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The Portuguese Primeira Liga officials met with their Spanish league equivalents to discuss the possibility of an Iberian League, as they posted on their official website. The highest echelons of both sides were involved which makes the meeting all the more interesting.
It is reportedly the Portuguese quarter that is more keen on the formation of a new combined competition. Although, little has been officially revealed other than the fact that the President of the Portuguese FC Pedro Proenca and his Spanish counterpart Javier Tebas both convened the meeting.
It throws a lot of things into doubt, for starters, how will it affect the teams? The larger teams such as Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid in Spain should not be bothered by this while the biggest three in Portugal Sporting CP, Benfica and FC Porto also won’t suffer too much if the leagues merge, but what will be the fate of smaller sides?
That’s only the tip of the iceberg, there’s the deeper layer of Champions League and Europa League qualifying and how it will work in the proposed Iberian league. Given the mystery around the details of the discussion, a lot of speculation about it is currently negative with many questioning the logic behind it.
However, there have also been positive suggestions in terms of a larger fan base and more opportunities to generate revenue. Although, it would also mean making fundamental changes in the way the leagues are currently operating.
The inkling of an Iberian league comes at a very confusing time in Spain as the Catalonian independence movement is in full force and the LFP president has stated that if Catalonia do secure independence, then clubs from the region will no longer function within La Liga.
This throws the discussion about the Iberian league into a more complex light. Will Catalonia be considered a part of the Iberian League? Or at an even more fundamental level, will Barcelona favour something like the Iberian league if they are forced out of La Liga?
Here are tweets from @PortuGoal1 that may shed some light on the situation, but it's mere speculation at this moment.
