Renamed Super League submits plans for 96-team competition

Paris: Super League promoters on Tuesday revealed they have asked Fifa and Uefa for “official recognition” of their proposed competition, renamed the “Unify League”, leaning on a ruling from Europe’s top court.

A22 Sports Management said it sent the proposal after discussions with various leagues, clubs and other stakeholders, revising its qualification system to base participation on annual domestic performances.

It has submitted plans for competitions featuring 96 teams divided into four leagues, running from September to April, followed by a knockout phase starting with the quarter-finals.

In a statement, A22 argued last year’s European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling meant that “any competition where qualification is inclusive and meritocratic, and which complies with the overall match calendar can be officially established”.

Promoters also said matches would be shown live for free via a streaming platform.

“Our extensive engagement with key stakeholders revealed a number of pressing challenges facing the sport including increasing subscription costs for fans, an overloaded player calendar, insufficient investment in women’s football, and dissatisfaction with the format and governance of the current pan-European competitions,” said A22 CEO Bernd Reichart said.

“Our proposal is designed to directly address these challenges.”

Furious backlash

European football was hit with a bombshell in early 2021, when 12 of its biggest clubs announced they had signed up to the planned Super League, triggering a furious backlash from fans and a stark warning from Uefa that clubs and players who took parts would be barred from competitions like the World Cup.

Within 48 hours nine of the 12 rebel clubs — including six from the English Premier League — backed down and the project collapsed, but Real Madrid and Barcelona remain strong supporters of it.

Last year the ECJ ruled that Uefa had broken EU law by abusing its “dominant position” in European football to stifle an upstart breakaway league of elite clubs.

But when the firm promoting the Super League seized on the court victory to announce plans for a new 64-team tournament to compete with or replace Uefa’s flagship Champions League, it was met with scorn and rejection.

'Prevented free competition'

In May a Spanish court said Fifa and Uefa had “prevented free competition” by opposing the Super League, but Uefa insisted it did not explicitly support the creation of the Super League.

“The judgment does not give third parties the right to develop competitions without authorisation and does not concern any future project or indeed any modified version of an existing project,” Uefa said at the time.

European football’s governing body also pointed out that it had since brought in new rules to ensure it now complied with EU law.