Everything You Need to Know about the European Super League in 10(ish) Tweets

Yesterday, rumors of a European Super League made up of 12 powerful clubs dominated the footballing world. If you were like me, you probably got an influx of information over the past 24 hours that made it impossible to understand what was actually going on. Luckily for you, I have compiled 10(ish) tweets that touch on the major storylines of the European Super League so far, with some tweets related to how this may affect Newcastle as well. Of course by the time this gets published there will have of course been further updates, but this is meant to be a quick starting point for folks to understand everything going on with the European Super League.

The Rumors Begin

The New York Times released a bombshell report Sunday morning detailing a proposed Super League involving 12 teams across various leagues in Europe. The Premier League‘s “Big 6”, as well as Barcelona, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, and both Milan teams were rumored to be in this proposed super League. Notably, Bayern Munich and PSG rejected invitations to the league. It was later revealed RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund also declined to participate in the league. This news came shortly after a proposed UEFA Champions League Restructure.

The effort was rumored to be mainly organized by Joel Glazer of Manchester United, Florentino Pérez of Real Madrid, and Andrea Agnelli of Juventus. It was also rumored that in the Premier League the American owners heavily influenced the decision for the 6 Premier League clubs to back the decision to join the proposed Super League as they are all familiar with operating within closed leagues.

Organizations Respond

This news upset a lot of governing bodies of football and many quickly issued responses. UEFA and the Premier League were among the first organizations to speak out against the formation of this Super League.

The Premier League released a statement shortly after the NYT article that condemned the teams forming the super League and went as far to say:

“Fans of any club in England and across Europe can currently dream that their team may climb to the top and play against the best. We believe that the concept of a European Super League would destroy this dream.”

Another big organization in football, the European Club Association, spoke out against the proposed Super League on behalf of their 246 member clubs.

UEFA released a joint statement alongside the English Football Association, the Premier League, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), LaLiga, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and Lega Serie A condemning the organization. Even going as far as mentioning that member clubs of the European Super League would be banned from all domestic and continental competitions. Additionally, the players in these clubs would be barred from representing their National Team.

FIFA also issued a statement, but not much was revealed in this statement as it mostly was covering its bases and calling for open dialogue regarding the proposed Super League.

Gary Neville Speaks Out

Gary Neville gets the honor of being the first footballing figure that is not some sort of administrator to publicly speak out against the Super League. The news of this potential league’s formation was reviewed during Sky Sports’ Premier League coverage and Neville went on an epic rant condemning the formation of this league. Since then other prominent former players have spoken out, and some current players have spoken out against the formation of this Super League.

Super League Officially Announced

The Super League officially announced themselves late Sunday night. In the league’s announcement, they make the claim that they plan on playing league matches midweek in addition to their domestic leagues and cups. This is contradictory to what UEFA and the leagues themselves are claiming, as they plan on banning clubs who participate in the Super League from domestic competition.

The announcement revealed the League’s proposed structure including a total of 20 teams, with 15 teams that essentially would never get removed from the league with 5 other teams who would be able to “qualify” for the league. Confirmation of JP Morgan backing the league was detailed, which also confirmed the notion that member clubs of this league would immediately have access to €3.5 billion euros split among the15 member clubs. As of now, 3 more clubs are needed in order to move forward with the proposed league. The 12 clubs who announced they were already a part of this Super League confirmed their intention to not participate in UEFA competitions, as well as confirmed that they were leaving the European Club Association.

UEFA President Speaks Out

UEFA President Aleksandr Cefarin publicly spoke out about this proposed super league Monday morning and he had a rather interesting rant that is making the rounds on social media. CHN writer Arron Reed has threaded Cefarin’s comments for your convenience.

The Newcastle Point of View

The Chronicle announced that the current ownership group does not support the notion of this Super League, which again is not surprising since they were not invited. The Super League also would potentially slash profits for the Premier League, and that is the last thing Mike Ashley wants.

The Chronicle also claims that the Saudi-backed consortium rumored to be negotiating with Mike Ashley for the purchase of Newcastle United do not back this proposed Super League.

It is important to recognize that this is based on the tweets of Amanda Staveley’s husband and business partner Mehrdad Ghodoussi who has been the most public mouthpiece for the ownership group since the announcement of an agreed deal to purchase the club.

A few things are of note here, the first being that Mehrdad Ghodoussi’s opinions are not representative of the entire consortium. While this has mostly been the case thus far, his tweets are in no way an official statement from the group as a whole.

Secondly, it is easy to reject this proposed Super League when you are not an owner and also trying to garner fan support ahead of potentially taking over a team. There is no telling as to what the ownership group would do if down the road they were invited to join this league that has no relegation, and will guarantee you a large sum of money every year with access to sponsorship deals in the billions.

Lastly, Mehrdad Ghodoussi’s opinion does not matter in the grand scheme of things. PCP partners are the main organizers of this consortium but they certainly have the least amount of power in this new ownership group. Even if Mehrdad Ghodoussi believes this Super League is awful, there is nothing he can really do about it if the PIF and Reuben Brothers are fine with it. PCP would own less than 10% of the club, so they could easily get outvoted or bought out.

Monday morning it was announced that the Premier League is holding an emergency meeting with the other 14 clubs not in this Super League on Tuesday. It is of course expected that Newcastle United attend.

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So there you have it! Ten(ish) tweets that hopefully gave you a baseline look into why everyone is up in arms about this Super League, what it even is, and who is involved. For more detailed reading on this, I highly suggest you check out the New York Times’ coverage of this, coverage from The Athletic, and of course SB Nation’s coverage of the Super League saga. Additionally, the Super League has launched its website that you can check out here.

As we continue to find out more information about this Super League saga we here at CHN will continue to keep you updated on social media and through the site. Be on the lookout for podcast coverage on this as well. We of course would love to hear from our readers on this proposed super league. Would you walk away from the club if Newcastle joined this league? How should the rest of the season be handled? Is UEFA bluffing or will they really ban players from international competition? Let us know on Twitter and in the comments below!