CroatianSports.com Op-Ed
The big boys are trying to jump ship in the name of money, money, and more money. Chelsea, Liverpool, AC Milan, Real Madrid, Tottenham, Manchester United, Juventus, Barcelona, Manchester City, Inter Milan, Arsenal, and Atletico Madrid have stated they will be the founding members of a new European Super League, ESPN reports.
In short, the move – which has been hinted at for over 12 months – is in reply to UEFA expanding Champions League to more teams in the near future and how revenue sharing will work between all clubs taking part in the annual tournament. The 12 clubs mentioned above don’t feel like they’re getting enough bang for their buck and are attempting a coup against FIFA and UEFA.
What does this mean?
The 12 founders and any other club joining this Super League would be exiled from their own domestic league, Champions League, and any players playing on those clubs would not be eligible to play in any FIFA or UEFA sanctioned tournament – meaning the World Cup or Euro. In essence, you’re selling your soul if you play in the Super League.
Imagine Croatia playing without Modrić, Kovačić, Perišić, Rebić, and Brozović at next year’s World Cup. What’s the point?
Reports out of Europe are saying Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund were invited to join the league, however, they declined.
Here’s the problem with this…and it’s a really big problem. It will kill the game, IF it happens. From my feeling on this, I would say the 12 founding clubs are playing poker with FIFA/UEFA. All they want is a bigger slice of the revenue sharing pie. Once that is agreed upon, all this will get dusted under the rug. FIFA/UEFA of course need their best clubs as they’re not only the biggest money makers, but they also have the deepest history and fan bases.
However, the 12 clubs will need FIFA/UEFA and their tournaments; in the long run. If the Big 12 only play each other with no relegation/promotion structure, that model could get boring pretty quickly. How many times can you watch Real Madrid play Manchester City or Barcelona play Chelsea without any recourse? Champions League is awesome because it’s hard to get into. It’s prestigious because you have to be a top team. As of right now, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund may not make next season’s tournament. With the Super League model, I can see it turning into a more glamorous version of the UEFA Nations League. Not right away, but in the long-term. I think the Big 12 are just posturing to see if FIFA/UEFA flinch, which I think they will do. And all that means is a bigger piece of the pie.
For one, you can’t have a European Super League without Bayern Munich. You just can’t. Also, Arsenal, Tottenham, AC Milan, and Inter Milan are getting a free pass? Get the hell out of here! Besides Spurs making it to the Champions League Final a few years ago, these clubs have done nothing in Europe in the last decade. Arsenal and Tottenham can’t even finish top four in England.
The game of football is for everyone. No matter where you are in the world, all you need is a few friends and a ball. It’s the beautiful game. How we have let cold hard cash dictate this power movement is beyond me. How can a single club and its revenue stream be bigger than the game? It can’t. These teams are turning the game from the most inclusive sport to their own private club. This isn’t growing the game in any way, shape, or form. And that’s my biggest issue.
Is FIFA the most reputable organization in the world? Absolutely not. However, the Champions League format – as is (give or take) – is perfect. I would seed the top eight clubs and get rid of the away goals rule in extra time.
We watch sports because of parity. We don’t know what’s going to happen. Anyone can win on any given night and that’s what makes it beautiful. Sure, the top clubs in the world print their own money and can bring in the best players year in and year out, but tell that to Dinamo Zagreb a few weeks back versus Tottenham. Tell that to Leicester City in 2016. Tell that to Porto in 2004. Tell that to Croatia in 2018.
Should the World Cup only consist of Germany, Brazil, Argentina, England, Spain, and Italy every four years because those games will bring in more cash? No, because that’s dumb. Just like the Super League is dumb.
The integrity of the game must be upheld and decided on the field, not by the suits, but by the players. And not just players from 12 clubs. By doing this, these clubs would alienate their entire fan base, history, and domestic rivalries. It would be suicide. Liverpool no longer playing Everton. Barcelona not playing Espanyol. How many great London derbies are there? Football is great because the cream always rises to the top. The fact that the reigning European champions – Bayern Munich – said no, says enough to me.
I trust the Big 12 will get their way and receive a bigger revenue sharing cut than they currently have. I would be shocked if this league ever got off the floor. Because if it did…football as we know, would be DEAD.
