Rumor: The Inevitable European Super League

Discussion in 'Italy' started by indestructible, Apr 25, 2019.

  1. indestructible

    indestructible Member+

    SSC Napoli
    Jan 14, 2007
    Mercato Professor
    Club:
    SSC Napoli
    Nat'l Team:
    Italy
    Clubs push for promotion-relegation in European competitions

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    LONDON (AP) — Europe’s elite soccer clubs are pushing to play each other more often by lobbying UEFA for changes to the Champions League that would see the introduction of promotion and relegation.

    European Club Association chairman Andrea Agnelli, who runs Juventus, is seeking to seize control of an overhaul to the continent’s competitions from 2024 by telling members to boycott a meeting convened by leagues next month.

    In a letter to the ECA’s 232 member clubs on Thursday, Agnelli criticized the European Leagues organization for trying to preserve the “status quo,” and instead set out a vision that would see the biggest changes to the Champions League since non-domestic champions were allowed entry in 1997.

    Even with four teams from each of England, Italy and Spain given a direct route into the Champions League group stage, Agnelli wants reforms that will entrench the status of the biggest clubs in the competition.

    In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, Agnelli wrote to ECA members to say “more European football is good for the game ... for fans, for society, for cultural, sporting and financial development.”

    The financial power of Juventus has obliterated the competitiveness of the Italian title race, with Agnelli’s team last weekend winning a record-extending eighth straight Serie A with five games remaining. It points to why Agnelli would want Juventus to play more often against continental rivals, advocating “European matches with higher sporting quality and a more competitive environment at all levels.”

    Among principles which Agnelli believes are “fundamental to the future of European football,” he advocates a “pyramidal Pan European League System with continuity and opportunity to grow from within” by adopting an “enhancement of mobility and dynamism across the system through carefully applied promotion and relegation.”

    Currently only the winners of the second-tier Europa League are promoted to the Champions League for a single campaign. The winner of a third-tier competition launching in 2021 will also be promoted to the next Europa League.

    The Champions League winner is guaranteed entry the following season but the other slots are determined based on where a team finishes in their domestic league.

    Some teams, like Dutch runner-up Ajax, had to start in qualifying rounds in July. That meant Ajax played six games to reach the group stage, but it has managed to reach its first Champions League semifinal in 22 years.

    Agnelli said competitions should be “open to all — keeping the dream alive” but the specifics on when teams have to enter could see smaller teams eliminated before facing the powerhouses.

    Agnelli does, however, say that places should be “based on sporting meritocracy, not historical privilege” after suggestions that European pedigree could be applied to help leading teams qualify while struggling in their domestic leagues.

    Agnelli is trying to diminish the role of the leagues in shaping the future of competitions by accusing them of spreading “misconceptions ... in the interests of preserving the status quo.”

    The European Leagues body has invited clubs to a meeting in Madrid on May 6-7 but Agnelli wants his members to attend only an ECA special general assembly on June 6-7 in Malta.

    “It is not appropriate for European Leagues to be inviting ECA members and we recommend that you not attend this meeting,” Agnelli told clubs.

    “In the event that you do deem your presence worthwhile, we would ask that you insist not to be associated in any formal manner with any communication that may arise from the meeting — as the European Leagues will surely try to do.”

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    thoughts?
     
  2. BobanFan

    BobanFan Member+

    Jun 28, 2007
    Club:
    AC Milan
    If we’re in it I’m strongly in favour

    If not, it’s clearly the most dangerous proposal ever put forward and should be stopped
     
  3. L'immortale

    L'immortale Red Card

    Italy
    Nov 13, 2017
    Retired
    If it gets Juventus out of Serie A I’m all for it.
     
  4. La Magica

    La Magica Member+

    Aug 1, 2011
    Club:
    AS Roma
    Milan have put their name in the hat, proposing an historical wildcard entry.
     
    L'immortale repped this.
  5. Gilbertsson

    Gilbertsson Member+

    Barcelona
    Spain
    Apr 1, 2012
    Geneva
    Club:
    Toronto Croatia
    Nat'l Team:
    Switzerland
    Some things should be changed. There are major differences in the group stages of Champions League. Eight clubs ended with 4 or less points in this season.
    Europa League is often ignored from elite clubs, they lose without motivation against much weaker teams. The Champions League is the strongest football edition, far beyond EURO, World Cup, Confederation Cup. The winner of Copa Libertdores has problems with Champions League winner.
    Super League should exist. Europa League needs better prize assets, so that we see motivated clubs.
     
  6. People from outside of Europe donot understand what Europe really is.
    They think either from a perspective of their own national league witout the history that exist in Europe or tend to think from their own background of one big/huge country with scarce number of soccer clubs in one league and transplant that thinking onto the cultural/social/political diversity of nations quilt called Europe.
     
  7. bobofu066066

    bobofu066066 New Member

    Juventus
    Italy
    Jun 13, 2019
    Why?I think he's good.
     

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