I know that lots of people don't want it to happen, saying it would be terrible for the national leagues. But I don't care, I would LOVE for it to happen. As long as it wasn't a closed shop and national champions would have the chance to enter the super league, I would totally support it.
So lets see what's on-tap this weekend around Europe. #3 Inter v #2 Napoli #3 St. Etienne v #1 Lyon (also a local derby) #3 PSV v #1 Twente #2 Man City v #1 Man Utd (also a local derby) #3 Zenit v #2 Anzhi #4 Betis v #1 Barca Lisbon derby Six matches involving top 4 teams among the top 8 leagues in Europe plus 3 big local derbies. Suck on that, Super-League advocates! You don't have a chance to offer anything close ever!
I remember an interesting side comment Sid Lowe made on a recent Football Weekly episode. He was talking about whether Barcelona would want to stay in La Liga if Catalonia became independent, and he said that Barcalona execs don't think it matters much because they believe there will be European superleague eventually anyway. I'm of the camp that it is inevitable for better or for worse. If power brokers of football, like the people running Barcelona, think it's gonna happen that reveals a lot. I"m not sure what the format will be but it will happen. Maybe not soon, but in 20 years or 50 years perhaps. UEFA football is increasingly a global product and a European superleague will provide more of what that market wants. I also think there will be a lot less resistance to this in Europe than some people believe. Most European leagues don't the kind of history and tradition that exists in England.
Barcelona believing that there will be a European Superleague doesn't tell you if Barcelona wants there to be a European Superleague. If Catalonia became independent, how many current La Liga clubs would be in Catalonia and how many would still be in Spain? It would be a big deal if Barcelona and Real Madrid ended up in different leagues.
The powers that be are the major football clubs. If they are motivated enough to form a superleague (by $$) it'll happen.
A European superleague is not what the people of Europe wants, there lies the biggest stumbling block!
The Uefa market is not just Europe. It's also n America, china, Japan, etc. But even in Europe, I think your assuming that other people in Europe share your views. In a lot of east European nations, the leagues haven't even existed for more than a decade or two, and in those counties European competition draws much more interest than the local league. I'm sure teams like Spartak Moscow or CSKA would jump ship to a super league in a heartbeat. It wouldn't be as controversial as in England.
I can understand what you are saying Johnsemlak, the problem is that the clubs will need the support of the European market, specifically matchday support or else there wouldnt be the 'product'. As a fan of a club that plays in European competition I can categorically say that I would not want my club to leave domestic competition to play in a new European super league, having a seperate 'competition' like the Champions league running in conjunction with the domestic competition is fine, I have a feeling that supporters of other clubs in other European leagues feel the same way as me (though obviously I dont know that for certain). Most domestic clubs do not take part in the European competitions and therefore removing the top 2 or 3 from each league will only alienate those clubs from their respective countries ie most people in the UK dont support Manchester United, most people in Germany dont support Bayern Munich etc.
I see what your saying but don't forget clubs like Manchester United or Bayern may eventually feel its in their economic interest to join with a group on European teams to share a pot of a sh!tload of money. I would agree that in England, and a few other countries, the history, tradition and fan culture are such that it would be very difficult for teams to break away. Plus, the Premier League is a huge financial package for its teams. But the situation is VERY different in other European countries and I think some UK posters may not appreciate that. Many countries have seen their league dissolved, ripped apart, reformed, and set up often along crass commercial lines. Many countries leagues are simply too small and weak to command interest. In many countries the league does not conform to the 'nation' (e.g. Spain). In England the current set up may seem so set in stone that its unimaginable that it would change but if you live in a country where the league doesn't have the same foundation of tradition then having your team switch to a European league doesn't seem that bad. Plus in many smaller leagues the top clubs are increasingly financially strained (Celtic and Rangers being obvious examples but there are many). Another factor to consider is that in E Europe there is a strong 'join the Euro' factor. A lot of fans of the top teams there love when their team can compete with the 'big boys' in the West. It's an allure that's much stronger than in England.
A European superleague filled with Eastern European teams from small leagues wouldn't be much of a draw.
If you invited clubs based on their coefficients Spartak Moscow wouldn't be invited unless the Superleague had multiple levels. Based on the coefficients the only eastern European clubs that would or might be invited to a Superleague top level are Shakhtar Donetsk and Dinamo Kiev of Ukraine and CSKA Moscow and Zenit St. Petersburg of Russia. I like the Champions League qualifying rounds where fans get to see how the champions of lesser countries compare to each other. If there was a Superleague then APOEL Nicosia wouldn't have had a chance to reach the Quarterfinals last season.