Now that the Super League talk is over, when will the talk of a Euro League begin, where all the top teams from the shit leagues can get together?
Here’s a prediction everyone.
PSG is going to win this years CL.
I think RM, Man City and Chelsea are about to run into some bad refs. The Empire is about to strike back against the rebel teams.
Who cares what some of those teams that would’ve been in the Super League have done in recent times, the thing is if the Super League got up all those teams would’ve had a massive pool of players to bring into their squads from the teams that wouldn’t of been in the Super League, and every team in the Super League would’ve been Super.
Not like what we see in the pathetic domestic leagues where the same teams are near the top of their leagues every season because they continually by the top players from the also-rans
Let’s not compare baseball to soccer. Given the nature of the sport, the best teams in baseball still lose a pretty big percentage of their games. Much more crapshoot involved than soccer.
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Tommy Lasorda: “No matter how good you are, you’re going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you’re going to win one-third of your games. It’s the other third that makes the difference.”
Bronk, this is my opinion.
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If we look at this as a sport and that the best of the best meet each other in a tournament setting…then there should be some method of qualifying. If the better teams do proceed through a qualification process then it’s fair to call this league a super league. In this case these are some teams that have proven to be of that “super league” level but more of them are a super league quality based on their name and long history.
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I love AC Milan but they’ve done shit for years. Juventus is and has been declining for 3 seasons. Arsenal hasn’t been anything for years. Tottenham is barely above average.
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That’s not even the point in all this. My argument is that each club plays in their own league. In that league there is their own cup and then 2 or 3 others trophies they play for. Some leagues and clubs have more trophies they qualify for. For those teams to succeed, they need a really strong bench…a rotation…productive players that can help their club achieve trophies.
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Do I think AC Milan are European giants at the moment? NO! Do I think it would be interesting to watch Chelsea vs Juventus in a meaningless match knowing they didn’t do anything to get to that game with winning anything worthy? NO!!
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To me, it’s just a bunch of exhibition games that mean nothing…a money grab that has the value of zero interest…meaningless tournaments for teams that did nothing to get there.
@Slavonac
How am I wrong? You are making my point. The reason Dinamo has no bench is because they have no cash. If they had the bankroll like the big clubs they would have a bench.
Once in a blue moon you’re right an upset happens but that success is never sustainable.
The the haves and have nots are literally in different leagues-no pun intended.
Great debate everyone,
Bronk, I think you’re wrong bro. A smaller tram may not be able to beat a huge club and have enough bench support to do well in their league and in CL or EL but we’ve seen many smaller clubs knock out many of the big guys over the years. The major difference may be these big clubs have some bench strength.
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Look at a small club like Dinamo. Once Petkovic or Orsic are out of the lineup, they have very little options. Then look at a big club with money and they usually have 2 to 3 more superstars waiting to jump in the lineup.
The thing is that the UCL is a shit comp, do you know that it’s literally possible to lift the trophy winning only 8 games?
Some morons believe that winning the UCL makes you the best club team in Europe, I believe it’s a money grubbing trash comp that proves nothing.
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Although Bayern Munich put an end to the Super League talk I can’t help think that a comp like that would favour Bayern. Think about it, you get the 20 most flush with cash clubs to create a league where everyone plays everyone home & away and Bayern win the whole thing more often than not.
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I’ve noticed that whenever Bayern get eliminated from the UCL that we’ve had injuries, and that’s hard to overcome in such a small little comp like the UCL.
Just move all Euro football competitions to Texas and Florida.
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They allow full capacity stadiums, and the large Mexican and South American contingent will guarantee a sellout every game.
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Problem solved.
City had won numerous EPL titles and are in contention every year for the CL. PSG is there. Sooner or later they will win it because they have the bankroll. Arsenal and Spurs are on the poorer end of the rich clubs. How many did Barca and Madrid win? Those are the two biggest clubs in the world. Name me the last small market club to win the CL? You have to go all the way back to Porto when it wasn’t such a money game.
If we are talking baseball the Yankees and Dodgers are always there. Three out of your four teams you named in baseball have big payrolls too.
In case you haven’t noticed Ante we are in a global pandemic so there are NO FANS in the stadiums. Things on a financial basis will not go forward the same way. TV revenue is king now. If you think fans won’t watch you’re delusional. The reach of these teams is GLOBAL.
