What is the football Super League?

Several top clubs in Europe have announced their strong intentions to establish a new international Super League led by major clubs. What is it and what does it mean?

The sports world was shaken in April 2021 when 12 of Europe's leading football clubs announced their plans to create an entirely new elite league, the Super League, for top football between European countries. Major clubs from the English Premier League, Spain's La Liga, and Italy's Serie A dropped one of the biggest news bombs of all time, which, however, was not ultimately a great surprise.

A similar idea has been discussed and speculated for years, mainly from the likes of giant teams such as Real Madrid, Manchester United, Barcelona, Juventus, and Arsenal. These major clubs have previously spoken multiple times about how the revenue distribution of UEFA's Champions League is not fair – let alone competitive – from their perspective. The biggest investments and the majority of the fan base are driven by large clubs, which have found their position unjust compared to medium-sized and smaller clubs. The answer to this is the Super League, built from scratch, which would offer tough, interesting, and undoubtedly lucrative matches for the continent's wealthy clubs.

In an official statement, the league's communications department painted a picture of a changed operating environment, the balance of which has been affected by the global coronavirus pandemic, among other factors. However, this was raised only as a catalyst that has created "instability in the revenue models of European football." The founders of the new league have seen this completely fresh product as a new tool for a sustainable economic perspective.

How will the Super League be played?

Initially, there will be 12 so-called founding members, i.e., clubs that are committed to establishing a joint league. In addition, it is planned to include three more teams for the historical inaugural season and five additional teams in the following season based on the previous season's performances. In total, the league is intended to grow into a 20-team Super League by 2022.

These are the founding members of the Super League:

• AC Milan
• Arsenal
• Atletico Madrid
• Chelsea
• FC Barcelona
• Inter
• Juventus
• Liverpool
• Manchester City
• Manchester United
• Real Madrid
• Tottenham

At least initially, no team from France's Ligue 1 or Germany's Bundesliga is expected to join this new rough elite league. Especially in Germany, fans still have a lot of power within the clubs, so it is unlikely that Bundesliga teams will be seen in this competition at least in the first few years. The only possible joiner could be RB Leipzig, owned by energy drink company Red Bull, which has previously been used to swimming strongly against the local "code."

Matches would be played once a week in the middle of the week, while each club would continue to participate in their domestic top leagues as usual. The first matches would be seen as early as August 2021, if the Super League gets underway despite strong opposition. Once the number of teams stabilizes, the plan is to have two groups of ten teams, from which the top three from each group would advance to the quarter-finals. The fourth and fifth-placed teams would play a sort of play-in matches, with the winners advancing to the quarter-finals. In the playoff phase, the winners of the matchups would be determined using the two-leg system familiar from the Champions League.

Why is the Super League being established?

The reasons for establishing the new Super League are quite simple. Owners who have invested vast sums into the world's best football clubs want value for their money. They feel that the sport's governing bodies, FIFA and UEFA, take too large a share of the revenue distribution, as do the smaller clubs. It is no surprise that clubs largely owned by Americans have been pushing for this reform, as there, privately owned clubs also own all significant leagues and competitions. Thus, they have also become quite substantial cash cows for their owners.

According to estimates, the Super League could generate revenues of over 10 billion euros during its first two seasons, which would provide significantly more to distribute among the participants. The new super league has calculated that it would earn an astonishing 4 billion euros a year just from TV revenues. This amount would also flow directly into the founders' pockets, unlike in domestic leagues or competitions organized by governing bodies, where there are often intermediaries taking a cut.

Reception of the Super League

To put it nicely, the emergence of the new Super League has not received very flattering reception among various stakeholders. The most upset are, of course, the powers that be in different leagues, such as the English Premier League and Spain's La Liga, who fear a decline in the value, interest, and of course, cash flows of their products. However, the hardest blow was felt at UEFA's headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, where an immediate and fierce resistance was mounted. All participating teams were threatened with exclusion from both UEFA competitions and their national leagues. This is not surprising, as the Super League would severely harm UEFA's cash cow, the Champions League, which has generated up to 3.5 billion euros a year for it.

Among fans, the reception has also been outraged. Supporters feel that football, originally known as a sport for the poor working class, is being moved far from its roots into a money-rich cash machine. On the other hand, fans fear that the sporting aspect will suffer a serious blow when a closed league with fixed participants removes the promotion and relegation element that has been essential to continental football. Some comments even spoke of fans turning into purely consumer roles.

The issue has struck a very sensitive chord, as it has sparked a lot of opinions all the way to the British royal family. The chairman of the English Football Association, Prince William, tweeted that the entire football community now needs more care to preserve the fundamental values of the sport, such as competitiveness and fairness. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, also weighed in, describing the Super League as a direct blow to the heart of British football.

Super League Betting

The first effects on Super League betting are likely to be seen in the spring 2021 Champions League knockout rounds. UEFA has announced that it is considering disqualifying clubs participating in the semi-finals and those involved in the new league from the entire competition prematurely. Thus, both Manchester City, Chelsea, and Real Madrid may be sent on summer break. Only the French PSG would remain, which would hardly be declared the champion outright, but perhaps clubs that dropped out in the quarter-finals would be brought back into the semi-finals.

However, Super League odds have already been revealed in a few places, and you can already bet on whether the first match of the league will be played by 2024. If the league ever materializes into a real league, all the markets and matches will of course be available on popular betting sites like Burningbet, Regals Casino, or FezBet.