5 reasons why the European Super League needs to happen

The rumors about the Super League relaunch have UEFA worrying and looking to take action if these clubs move forward with this proposal. For those who have forgotten, the Super League is a proposed seasonal competition that would see 20 clubs taking part. Originally, it was to be comprised of 15 founders and 5 annual qualifiers with the intention of creating a more exciting tournament. Despite these intentions, the idea of having permanent teams was received by heavy scrutiny and mass fan protests.

This backlash led to several clubs ‘pulling out’ and the plans being scrapped. However, reports have indicated that the remaining clubs (Juventus, Barcelona, and Real Madrid) are preparing to continue with the proposed league, with the fundamental change being there would not be permeant teams. UEFA is trying to act tough, but they are in fact scared as they see their power in the game under threat.

Despite the Super League still not being announced, this has not stopped UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin from attacking the remaining clubs and threatening them if they continue with this competition. While speaking at the Financial Times’ Business of Football Summit, Ceferin stated:

"“Let me just say that they can play their own competition, nobody forbids them that. But if they play their own competition they cannot play our competition.” “They launched this nonsense of an idea during a pandemic. Now they are planning to launch another idea during a war. They obviously live in a parallel world. “Now for them fans are customers, for us fans are fans. For us football is about football players and about fans.”"

Comments that are ignorant, opportunistic, and laughable taking into consideration that the 2021 Champions League final was during the pandemic and played between English clubs. Yet both Ceferin and UEFA did not seem to care much about the fans when they decided to play the game in Portugal instead of anywhere in England because the UK would not make quarantine exceptions for UEFA sponsors; prioritizing commercial interest over fan safety.

Whether you like the format of the new proposed competition or believe it should be something else, the Super League NEEDS to happen for these reasons.

5. The Current Champions League Format Does Not Serve its Purpose

The purpose of having a tournament such as the Champions League is for the continent’s top teams to face each other and go up against the very best. There are many unique stories of teams reaching the group stages and even achieving historic victories. However, it defeats the purpose of the tournament if these sides can barely compete to even get out of the group phase and it is always the same clubs reaching the latter stages. This has diluted the competition and made it almost noncompetitive until the quarterfinal or even semifinal stage. Additionally, the increased amount of fixtures (many of them pointless) have seriously been affecting the quality of the games as players do not have the necessary recovery period to be in proper conditions.

The competition is going to get even worse in a couple of seasons when the Champions League changes, which will see more teams added and the group stages turn into a league table format. Making the Champions League even more unenthusiastic, along with adding to the frustration of managers and players by increasing the number of games (many would ALSO be pointless). If UEFA want these noncompetitive teams involved in European competition, they can participate in the Europa League or in the newly formed European Conference League. Competitions that would actually benefit them because not just would they play against teams more suited for them, but could also have serious possibilities of competing for the title.

A competition such as the Champions League should be for the best clubs on the continent, not from each league. Furthermore, the competition needs to be competitive and meaningful beginning in the group stage to determine the best club. Something that has not always been the case in the Champions League where there have been teams that have won it without playing any top sides until the semifinals or even the final. While a merit base system needs to be determined, the Super League needs to assure that it has the best teams on the continent involved.