Ummm…because they thought their supporters would follow.
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It was obvious to me on Sunday there was no chance in hell this was going to work. You need the fans for money. No fans. No money. The online backlash said enough. The SL had a 4billion loan from JP Morgan ready to go…how quickly that folded.
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You can build uber competitive teams, but you can’t buy championships. How many does City have? Arsenal? Spurs? PSG? ZEROOOOOOO
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The North American equivalent of all this is the MLB because there’s no salary cap. The Dodgers and Yankees have the most cash. Only one title for them in the past decade. Look at how many small market teams have won in that same time: Royals, Cardinals, Nationals, Giants 3x.
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This is why we watch sports.
You can’t buy titles? Did you miss the part about the teams with the biggest payrolls win. Ask City if they can buy titles or Chelsea LOL What are you talking about?
The only thing that is losing are the clubs and they are losing millions. Something is going to have to give. If they were willing to sign on to the concept of the ESL there’s a reason.
I hardly call UEFA democratic LOL If the English teams were about the fans and democracy why did they sign on or for that matter why did they sell off all their clubs to foreign owners? Why didn’t they do the 50 +1 rule? Like in Germany? Come on Ante I can’t believe you’re so naive about this issue.
If UEFA doesn’t Ante-up the CL money this issue will resurface.
Well, by the time you posted that comment I’m sure you’re well aware that dumb Super League is already over as every English club has already pulled out. You’re part of a losing argument.
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Also, this original 12 is crap. You claim to have the most elite teams in there, but you’re defending Arsenal, Spurs, United, Inter, AC Milan – all clubs that have done complete dogs hit the past decade.
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If we’re going to make a SL based on history, why not invite Ajax? They have the 6th most European titles ever. What about Benfica, Nottingham Forrest. I can go on. All these clubs have more Euro titles than Spurs, Arsenal, and City combined.
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You can build a team with cash. You sure can. re: City, PSG
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But you can’t buy titles. And that’s the beauty of it. Democracy won. The lone 13 people that wanted stupid Super League to work is you and the 12 owners. Riddle me that.
Barca lifted the copa del ray cup. Why didn’t the Sevilla referees help Messi lift the cup? Can someone please photoshop that?
Ante my friend reading your comments in this post is like reading my sons Christmas letter that he sends to Santa every December-both are anchored in fantasy.
I’ll address your points one by one.
1. You can’t have a Super League without Bayern.
Bayern was invited. If they choose not to accept that’s to their financial detriment and over time they will be left behind just like the horse and buggy was left behind with the advent of the automobile.
2.The teams that were invited have world class facilities and are worth the most and have the biggest global brands.
The watered down argument makes no sense because you could argue soccer is already watered down with so many cup tournaments that are really meaningless. The reason they are meaningless is no one cares about Stoke or some team from the Championship or some 15th ranked team in Spain or Italy.
People tune into the CL because they want to see the best play.
Why is anyone opposed to a league where all the best teams and brands are present?
Promotion and relegation is stupid. You will never see a big club relegated unless there’s a match fixing scandal so why bother.
How do you know who the best teams are? It’s generally the teams that have the biggest bankroll.
3. How does everyone control there own destiny for a championship? You don’t honestly believe that do you?
Teams with the biggest payrolls win or they aren’t far from the top.Dinamo can’t qualify in an already watered down CL so how do they have an equal footing at the table? The ESL wouldn’t effect Dinamo at all. They would dominate the Croatian league and get bounced in the Europa League so I don’t understand your argument there.The ESL would increase competition in that every game would be difficult. It would be the most watched league in sports.
Well Ante you wouldn’t have to watch “other” promotions unless you want to watch minor league sports because the ESL would be your soccer NFL or NBA or NHL.
If you want to watch minor league sports you can do it in every sport that’s your choice but the ESL would be the best of the best.
4 You are conflating International soccer with Club soccer they are different entities so let’s stay focused on the ESL debate.
Small clubs or minor league clubs will do what minor league clubs always do develop players and sell them to the majors.
So the better countries develop players the more money they will make and more representation countries will have at the higher levels.
As for the fix you can see just how much power the big clubs have now that they are rattling the soccer world. You don’t think they exert the same influence over officials?
