Izuchukwu Okosi
Plans to revamp the much-maligned European Super League have been announced on Thursday by Europe’s highest court which ruled that banning clubs from joining a breakaway league was unlawful.
Twelve top European clubs had planned to form the Super League which was supposed to be a league that breaks out of the UEFA Champions League.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThere was however resistance from UEFA as well as the various football associations and fans.
Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus led the revolt but the other nine member teams like Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal reversed their decisions to take part in the money-spinning format.
Thursday’s significant proposal comes the A22, backers of the previous ESL.
The new proposal, coming days after the date for the FIFA Club World Cup in 2025 was revealed, is a league system with 64 men’s clubs across three leagues with participation based on sporting merit and no permanent members.
The women’s competition would include 32 clubs across two leagues.
A case against the league format was brought by the ESL and its backers claiming UEFA and FIFA were breaking competition law by threatening to sanction those who joined the breakaway league.
No clubs or prize money have yet been announced in the A22 proposal but an annual promotion and relegation system would be in place.
Fans would also be able to watch live matches for free on a new digital streaming platform.
In a statement following the ECJ’s ruling, the Football Supporters Association said: “There is no place for an ill-conceived breakaway super league.
“Supporters, players and clubs have already made clear they don’t want a stitched-up competition – we all want to see the trigger pulled on the walking dead monstrosity that is the European Zombie League.
“While the corpse might continue to twitch in the European courts, no English side will be joining.
“The incoming independent regulator will block any club from competing in domestic competition if they join a breakaway super league.
“Success must be earned on the pitch, not stitched up in boardrooms.”
A breakdown of the new Super League indicates that in the men’s competition, the top tiers – the Star League and the Gold League – would each consist of 16 teams while the Blue League, the bottom tier, would consist of 32 clubs with promotion and relegation between each tier.
The teams that finish in the top eight of each league go into the knockout stages, with quarter-finals and semi-finals played over two legs and the finals held at neutral venues.
The bottom 20 teams in the Blue League would be relegated from the competition entirely and replaced by the top-performing clubs from European domestic leagues.
The two teams that make the final of the Gold and Blue leagues would be promoted up a tier, while the two teams that finish bottom of the Star and Gold leagues would be relegated down a tier.
Matches would be played in midweek, allowing the new competition to be run in tandem with European domestic leagues.
The proposed women’s competition would be run on a similar model.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
