ESL - European Super League Announcement

Quite a discussion about it, what do you think about this new competition format? I really hate it, they really want to rule out the lower competitions and even lower clubs in the big countries.

https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/431801-leading-european-football-clubs-announce-new-super-league-competition

hilarious how the big 6 see themselves, Spurs havent won a trophy for years and Arsenal are a mid table side

hope they get all get kicked out of the league

Yeah it's definitely crazy. Only money that rules. Now they want to secure that when they have a bad run in the league they will still compete and get money. They have to, since they are all financially in trouble because of the pandemic. While the current Champions League format is already a kind of Super League itself, with 4 teams coming from each top 3 country; meaning that the ‘Big 6’ are almost sure of a CL spot anyway. 

For example, I'm from the Netherlands and Ajax had a mega run (beating Real Madrid and Juventus) only just losing out on reaching the CL final; they won the Cup and the League in that year and they still had to play play-offs to get into the CL the year after. I think right now we would hate it if the ‘Big clubs’ will play against clubs such as BATE Borisov, APOEL or Red Star Belgrade, since the difference is so high. 

However, if they are champions and go straight into CL each year (no qualification routes), these clubs will become good in a couple of years as well. Divide money over all three European Leagues, not 80% to CL and 20% to the others to get more balance in Europe. Clubs will start to keep domestic players. I much rather see Modric perform at Dinamo Zagreb than playing for Madrid.

I just have to find a way to set it up in FM and live in my own fantasy world 😛 Probably relegate all the 12 clubs to their third tier. They should be punished hard. I much rather want to see Burnley against Cagliari in the CL final now than the money clubs 😛

i would love to go back to old format Champions only in a European cup, rest in a UEFA cup/league

Modern football is frankly obsene and absured 

Personally I hope this ESL happens and results in these so called elites getting kicked out of their domestic leagues and the whole project failing and they go bust

They are financially doped bullies and it's long overdue for real football fans to take the game back 

It is now just a hyper capitalists banksters wet dream £££££$$$$$€€€€€

Yes mate I will PM you later it is how I play the game much more fun IMO and how it should be IRL 👍

In my Sims Ajax are doing really well along with Atalanta Dortmund shaktar 

Celtic benfica and there are usually 2 smaller clubs in semi finals of UCL

I think the problem is not the clubs but the owners of the clubs.

Fans of the clubs dont want it and some board members dont want it.

American owners of Liverpool and Man Utd want to Americanise football to suit their own needs, they dont believe or understand relegation for example as it does not exist in their own sports.

Closed doors with little chance of gaining entry to this so called super league is just completly ridiculous,

I am a United fan but if this goes ahead I will no loger be attending games and also will not buy merchandise (not brought any for a while anyway)

I have supported them since 1979 and I have to say at this moment I can no longer give my support.

What surprises me is that people are surprised by this. A breakaway league has been talked about for years, ever since the formation of the Premier League, which itself was a breakaway league - everybody said back then that it was the death of English football, what it proved to be was a massive cash-cow and the next, inevitable, step was a European version of it. These are not football clubs, they are businesses looking to expand their customer base.

If you want to be a football fan and support a club in the “old fashioned” way then do what I did, give up on the Premier League and go and watch your local non-league team, you get treated well, the travelling is a lot easier, and it is all round a better experience. 

Yeah definitely true. They are now excluding leagues and nations to create that single league structure you see in MLS. 

I mean I do like the thought; since the league itself will be fair and equal, so each your every club can win. But in the ecosystem of football, it's way to big to be able to do this. They can introduce budget caps and development time in F1, mainly because there are only 10 teams involved. But in football there are thousands of clubs in each country all somewhere in the system. The beauty of it is that your local club could - in theory - make it into the Champions League by promoting through the tiers.

The new UEFA CL system however is horrible as well, bringing more power to the big clubs with a horrible 36-club league structure. There will be even less nations involved in CL than there are currently. I mean Ajax had a run 2 years ago, Porto did well this year and before that Basel once I believe, and that was like 6-7 years ago. Clubs outside the top 5 are unable to make it into the system. While I think everyone loves to see such a club as Ajax, Porto or Benfica do well with for example the youth players they provide. And even smaller teams like Partizan should get more chances in reaching CL. Now the party is set to be exclusive for the club owners with most money…

I was a utd fan back in the day and loved the Tommy Doc side… now that was the best time for me simply loved it 

The odd bit of success but more importantly some great attacking football👍

 and lots of teams at the same level …now I find it abhorrent if I'm honest it's overhyped joyless with preening popijays worshipped as Demi gods because they have a great dabbing routine

It's just image and franchise now and all in the persuit of ££££££££ it's obscene

Football has lost it soul I am hoping this greed will now bring it to a tipping point and back to what it should be

Yeah, I hope the big teams leave the UEFA and also leave us with a fair European competition which is fun to watch again. It's all about the money indeed, especially now with the pandemic. These 12 clubs need the extra money to be profitable for their owners.