The reality is sport is business. Clubs haven’t had any fans for over a year and they are taking massive losses. The only revenue is TV revenue. Will the players-take a 50% pay cut to stem the losses? Will fans pay triple for subscriptions to watch their teams because it’s for the fans?
The fact of the matter is the CL pay the winner less than the 15th place team in the EPL? The CL is the most watched tournament in the world-where is the money going?
Furthermore a Super League already exists it’s called the EPL. The EPL tv deal generates more revenue than all the other big soccer league TV deals combined. If the other clubs do not create a ESL they will over time become irrelevant. This is a unique moment to keep the league European instead of English.
The big clubs already buy their spots and don’t “earn it” so your point here is irreverent.
You will never see Porto win the CL again-it’s a money game now and they don’t have the bankroll.
RM can still visit Zagreb in a preseason friendly.
Funny seeing Tottenham as one of the super teams, after getting beat up by Dinamo 3-0 in Zagreb.
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So they’re pissed because they spent a ton of money on transfer fees for top foreign talent… And that talent is not delivering? LOL.
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They feel that they deserve to play big name matches only, without having to earn it on the field.
They feel that their massive budget should be enough to bypass all these teams beneath them (who they have trouble beating).
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I completely understand why they feel this way. They create these incredibly expensive super teams and are pissed because they can’t capitalize on it (if they miss the Champions League or if their schedule is cluttered with small name teams).
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But I guess that’s the risk you take when you blast hundreds of millions on player transfer fees,and refuse to develop your own.
Maybe we do need to add more Champions League spots for the EPL and some of the other top leagues, and maybe they do need a bigger slice of the revenue pie (I’m not well versed on how much of a cut they get, relative to the amount they bring in)…but definitely not a new league that could hurt Croatian football.
super liga popushila…haha
Dinamo has made a lot of money and has potential to become an Ajax-caliber team in the next 10-15 years (as a team whose focus is on development, but can gradually compete against elite teams over the years).
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It seems like it’s only a matter of time until Dinamo goes on a very deep run in Europa, or makes the knockout rounds in Champions League.
They’ve come so far since 10 years ago. Anything that jeopardizes the current system (like the Super league) is bad news for Dinamo.
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Dinamo makes a lot of money from players sales to top leagues, and both UEFA and FIFA pay Dinamo some sort of development fee (or whatever it’s called) for any player that appears in their tournaments who was developed by Dinamo.
There are all kinds of little revenue streams here and there, that have benefitted Dinamo. They’re well on their way to solidify their position as a knockout round regular in the European tournaments, developing foreign talent who are lining up to play for them, and (hopefully) in a beautiful new stadium in the near future.
Update as I read this – all the English teams have bailed for Super Dumb League.
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@Bronk, Where are you coming from? It sounds like you would welcome the Super League. Why?
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1. You can’t have a super league without Bayern. They’re the friggin reigning Euro champs.
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2. Although, eight of these teams are currently top-level in Europe, the other four are not. Arsenal and Spurs didn’t even finish top-4 last year in England. Why do they deserve a pass. Without outside competetion, this league would become so watered down in 3-4 years. These teams have the hostory and the money, but how would you know they’re the best in Europe? You wouldn’t. That’s why football is special. Promotion/relegation serves perfect justice in a competitive format.
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3. The magic of football is that everyone controls their own destiny for a championship. Sure, the Manchester City’s and Brazil’s are always sitting at the poker table with better cards, but the Croatia’s and Dinamo Zagreb’s should still have a seat…and they do. As a Croatian underdog, why would you want that taken away? The dumb Super League would take that the real competitive nature away. That’s why I can’t follow boxing. So many different promotions. Which one is the best?
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4. Bronk, for a decade you have shared with this website that the fix is in. The small guys (Croatia) never get a shot and we need to level the plying field. You said the 2012 Spain game and the 2016 Portugal was fixed because “they” want the big teams to go through. How are the smaller clubs and countries supposed to compete and develop with a super league out there? Do I admit UEFA and FIFA have money funneling probelms? Absolutely. But the competetion format is perfect.
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At the end of the day, it’s beutifulf that Brazil and Germany have the same ability to win the World Cup compared to Croatia, Trininad & Tobago or New Zealand. You control your own destiny. And doing this dumb SL takes all that away.
