The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Plan for a European soccer Super League panics fans, prompts emergency political statements

Soccer fans hold a banner protesting the proposed Super League outside Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, on Monday. (Jason Cairnduff/Reuters)

ROME — Europe was in a disaster mind-set Monday, only it was about soccer. Politicians were issuing emergency statements. Social media was exploding. At least four tabloids across the continent, in massive headlines, referred to "war." Another, somewhat more modestly, described a "criminal act."

“The Super League kills soccer,” said the headline in Tuttosport, an Italian sports newspaper based in Turin.

In a late-night announcement, 12 of Europe’s most famous clubs said they were banding together and breaking away to form a continentwide Super League. In a part of the world that has dealt with all sorts of turbulence over the past year — overloaded hospitals and deep recession and repetitive lockdowns — this was a development that pushed the crisis mode into totally new terrain.

“It’s a destruction of everything that grounds the most popular sport,” said Franz Barcella, an Italian fan who owns two bars in the northern city of Bergamo.

The Super League, should it take form, will be something that European soccer has never seen before: An American-style league in which the founding teams have guaranteed spots. It would become a direct competitor with the Champions League, the continent’s signature yearly competition. The difference is, clubs qualify for the Champions League with their performance the year prior. The Super League would have the same mammoth clubs every year — plus a few of their chosen guests, whose path to admittance has not yet been clarified.

What is the Super League, and how would it change European soccer?

The teams that announced the breakaway include six from the English Premier League (including Liverpool and Manchester United), three from Spain (including Real Madrid) and three from Italy (Juventus, Inter Milan and A.C. Milan). Those teams, at least in theory, will keep playing in their national leagues as well. But those national leagues are in a tough spot, facing down rebels who will grab a larger part of the overall sporting revenue.

“This may lead to a loss of importance of national championships and as a consequence the whole soccer supply chain,” said Dino Zoff, who was a goalkeeper on the 1982 Italian national team that won the World Cup and spent much of his career with Juventus.

One concern, in particular, hits at the romanticized heart of European soccer. With relegation and promotion, small clubs can move from lower-tiered national leagues into top-tier national leagues, then qualify for the Champions League simply based on performance. Such ascents do not happen often. But they are magic when they do. Ten years ago, the Atalanta club, in Bergamo, was part of Italy’s Serie B. It won Serie B and earned a spot back in Serie A. Some mediocre years ensued. But last year, with Bergamo still reeling from the coronavirus, it reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

The Super League would not destroy the Champions League. But it would diminish it, and with it the glory — and potentially the money — that comes from being there.

“It’s only fair that other small teams can dream of one day doing what Atalanta does,” Barcella said. “The sole thought that somebody can deny that other dream to others is abhorrent.”

Analysis: More profit for soccer’s haves, less opportunity for have-nots

On social media, the sentiment was much the same — though some criticized UEFA, which runs the Champions League, with diluting the format.

Spain’s La Liga called the idea of the Super League “secessionist and elitist” and said the plan was “designed to make the rich even richer.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged that his government would “look at everything we can do” to block the league’s formation.

“I don’t think that it is good news for fans,” he said. “I don’t think it is good news for football in this country.”

Prince William, too, weighed in, in his role as president of the English Football Association.

“We must protect the entire football community — from the top level to the grassroots — and the values of competition and fairness at its core,” he said in a tweet sent via Kensington Palace. He added that he shares “the concerns of fans” about the league and “the damage it risks causing to the game we love.”

Liverpool, one of the breakaway clubs, faced taunts Monday as it played a match at the home of Premier League opponent Leeds United. A Champions League T-shirt emblazoned with “Earn it” was placed in Liverpool’s dressing room, and Leeds United players warmed up in shirts bearing the message, “Football is for the fans.”

In France, President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement that he cheered the refusal of French clubs to participate in “a European football Super League project that threatens the principle of solidarity and sporting merit.”

Even politicians who have little in common seemed to unite in their misgivings about the league. Enrico Letta, the leader of Italy’s left-leaning Democratic Party, said the proposal — which he described as an “NBA format” — was “nonsense” and rattled off a list of underdog stories that would become harder in a Super League for mega-clubs.

Matteo Salvini, leader of the right-wing League party and a fan of A.C. Milan, one of the breakaways, said that, in theory, “I should be glad that my team can participate in a European Super League, cashing in on lots of money, regardless of merit, commitment and results.”

But, he said, he could not support the idea, as a sports fan and “as an Italian.”

“Soccer and sports belong to everyone, not to the privileged few,” he wrote on Twitter. “I like victories that are earned with sweat on the field, not those bought with millions at the stock market.”

Karla Adam in London contributed to this report.

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