My opinion about the European Super-Greed League? Well, there you have it. 😉

IT IS DISGUSTING. Pure and simple. These owners are just ruled by absolute greed, they give no fx about fans or players. I have always said that Perez followed by Abramhovic and The two Middle Eastern owners of Man City and PSG have ruined football by pricing everyone out of the transfer market and inflating prices. The American owners of Liverpool, Arsenal, Man Utd and Milan have no regard for history as their concept of leagues involve the american model, that if the money isnt right, they can just pick up and leave a fanbase, a city even. its a horrendous concept not to mention incredibly boring after a few seasons. They say money will be shared around? Yes to them, everyone else would get pittance. The Spanish and Italian Teams are the biggest in their leagues in terms of support and finance thats true, but the top 6 in England, Thats a joke. They are just the richest, thats it. I cant remember Spurs ever winning anything in my lifetime, While Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal do have a winning history, Arsenal havent been a factor for years. Then there is the two richest, they have history due to longevity in the country, But until their takeovers they where mid table teams at best. Chelsea have about 7 trophies prior to 2000 odd, Man City Im sure have more relegations than titles even to this day. Liverpool, Man Utd and Arsenal have worldwide support on merit. Chelsea fans are about a 6th of London, a few thousand ex pats and some Rangers fans, Man City have half of Manchester and the surrounding areas, and fans due to Oasis. The appeal of glory hunters have supplied the rest to those two. 

I can name of the back about 20 teams at least with bigger fan bases, than 6 of these 12 so far, and another 20 with more history than about 9 of them. 

I love the PL, I like all the teams who play in it, its a great league. The fans of all these teams must be riled right up, They honestly have my sympathy, nothing worse than an owner that puts everything before them. 

As for the players, one thing i dont believe in is Fifa or Uefa punishing them, should purely punish the clubs and their owners by just expelling them from uefa and their respective fa's. null their history and sit back and watch Kentucky Arsenal lose to Minnesota Madrid.

yes indeed and I hope they let the clubs go, dont beg them to stay if the FAs/UEFA give in to them and this is a power play well its time to give up anyway…

the ruling ‘elites’ [and thats what they are make no mistake  have shown their hand ] even if the super league league doesnt come about now IMO should be demoted to the lowest professional league set up in that particular country and have wage caps/transfer restrictions/severe points reductions imposed for a few seasons and be banned from UEFA comps with immediate effect 

let them go I say and watch it all implode football is bigger than this self interest and greed and will be fine without them call their bluff but whatever the outcome those clubs cannot be trusted to have any input in the governance of the game any longer, they should be booted off every committee as they are just self serving and dont care about the development of the game ,

I see several have now resigned from influential post at UEFA etc  its a pity that UEFA etc didnt have the balls to sack them before these little glove puppets for their rich manipulating owners resigned first

yep I an official member of the old git club😉

would be god to see all those owners gone, owner structure like Germany 👍

 but football sold its soul a long time ago the whole EPL/Sky money etc its just the elite bullies doing what they want it lost me a long time ago 

The Champions League …well mostly clubs who didnt win anything but are one of the rich clubs in the top leagues… hasnt got the same ring 😁

The thing that bugs me the most, especially with the new UCL setup is that this only becomes worse. I mean there is no chance that Red Star Belgrade, a club from Greece or even a club from Portugal and the Netherlands will win a UCL again. Ajax was close, but that team was like a world wonder. It would be so much better if tickets were given to champions up until at least country number 20 on the coefficient list. 

OK, we won't see United play Real but play BATE Borisov instead. That will result in less money, but it all depends on the greed that UEFA and these big clubs have. I think the smaller clubs will become better in a couple of years as well, spreading the power of football over more nations in Europe. Would be so much better to have players like Jovetic in 13/14 and 14/15 to not sit on the bench at Man City but have him play for a UCL club in a smaller country like Dinamo Zagreb or Olympiacos. Now clubs like City buy 6 strikers because well, they can.

It's funny - and sad - we setup a war on ESL, while we actually have to fight UEFA as well.

It's all about the money and big clubs having even a bigger slice of it so the gap will get even worse

Chance here to make fundamental change for good but won't happen 

From the Guardian-

European football’s dirty dozen must not simply be allowed to slip back into their domestic routines or resume their residency of Uefa’s top club competitions (now handily skewed even more favourably in their direction). Now, above all, is the time to get vindictive.

Points deductions, suspensions, expulsions, eye-watering fines, transfer embargoes: none of this should be taken off the table at this stage. A two-year ban from European competition for all 12 clubs would be a good start (even if Arsenal seem well equipped to impose their own exile). In the medium term Uefa should look at reversing its ill-advised reforms of the Champions League that were driven in large part by the threat of a big-club breakaway. Now that threat has been extinguished, there is simply no rationale for an expanded 36-team group stage with extra fixtures for the continent’s elite.

I'm surprised at how unprepared the ESL people appeared to be and really that the idea did not look ready. This has been rumoured for years and has clearly been a target of certain amoral big club owners to do this, plus they had the card of going “UEFA and FIFA are ruining football, we're going to run it differently and better”.  It looks to me as though they just thought everyone would follow them without really needing to defend an unfinished concept and weren't prepared for such a unanimous backlash, even from people within their own clubs.

This idea will probably resurface at some point or another but I don't see it happening with this current group of bigwigs as they've just humiliated themselves and willingly reduced their overall power by resigning from the ECA and UEFA exec committees to do this. It's kinda been the worst of all worlds from them - shit idea that wasn't ready when announced terribly executed by the arrogant, the incompetent and the clueless.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/57414151 

as expected a total and utter joke!!! the EPL and FA are pathetic and UEFA/FIFA not far behind either

The EPL is just corporate avarice and IMO everything that is wrong with the modern game