What If: A European Super League is formed in 2018

UEFA Champions League
UEFA have been left with no other option than to compromise with the big boys

You only have to cast your eye to the Far East to see that modern football is very much fuelled by finance and it’s the ‘root-of-all-evil’ that’s been at the heart of one of the game’s most recent debacles; the hypothetical formation of a ‘European Super League’.

The continent’s big boys have been frustrated by the unequal distribution of funds across the top leagues. The Premier League struck a £9bn TV deal last season and the team that finishes bottom of English top flight can currently expect to take home around £97m.

Compare this with the fact that Real Madrid received just £81m for winning the Champions League last term and it’s strikingly clear that financial reward is tilted in the favour of the Premier League as it stands. This is why so many big clubs across the continent are calling for a league reformation.

The proposed ‘Super League’ – which sides like Real, Barca, Juve and Bayern have all been calling for – would be structured as any other domestic league, most likely comprised of the 20 best teams from across the continent. For example, the Premier League may be allocated five places, La Liga four, the Bundesliga three and Serie A, Ligue 1, Liga Portuguesa and Eredivise all two.

Alternatively, they may wish to allocate an equal number of places to the top leagues. Each team entered into the ‘Super League’ would then play one another twice, home and away, over the course of the season, with the team at the top of the table come the end of the season crowned ‘European Champion’.

With this, given its inherent complexity, arise many potential problems and advantages...


1) Matchday tickets would soar in price

ESL tickets
Would tickets be reasonably priced?

The first conundrum for any fan of the bigger clubs would regard cost of entry to ‘Super League’ matches. With the likes of Manchester United having to travel to France, Germany and Italy every other week, travel costs would become a key issue. On top of this, the bigger fixtures and the rebranding of the competition would demand higher ticket prices. Both of these aspects would make it borderline impossible for the average Joe to see their team play each week.

Fans of, say, Arsenal already have to pay upward of £1000 for a season ticket; with the aforementioned issues taken into consideration, that figure could rise considerably for every club. Consequently, teams not in the new ‘Super League’ and plying their trade in their nation’s domestic league could thrive financially, with fans opting to stay closer to home and watch local, more affordable, games and only watch a ‘Super League’ game once a season.

2) Domestic Cup competition becomes fiercer

FA Cup
Top Premier League sides have dominated the FA Cup in the last three decades

Although the teams playing the ‘Super League’ would no longer be members of their domestic leagues, such as the Premier League, they would still compete in domestic cup competitions, such as the FA Cup. There’d still be plenty of time for this.

When the ‘Super League’ clubs do return to face smaller clubs in their own country in such competitions, they wouldd ultimately be more eager to win in order to prove their worth in their own backyard and that they deserve to be in the elite league.

On the flip side, there would be even more merit in beating the bigger clubs because they belong to the ‘Super League’ and this would become a greater incentive for smaller clubs to up their game in domestic cup competition.

3) FIFA may not be fans of a Super League

FIFA ESL
Would FIFA sanction a European Super League?

Rather ironically, it was Sepp Blatter who spoke in 1998 of potential bans being imposed by FIFA on any clubs which chose to join a breakaway ‘Super League’ and attempt to break up the “family of football” – I think you had a stab at that yourself Sepp.

Nonetheless, it remains a threat from both FIFA and UEFA for that matter that teams that would join the hypothetical league would be banned from their own national leagues and other continental club competitions.

Furthermore, it seems that any player that plays in the competition could also be banned from representing their country in international football, so Sergio Aguero could be faced with the dilemma of choosing between Manchester City and Argentina.

This is, ultimately, because the competition would be built on a desire for increased revenue, not taking into account what is best for the sport as a collective.

4) Drop in TV viewership for domestic leagues

TV audience
Will the majority of football fans continue to watch league football without the top sides?

The worrying reality is; who’s going to tune in to watch Sunderland lock horns with Burnley when Real Madrid are hosting Arsenal on the other channel? Although individuals may opt to actually go to domestic league fixtures instead of ‘Super League’ games for financial reasons, they are seldom going to watch domestic league matches given the array of talent on offer in the ‘Super League’.

Every week the new format would throw up a clash of titans and, even for the finest football connoisseur, it’s difficult to justify watching a lesser quality game when the ‘Super League’ is on.

As a result, TV revenue will only rapidly multiply for ‘Super League’ participants, whilst sides competing back home will draw in less and less, making the financial divide between the sets of teams a yawning chasm. That, my friend, is austerity at its finest.

5) Champions League becomes irrelevant

UCL draws
Say goodbye to Champions League draws

It goes without saying that the introduction of a ‘European Super League’ that’s played over the course of the entire season would render the Champions League redundant. And with that, the existing competition’s format would become irrelevant.

Since the competition would take a league format, there would no longer be a knockout stage and therefore no more dodgy draws where Arsenal draw Barcelona or Bayern. Every team will play one another and thus the eventual winner or ‘European Champion’ will be a deserving one that has been consistent over a long period.

Teams would no longer be handed an easier route to the final than another, because there wouldn’t even be a final.

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Edited by Staff Editor