Revamp: The European Super League initially floundered after an intense backlash
(Picture: PA)Creators of the doomed European Super League have unveiled plans for a reformed version of the competition, featuring up to 80 teams in a multi-division format.
More than 50 clubs across the continent are said to have been consulted by A22, the Madrid-based sister company of the ESL, over the new proposed tournament, which would feature no permanent members and guarantee each team 14 matches per season.
The ESL was originally launched in April 2021 and fell on its knees within days as nine of its 12 founding members, including all of the Premier League’s traditional big six, wilted and withdrew in the face of intense backlash from fans, players and politicians.
Among the many criticisms of the tournament was its ‘closed-shop’ structure, with permanent members set to be freed from the threat of relegation and only a select few outsiders allowed involvement on an invitational basis.
The rejigged ESL has been presented as an open competition, featuring between 60 and 80 teams, though there are no details provided over how promotion and relegation would be organised, nor how a divisional structure would be arranged. A22 has also declined to reveal which clubs support the new plans.
ESL backers, including hold-out clubs Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid, have renewed their criticism of Uefa’s monopoly on European competition in recent months, while also hitting out at the Premier League’s growing dominance of the financial landscape, following a January transfer window of unprecedented spending by English clubs.
“It is the clubs that bear the entrepreneurial risk in football,” A22 chief executive Bernd Reichart wrote in German newspaper Die Welt. “But when it comes to important decisions, they are too often forced to stand idly by from the sidelines as the sporting and financial foundations run under their hands.
“Our talks have also made it clear that it is often impossible for clubs to raise their voices publicly against a system that uses the threat of sanctions to prevent opposition.”
