On April 18th 2021, the ‘Dirty Dozen’ did the unthinkable. Europe’s football elite, attempted to orchestrate a move away from the UEFA Champions League. This decision was not as one dimensional as that premise. This was a calculated, cash-driven ‘betrayal’ that could only be seen as the ‘Super Clubs’ of Europe attempting to distance themselves from the essence of the game: achieving success from grit, determination & merit.
The competition would include 20 teams split into 2 divisions; the top 4 clubs of each division then progress to a knockout round. The 12 Founding Clubs would have their participation guaranteed. The incentives continued from there. Financially, each club stood to gain $400 million, with the potential broadcast rights amounting to over a billion. For ‘Super clubs’ such as Manchester United, where net debt stands at around $651 million alone, this was an offer that was too good to refuse.
The ramifications of this Super League were self-evident;
It effectively would have nullified the relevancy of domestic competitions and undermine the significance of promotion and relegation systems. Fortunately, after mass fan hysteria, the 6 Premier League Clubs pulled out.
However, the world has not forgotten. Neither has Florentino Perez of Real Madrid. To put it bluntly, the competition is ‘on standby’. He was and still is, the proposed president of this competition, and usually, he manages to achieve ‘lo que quiere, cuando quiere’ (what he wants, when he wants). There are even suggestions that the ESL could return in 2024/25 according to Bernd Reichart, the CEO of A22 Sports Management, the sponsor and instigator of the ESL.
From a moral point of view, the notion that the ESL would resurface seems doubtful, however we must understand the breakdown of the campaign from a legal point of view. Sadly, the legal perspective offers a glimmer of hope for the League itself.
Withdrawal from the ESL was made to be extremely difficult. El Confidencial accessed the binding contract, where it seemed each Founding Member would have had the same number of shares in the limited liability company that underpinned the ESL. No shares had yet been sold except for Inter Milan, and it is an important factor that the penalty for unilaterally breaching the contract between the clubs would incur a £300 million fine.
This leaves the biggest advocates of the project feeling imbued of the competition’s relaunch. They are thinking of one question: if there isn’t a mechanism for withdrawal, and only a unanimous consensus among the ‘Dirty Dozen’ can dissolve the venture, then isn’t it possible that these clubs will have no way out?
For now, we await to hear from the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice to ascertain whether UEFA and FIFA acted lawfully in pursuing sanctions against the guilty parties. UEFA tried to ban these clubs from their competitions; FIFA wanted to ban the players of these clubs from playing International Football. The introduction of an Independent Football Regulator for English Football in 2024 may also have ramifications for the continued attempts to keep the ESL alive. The regulator will ‘address issues of financial sustainability and enforce compliance with corporate governance, and approving any competitions’. It is arguable that this long overdue reform to English football will target domestic issues prima facie; this would mean an intervention for the English clubs, an effort to stop the formation of the ESL, may fail in its vigour. The jury is still out.