I'll keep saying it: A league full of the World's biggest clubs sounds like a moneymaker on paper. However, in a single league, where there's just one champion and a bunch of outfits that can't stand to be anything but #1, somebody will have to be mid-table. In fact, somebody will have to finish last. Given that it seems pretty clear that traditional domestic fans aren't especially interested in this and that this ever-expanding "global support" contains large subsections where loyalty and tolerance of failure is not so ingrained in the nature of their fandom, I'm not so sure the biggest teams are really as eager as they might seem to join such an outfit. In truth, your "powers that be" statement says as much about why those teams might privately favour the status quo over an actual Superleague. They're the "powers that be" largely because of the influence they hold over FIFA and UEFA. The Superleague is more a bargaining chip than anything else. It behooves UEFA to keep the former G14 sweet with Market Pool prize money and easier access to the CL. Until such time as those clubs aren't being catered to, it's a safer bet for themto dominate their lucrative domestic leagues and compete in the UCL every year.
Super league composed of the big 4 leagues with promotion/relegation to the national leagues. This will increase the value of the big teams. Otherwise the Russians and Arabs will buy teams and build them to win CL. How much are the top teams worth if they can't win CL or compete for wages and transfer? Plus I could care less for weekends that my team plays a bottom feeder. I want them playing the best week in week out.
Well put. People won't be rushing to pay £62 for a match between a 17th place Arsenal vs 18th place Porto.
It seems most of you aren't educated in this matter or what has been happening lately. Because if you did, you will realize why it is impossible (at the moment) to do it. Why do you think 85 non-European clubs were invited to the ECA General Assembly in Qatar during the past two days? To have a European Super League, you would have to convince the rest of the world to give up a whole lot of things. Everyone will simply give it the middle finger.
Since Santista brings up the General Assemby of the ECA and this is somewhat related to the thread, let's see what discussion they were having on European-wide competitions, shall we? "Ahead of the UEFA Club Competitions Cycle 2015-18, a total of 87 ECA members from 36 national associations responded to a survey on the future of both the Champions League and Europa League. • 75% expressed their “satisfaction” or “extreme satisfaction” with the current structure/format of UEFA’s club competitions; • 92% believe that the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League should continue to exist in parallel; • 61% would welcome offering the UEFA Europa League Winner/Finalists direct access to the UEFA Champions League group stage." Source: http://www.worldfootballinsider.com/Story.aspx?id=35538
A European Superleague is a terrible idea and only really attractive for Barca and Real because the overall financial sitiuation of La Liga will only become worse over time. English clubs just got a new television deal which will grant them an incredible amount of money and there is no reason for German clubs like Bayern Munich to join either, not after they spend 5 years to build up their strengh while Spanish clubs were wasting their money.
The only, real obstacle to a European Super League is the rest of the world. FIFA has already stated numerous times that if the rich, European clubs ever decide to create one, then the players involved with the clubs playing in said competition will become ineligible to play in the FIFA World Cup itself. I see no national federation in the world, including those in Europe, willing to give that for a ESL. They sure as hell wouldn't support clubs from foreign leagues with ineligible players and the clubs themselves would become highly unattractive to be in for that simple cause. HOWEVER... If the ECA gathers support from around the globe, in the same fashion they did last week in Qatar, from clubs and national associations to organize a separate World Cup and Club World Cup away from FIFA, the ESL could easily come into existence. After all, we don't need FIFA to organize tournaments. As for the ESL, it could be the best 20 teams of Europe playing in a round-robin system with the UCL finalists being "promoted" to the ESL, the last two teams in the ESL table being "demoted" to playing the UCL next season if they qualify and the 3rd and 4th last teams of the ESL disputing playoffs with the UCL semifinalists.
They would still be played out. Of course, with the exception of the teams disputing the ESL. For example, Celtic could be national champions one season and qualify for the UCL. In the UCL, while Celtic still disputes their national league, they make it to the semifinals and win the playoff against the 3rd last team of ESL and gain entry to it while "demoting" the ESL team they defeated. That defeated team would need to gain access again by making it far in the UCL again. As a note, teams "demoted" from the ESL would gain entry into the following season's UCL fourth round against a non-champion team. The ESL could have almost the same format as the NFL in which there are two sections separated by four groups each. The sections, and groups, would be decided on a draw. Each team in one section faces against every other team in their same section once with the exception of the teams in their group; they face teams in the same group twice. The home team of those other matches could be done through the draw with each team being guaranteed home advantage on 6 of the 12 lottery matches. There would be a total of 18 games per team in this stage. The winners and runner-ups of each group would move in to a KO phase starting from the round of 16. The regular season tally would determine the last four teams with the last two being "demoted". The 3rd and 4th last would dispute playoffs against the UCL semifinalists. With sections, it makes sure the product doesn't dillute itself and we don't see Real Madrid vs Manchester United every season. With groups in a section, it gives everyone something to play for till the very last matches of the season while staying competitive.
So, the domestic leagues would not include the ESL clubs? I am not sure the fans and the leagues themselves would take kindly to missing top clubs. Some domestic leagues, like APL, do have enough pull to just tell a possibly ESL relegated club that is coming back into the domestic league to take their stuff elsewhere. I am sure that would kill ESL.