groups and all other Fan Groups to do everything we can to ensure our voices are heard,” they concluded. 

 

Pressure from the bottom against corporate monopoly 

Fans around the world swiftly and fiercely protested in various forms, inciting legislative pressures from governments globally. Supporters’ trust organizations also played key roles in mobilizing and organizing, proving once again the power and the efficiency of collective pressure.  Fans do not seem satisfied with the withdrawal of their teams and are consequently asking for formal apologies and stern action against the individual owners who led them to the breakaway league. They are demanding that effective change and protections are put in place in order to preserve the future integrity of football. 

 

The Super League ruse extends beyond the scope of football; it exposes the agenda of a small number of elite clubs that care more about entertainment capital than the history and values of the game. The louder the promises from the European Super League to take “most appropriate steps to reshape the project,” the more unconvinced and critical the people are growing. Broadcasters and big sponsors might be tightening their monopoly, but movements from below are inevitably reclaiming their game.

 

There have been many reasons behind the widespread dismay, but the overwhelming issues are that the Super League seems to remove healthy competition, reinforce an elitist and exclusionary monopoly, and hierarchize financial greed over the game’s integrity. The supporters argue that this proposed closed league is fueled by commercial interests, rather than sporting priorities. Enraged by the absence of prior consultation and the abandonment of football values and ideals, the fans issued multiple reminders that the owners are not the club, the fans are the club – the fans are the landlords. Football fans put their differences aside and stood united, holding on tightly to the rules of the game – ultimately shifting the rules of the grander commercial scheme.