The Premier League clubs ‘slam new European Super League plans’, with the 80-team competition ‘proposed without featuring any English teams’ – as organisers use the success of the English top flight to justify the new tournament.
The Premier League clubs are said to be surprised by restart European Super League plans that has exempted the English teams – dubbing the proposals ‘reverse Brexit‘.
The controversial competition came into report this week after organisers A22 unveiled its new format as it looks to compete with the Champions League – with 80 teams set to be involved and clubs being guaranteed 14 matches per season.
The Super League was met with huge hostility and was brought down in around 48 hours after emerging in 2021 but officials now claim the tournament will now be ‘open’ with no permanent members, promotion and relegation across divisions and a merit system to gain access.
However, according to reports on the Sun, English clubs will not be involved in the new plans – leaving top flight sides baffled and dubbing the proposals ‘reverse Brexit’.
“This is a reverse Brexit,” an insider told the Sun. “We are talking about a closed league that is trying to justify itself by pitting Europe against England.
“At the same time, they claim they want to emulate the Prem’s success. To say people are bemused is an understatement.”
The report goes on to say that A22 have used English football’s success as a justification for the new tournament, saying that the Premier League’s wealth has created an elite – and highlighting how relegated Norwich earned more in TV revenue last season than Bayern Munich, AC Milan and PSG.
In his statement revealing A22’s plans, chief Bernd Reichart stated that: “The foundations of European football are in danger of collapsing. It’s time for a change. It is the clubs that bear the entrepreneurial risk in football.
“But when important decisions are at stake, they are too often forced to sit idly by on the sidelines as the sporting and financial foundations crumble around them.”
However, the proposals have been met by fierce opposition from football’s leading powers – including LaLiga, who have been steadfast in their belief that the plans should be scrapped immediately, despite its major clubs Real Madrid and Barcelona leading the charge.
The division’s chief Javier Tebas stated that: “Super League is the wolf who disguises himself as a granny to try to fool European football. But his nose and his teeth are very big.
“Four divisions in Europe? Of course, the first is just for them.”
And the European Club Association claimed the move was ‘deliberately distorted and misleading attempt to destabilise football’s real stakeholders’.
“We note the latest dispatch from A22’s alternative reality,” they said.
“However, in the real world, this rehashed idea has already been proposed, discussed and comprehensively rejected by all.
“This is just another deliberately distorted and misleading attempt to destabilise football’s real stakeholders in their efforts to move things forward in the best interests of the European club game.”
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