The president of Lega Serie A has confirmed that clubs have told him that the relaunch of the controversial European Super League project is imminent.
It was back in April 2021 that 12 ‘elite’ European clubs decided they were no longer happy with how UEFA run things and thus opted to break off and form their own version of the Champions League.
Milan, Juventus and Inter were all involved from Italy as were Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid from Spain. Premier League sides Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Spurs were the other six. However, they nearly all pulled out within 48 hours with the exception of Real, Barca and Juve.
There have been several rumours suggesting that the project might be revived and these have gathered steam over the last couple days, especially after Bernd Reichart – the new CEO of the company at the heart of the European Super League project A22 Sports – continues to insist it will happen.
Now, the Lega Serie A president Lorenzo Casini has given a press conference in which he spoke about the Super League and he was asked how much knowledge he has of a potential relaunch, with his comments relayed by SempreMilan.it.
The Super League is back in the news. Was it discussed in the assembly?
“No, we haven’t talked about it. Obviously the clubs concerned had warned the Lega, we had been warned and it seems to me a programmatic step. We understand the reasons behind the Super League, now we are thinking differently, and it is obvious that the Lega is following the evolution of the story with interest and concern.”
For the Superlega theme, would it be acceptable for Inter, Milan and Juve to play both competitions?
“In my opinion, it should be asked of UEFA, before us.”
You said the clubs concerned have warned you about the return of the Super League. Is it a generic formula to refer to Juventus or does it mean that Inter and Milan are still interested?
“It’s a formula that covers the clubs concerned.”
But when did they warn you?
“Before it became public knowledge.”
Death to UEFA. Death to FIGC (which has held Italian football back for 30 years).
Regardless of the deficiencies of uefa and fifa im fairly confident to say that european football fans will react with violence and destruction if a closed super league ever happens, personally i wont blame them either as its against the spirit of simple sports principles to pursuit such road which will undoubtedly widen the gap between the rich and poorer clubs and leagues.
Closed super league would destroy football completely.
I agree that it would destroy the current structure as it exists today but closed professional leagues have been extremely successful in North America (NBA, NFL, MLB, etc.) for decades and generate ridiculous amounts of yearly revenue. That said, all other clubs aside from those in the Super League would die off as would the relevance of the individual leagues. A successful Super League guarantees financial success for those clubs at a level not achieved outside the Premier League possibly attracting more viewers world-wide to the sport. However, the current system would be destroyed.
Where is football in USA? Grassroot is important in football. USA system works with drafts/universities instead of club academy, it does not bring them national team success.
It destroys the relationship with the fans. Fans live for the derbies. They are not that interested in playing against Romanian, Austrian etc. teams weekly basis. It just doesn’t bring the same emotions as fighting against the arch nemesis with a century of history between them.