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Should the bigger clubs get more money because they bring in more? Yes. But they should still have to earnt their spot among the elite instead of buying it. That’s why CL is so awesome. You can see a Porto win…you can see a billion dollar club like City never win, and mighty Real Madrid can visit Zagreb on a chilly October night. Magic.
Man City also confirmed to be out.
That didn’t take long.
RIP Super league
Born Apr. 19, 2021- Died Apr. 20, 2021.
Hahahaha, idiots.
Right on, I could care less about the Super League. I’ll have no reason to watch our players there. This will also ruin the national team –all I care about. Jebi ga…who would have known 2018 would be the last real WC.
Yep, Chelsea are out. This thing is dead. It was never going to work.
Chelsea have backed out of the league.
Can you corpatists STFU
You Gavons do realize that
they want to stop Super League
Players from playing in the Euro
and Worldcups. Now how does that
Affect Croatia?
https://www.espn.com/soccer/real-madrid/story/4365073/real-madrid-president-perez-football-matches-must-be-shortened
Nothing is wrong with the length of games…. I mean, here in the states, I could see the issue with a sport like baseball where a game can take upwards of 3-4 hours. A football match, with HT break included (no ET) is on average, 2-2.5 hours?
If I were the MLS and seeing all this stuff transpiring, I’d salivating at the mouth… It probably won’t happen, but if they were able to rejigger some of the salary cap stuff in that league, they could get some high profile players who end up leaving some of these Super League teams…
Looks like the big boys overextended themselves and need cash. The only people that want this are the owners. Can’t buy their 4th Lamborghini’s…aw, too bad. Everyone is having a hard time with this covid shutdown. It’s good for the super rich to feel the pinch too.
It’s already blowing up in their faces.
Nobody wants this harebrained idea to go ahead.
It’s not a club thing at all, it’s a money grab thing. Remember, it’s not the best performing teams that have been asked to join, its the financially best performing teams. Arsenal? Tottenham?
What place are they in 6th and 9th? C’mon.
Super bullshit league!!!
The rich clubs get richer and don’t give a fig for any of the rest.
Entitled upstarts. Every domestic league should relegate these clowns to the b-division. I’d love to see ManU having to play Scunthorpe FC for a season or two.
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The Super League is a club thing. If Real Madrid join the ESL I’m sure that their fans would support them in that league because it’s the same club, the only difference will be that they will be participating in a league that’s SUPER.
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Remember it’s not the creators of this Super League that will stop their players from playing in the Euros & WC, it’s Fifa, because they’re pissed off at losing power.
No one is going into battle for Fifa. ALL large corporations are corrupt, everyone knows that. The thing most of us don’t want to see is a severing of these teams from their domestic roots. You want a super league? Go ahead, start one up. Make NEW teams that are not tied to any city or country. Hold all the games in neutral Switzerland. You can give the teams cool new names like the Raptors or the Kickers or the Thunder cats.
Do all the marketing you want. No one will give a shit.
Soccer is like vino. The place where it is made has a huge influence on it’s flavour. That’s why people love the Euros and the WC, every nation is known for its particular style of soccer. Take the teams out of their natural habitat and all you will have is a zoo. Who thinks watching animals in a zoo is anything but depressing.
As to the money issue (no fans and all that) there is plenty of money out there it’ll just take a little while to sort out a new business model and appease these prima donnas. Also, the fans will be back soon enough…once everybody catches on that this is just a slightly more virulent form of the flu.
It’s not about supporting FIFA, it’s about not letting shit like this ruin the game even more than FIFA does.
Didn’t FIFA help/want France to win the world cup?
Funny to see some of you suckers going into battle for FIFA now.
FIFA/THEIFA are upset that they might be losing power, you just gotta laugh!
If FIFA/THEIFA has taught football fans anything, it’s that greed is good.
Lol, we are having a world cup in in smelly Qatar, I wonder why?
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Did anyone see that UEFA fuck wit say that the foundation on which the Super League will be built on is greed?
@King Bronk
Do you expect that the clubs in the Super League will funnel some of the money made in the ESL down to the clubs that are left behind?
You make it sound like you believe that the ESL will be good for the game and not just the teams involved?
Like everybody is saying, I agree that this would be horrible. If they want to add a meaningless tournament to the season, and risk extra injuries, go for it.
As shitty as this sounds, I doubt it will actually happen. Or if it does, I doubt it will last. The bean counters will eventually come to the realization that in the long run, it makes no financial sense.
