European Super Leagues taking new names seriously

In April 2021, the European Super League was completely defeated – a “unified league” will now be established with a new name and concept, aiming to eliminate criticism of the previous proposals.

follow me

A year after the European Court of Justice (ECJ) handed down a landmark ruling that world football's governing body FIFA and European football association UEFA breached competition law by blocking the creation of a European Super League in 2021. The company “A22 Sports” manages “Seriously. It was commissioned by Real Madrid and FC Barcelona (the only clubs that continue to officially follow the Super League plan) to develop a new concept for the Super League.

He is the man behind “A22 Sports Management”: Bernd Reichart.Image: trapezoid

As 'A22' announced on Tuesday afternoon, official proposals for a “pan-European club football competition” have now been submitted to FIFA and UEFA for approval. In a letter to UEFA Secretary-General Theodor Theodoridis, CEO Bernd Reichardt explained that his company “A22” has been subject to strong boycotts from UEFA on several occasions. This is “inconsistent with an organization that must remain open, transparent and free of conflicts of interest at all times”. That's why Reichardt demanded: “Legal disputes should be put behind us – the EU's highest court has spoken. It's time to move forward together for the sake of sport.”

In addition to adopting a new competition format, which is different from the original Super League concept in which the ranking of the National League plays a decisive role in qualifications, the competition also has a new name: “Unified League”.

This is supposed to consist of 96 teams from 55 countries divided into four leagues. On the one hand there is the “Star League” and the “Golden League”, each consisting of 16 teams, divided into two groups, and on the other hand there is the “Blue League” and the “League of Allies”, each consisting of 32 teams and clubs. Divided into 4 groups, with 8 teams participating in each group.

This will result in 14 games in each group stage, but the knockout stages will only begin with the quarter-finals. In the “Star League” and “Golden League”, the teams ranked first to fourth in the group advance, while in the bottom two leagues, only the two best teams in each group advance to the quarter-finals. Will be played at home and home. away games. The semi-finals and finals will be played as single matches at neutral venues.

In addition to the men's football “unified league”, there are also plans to hold a women's football “unified league”. 32 teams will participate in 2 leagues. The mode is the same as the men's “Star League” and “Golden League”.

The format once again shows clear differences from proposals put forward following last year's European Court of Justice ruling. Clubs should now only be able to qualify through the National League; in December 2023 there were still promotion and relegation discussions between the then three leagues. This means new clubs can only enter the lowest division. The exception is the winner of the Champions League, who qualifies for a higher league – the winner of the “Star League” automatically enters the league again next year. How many clubs from each UEFA member country take part still depends on the five-year rankings.

Fans protested against the European Super League in spring 2021 – and now those responsible are trying something new.Image: trapezoid

The United League also plans to offer larger solidarity payments to non-participating clubs – with allocations to be decided by an independent company. The games will be free to play on an ad-funded streaming platform called Unify. But there will also be “cost-effective” premium subscriptions.