UEFA and several representatives of European clubs, leagues, players and fans opposed on Tuesday a new front of refusal to a private Super League, a project that collapsed last year and which a new company (A22 Sports Management) is trying to resuscitate. “Opposition to the self-proclaimed “Super League” remains overwhelming, today as it has been since April 2021″assures the European body in a press release, supported by a separate text formulated in almost the same terms by the powerful European Club Association (ECA).
Therefore, the official structures of European football remain “attached to the foundations” continental sport, or “opening” competitions, “solidarity” financial i “meritocracy”incompatible with a private tournament reserved for a handful of wealthy clubs, UEFA continues.
The Nyon-based body also claims the “Unanimous support of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe”as well as “Massive support from national governments”echoing the April 2021 battle that nearly imploded European football.
A project still alive, but fragile
Requested by A22 Sports Management, a structure launched in mid-October that aims to open a dialogue on the future of club football, a meeting on Tuesday at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, turned into a demonstration of strength, according to an interviewed participant. by the AFP. In front of the three representatives of this promotion company, led by the German Bernd Reichart, UEFA had invited emissaries from the ECA, the five biggest championships, the FIFPro players’ union and the association Football Supporters Europe.
“Clearly the A22 representatives were overwhelmed by the number of people present, and were massacred for two hours”giving “the impression of improvising” about the seriousness of his project, says this source. Although three of the twelve clubs that tried to separate last year are still campaigning for a Superliga (they are Juventus Turin, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona), A22 claims not to represent anyone and simply wants “soccer reform”.