All that being said….no need to say out loud what it would do to our national team.
Think about this for a second. Pro sports is a business. These clubs haven’t had any fans for over a year and no one is sure when fans will return. Their only revenue is TV money. The winner of the CL earns less than the 15th place team in the EPL. The CL is the elite clubs soccer tournament. Where is all the money going? Clearly the clubs aren’t getting their fair share from UEFA and the have had enough. The pandemic is still going on clubs are in financial trouble and the ESL gives them an option through added TV revenue to be financially viable. Get you emotions out of it and look at it logically.
UEFA won’t ban super league players..
(at least not prior to the Euros)
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Funny that Boban joins UEFA, then this drama happens almost immediately. Poor guy can’t seem to avoid these conspiring types.
OMG if UEFA bans super league players
How the heck do we field a team for the Euro?
What did you muppets think when the money grubbing UCL became a tournament for teams that weren’t the current “champions” of their domestic leagues? I thought it was fucked up.
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At least the Super League will be SUPER!
So… Are the Euros still happening?
In summation, great comparison Bronk
I don’t think comparing sports is key. It is comparing how professional sports are run in different continents. Other than the US and Canada, promotion and relegation are the norm and have always been the norm. That is one of the main reasons that the supporters groups for various teams are opposed to the idea. I think the American owners of big teams have succeeded in convincing the other owners that it is safer to run a league where failure isn’t punished, ensuring that their team (investment) is always safe from plummeting in value with relegation.
@Peter Granic,
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I can’t see a scenario where the owners of this extra league would award their own World and Euro Cup. Let’s say they eventually get 20 teams of 30 players each, for 600 players. How many would come from South America, Africa, and North America? 25, maybe 30 percent? So now you have a pool of 450 players. Not feasible.
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The idea that this is a bargaining ploy to reap more money from an expanded Champs League is valid, I think.
The west conference should just play amongst themselves because they are the so called better conference
Ridiculous
…As per basketball…I’m very uneducated in the sport and I really do not enjoy watching the NBA unless it’s for a particular reason ….I don’t like how some of their players are affiliated with gangs and all the crap that goes with that league
the corporatism of football is why club football is shit to begin with and the only tourneys worth watching are euros and WCs. This is obviously a greedy cynical move to grab more money and power by the haves and to stuff the have nots.
The NBA does not have the history or type of following as soccer. Also, the idea of a super league would eventually add teams and get watered down.
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Nothing better than the original rivalries from your own country. Nothing better than when a Cinderella team from a small town beats a giant club. Nothing better than a group of fans from the village…all getting together to drive to the city and watch their favourite team play….it’s still affordable and entertaining.
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The grass roots of the sport have to remain in the game, otherwise we will lose the origins of the game.
Football isn’t the NBA though, it’s so different. You can’t wipe away hundreds years of history for this super league. Football isn’t an Americanized sport and shouldn’t be.
That’s like saying the NBA sucks because they don’t have teams from the G league.
The HNL unfortunately is minor league. I’ll save you ten years of watching-Dinamo wins. How is that entertainment?
As for our national team if one of our players catches on to a ESL team you know we have a talent.
@ Bronk
I’m not sure everyone is of that same mindset. You have a big portion of the football supporter population that doesn’t want to watch Real vs. Barca 100 times over. Not only do I not support a ‘big team’ and wouldn’t have a rooting interest in any of these large teams, I’m much more interested in watching a good HNL game, with kids who might contribute to our repka vs. a game with stars from Spain, Italy, England, etc. who I don’t give a fuck about. I know some out there ‘just want to watch the best football’ and I don’t mind that for example with the World Cup or Euro, but I absolutely don’t need it every Wednesday night with clubs I don’t give a shit about.
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@ the overall issue
I think this is the big teams playing ‘chicken’ with UEFA. This league seems like way more trouble than what its worth. I bet these clubs use this to grab more concessions (and euros) from UEFA and we go back to our regularly scheduled programming. I’d be shocked if we ever saw a single game in this Super League.
A Super League without relegation is dumb. These clubs are just going to circle jerk each other the entire year. They created their own university and gave themselves full tenure. Won’t work from a competitive standpoint.
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That’s why boxing sucks. Too many different belts and organizations.
I’d rather watch Barca vs Real 100 times than Burnley vs Fulham. I want to see the best play the best. These other leagues are minor leagues. The ESL is the majors.
Everyone wants to see the best teams play the best.
Sorry guys-you’re wrong here.
@ Stari,
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Agree with you 100%. And it will blow up. Once Barcelona and Real Madrid play for the 100th time in the same year, who cares? Football has the perfect schedule – home and away. You get just enough but want more from a fan perspective. And CL is special because you are mixing some new blood every year with the elite. Who doesn’t love a good Cinderella story?
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And guess what? We do have a Super League. It’s called the CL quarterfinals. Bayern already bounced. Juve never got there. Inter Milan and AC haven’t sniffed the quarters in a decade. Arsenal and Spurs. HA!
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These teams will get what they want. More money. Which I don’t disagree with. But no chance this league happens. And if it does, they will come crawling back in 2 years. They are going to alienate their entire fan base which has taken over 100 years to mold. So good luck..
Oh look it’s ManU playing Real…again. If this league were to go ahead it would take away from the relative rarity of these big clubs playing one another. At that point it just becomes routine and loses the magic of the hard slog of reaching the Champions League Quarters, Semifinals and Finals to see these marquee matchups. Not to mention the possibility of certain outsiders getting a shot to take down the big boys.
If you have Thanksgiving dinner every day it’s just not really that special anymore.
Sooooo dumb.
Yet another misguided salvo in the war against national sovereignty and the promotion of rampant economic globalism.
Boycott these clowns.
I hope it blows up in their faces.
The super league would absolutely kill the sport
well, I’m a very old school thinker when it comes to this sport. I’ve had to adapt to some of the changes with the newer culture in the game and I try to think I should go with the times and be open minded but this league, in my opinion, takes away from what I’ve always believed in. A well managed and well structured team can always compete with most other teams….until the imbalance of money spent becomes unbearable. Elitists think their prestigious club history belongs in some other prestigious league and the leaders of those clubs are not from the era most of us were raised in….nor do they have any real connection to the culture of the game.
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I like the idea of seeing great competition playing in a tournament of their own and this is why we have Champions League and Europa League. The tough part of really standing out in those leagues is trying to balance your own country league and cups….some players have to play far too many games and the problem becomes “how do I win the league, the secondary trophies that each country has and then remain competitive in Europe? Thats a very tough balance for some clubs and even tougher for others but my guess is that this is the reason why this new league has become a recent topic. The owners want to maximize their revenue by creating a league like the Champions League, where every team is financed heavily from their club owners and their return on investment is extremely profitable.
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if this were to materialize, my bet is that many would walk away from supporting their clubs and all this could heavily backfire!
Also if they proceed and UEFA and FIFA ban players from the World Cup and European Championships, it will just facilitate these businessmen that own the richest clubs to form their own World and European Championships. There
Just a continued natural progression towards the NFLization of European soccer which will happen. The reality is champions league setup has been modified incessantly last 15 years to ward off these clubs doing their own thing, but in the end the outcome is going to be the same. A US styled European soccer pro league where the bulk of the revenues will go to the Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees of Europe. It will probably take another 15 years or so, but that’s where it will get to. The Bosman rulings + EU policital unification kick-started this process. But ultimately it’s the big clubs that feel they are creating all the sponsorship and TV revenues from European soccer and they as businessmen demand their cut of the pie. Just like our pro sports teams here. Some Croatian soccer thinkers for the past decade have suggested an amateur model for their clubs to remain viable concerns going forward. That is likely the only way forward except for maybe Dinamo. Amateurization doesn’t mean badly organized, just that there won’t be player salaries. The Dinamo success against Tottenham mentioned in this article is a complete outlier, which is similar to the occasional upset in the FA Cup in England. Yes, it brings joy to some some small town in England when it occurs, but it’s nothing but an abberation.
Money is already dictating who wins and loses. This is why the Super League makes sense. People want to see the best playing the best. If the Super League doesn’t happen then the EPL will eventually become the only league in town due to TV money. If FIFA or UEFA ban these clubs and players the tournaments put on will be worthless and the big clubs will just create their own WC and Euro. That is all an empty threat.
Petar Musa with his first Bundesliga goal
Perhaps he can as our striker at the euros now