‘You are killing the game’ fans and pundits react to Super League

The announcement of the Super League is dividing football fans and pundits around the globe, join the debate and let us know what you think of the new competition.

Juventus, Inter and Milan are among the 12 founding clubs of the Super League that was announced on Sunday night with a joint statement.

There will be 20 participating clubs with 15 Founding Clubs and a qualifying mechanism for a further five teams to qualify annually based on achievements in the prior season.

Midweek fixtures with all participating clubs continuing to compete in their respective national leagues, preserving the traditional domestic match calendar, which remains at the heart of the club game.

The tournament would start in August with clubs participating in two groups of ten, playing home and away fixtures, with the top three in each group automatically qualifying for the quarter-finals. 

Teams finishing fourth and fifth will then compete in a two-legged play-off for the remaining quarter-final positions.  A two-leg knockout format will be used to reach the final at the end of May, which will be staged as a single fixture at a neutral venue.

The announcement caused an earthquake in the world of football and every fan worldwide is discussing the matter.

Former Serie A and Italy start Giuseppe Rossi called the Super League a ‘bull***’ that will “damage our game.”

Manchester United legend Gary Neville has also heavily criticised the plan: “This lot think they can sweep up £300m more each season than the other teams and then wander back on a Saturday and play with that advantage in the PL,” he wrote on Twitter.

“Deduct points , fine heavily and embargo transfers. I hope they haven’t bought some of the other 14 clubs.”

There are so many different opinions floating, but what do you think about the Super League? Do you agree with it or not?

Join the conversation on Football Italia.

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Exclusive: Tottenham make contact with Sarri

Tottenham contacted Maurizio Sarri’s representative Fali Ramadani after sacking José Mourinho today, Football Italia can exclusively reveal.

Sarri is under contract with Juventus until June 2022, but the Old Lady can terminate his contract one year early by paying a €2.5m fee by the end of April.

Tottenham sacked José Mourinho today, announcing Ryan Mason will take over as an interim coach.

Sources have told Football Italia Spurs have contacted Sarri’s agent Fali Ramadani to offer the former Juventus and Chelsea coach the job from next season.

Sarri is eager to return to coaching after a sabbatical year.

Juventus sacked him after their Champions League elimination at the hands of Lyon this past August.

Sarri won the Serie A title and lost a Coppa Italia Final on penalties against Napoli.

A number of Serie A clubs are also in talks with the Tuscan coach, including Roma, which appears to be his favourite destination, should he decide to remain in Serie A.

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ECA ‘condemn’ Super League clubs

ECA insist they are ‘the only legitimate and fully recognised voice of the leading clubs in Europe’ and ‘condemn’ the 12 Super League clubs.

Today, an ECA Executive Board meeting took place after UEFA approved the new format for the club competitions starting from 2024-25.

On Sunday, the 12 clubs that announced the Super League left ECA, and Chairman Andrea Agnelli resigned to become the Super League’s vice president.

“The ECA Executive Board convened today to discuss a number of important matters following the resignation last night of twelve ECA member clubs in light of various public communications centred around the creation of a so-called European Super League,” ECA’s official announcement reads.

“The Board was unanimous in its condemnation of the actions of the departing members, which it holds to be self-serving and to the detriment of the game’s well-being and in clear opposition to ECA’s values. We believe that European Club Football can be reformed from within the system to achieve the collective best interests of all stakeholders in the game. The Board reiterated ECA’s clear position as the only legitimate and fully recognised voice of the leading clubs in Europe and, as such, has taken a number of decisions to ensure that it is able to continue to perform its role efficiently and effectively. Decisions taken include:

Confirmation that the existing Executive Board remains as it currently stands to shape all key decisions and will now be complemented with new capabilities from ECA’s membership

The creation of an Executive Committee to work under the auspices of the Executive Board to manage day-to-day work during this transitional period. ECA Board Members on this Executive Committee are:

Nasser Al-Khelaifi (Paris Saint-Germain), Michael Gerlinger (FC Bayern München), Edwin van der Sar (AFC Ajax), Dariusz Mioduski (Legia Warszawa), Aki Riihilahti (HJK Helsinki) and Michele Centenaro (ECA’s Independent Board Member and former General Secretary)

The proposal of ECA’s Honorary Chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (FC Bayern München) to replace departed ECA Chairman Andrea Agnelli as one of two ECA representatives on the UEFA Executive Committee.

“Under this new structure, ECA has put in place the required short-term certainty to continue to play its role in driving the crucial efforts of the Association on behalf of all its existing members, working alongside key stakeholders, most notably UEFA and also FIFA, FIFPRO and Leagues, in making the important decisions required to manage this period.

“The Board has now asked the Executive Committee to consult and make a recommendation for the appointment of a new Chairman of ECA. In the next days, a number of further decisions relating to ECA structures, including elections/appointments to fill vacated Executive Board spots, will be taken and communicated.

“In addition, following the UEFA ExCo’s approval today of a new format for its club competitions as of the 2024/25 season, ECA’s new Executive Committee stated as follows:

“We are pleased that UEFA Club Competitions reform has reached this important milestone. The agreement of new competition formats will create a greater number of high quality, relevant, exciting European matches for fans and increase participation for clubs at all levels – principles and targets that ECA laid out back in the Spring of 2019 when we embarked on this reform journey. 

“Moving forward, the entire ECA Executive Board’s focus will be on pursuing efforts to conclude arrangements with UEFA around its renewed relationship post 2024 as we look to shape European club football for the years ahead.”

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European Super League: what we know so far

UEFA has warned players that will attend the Super League will be banned from playing in any other competition, but new developments are expected. Here’s what we know so far.

The New York Times broke the news of an agreement between some of the richest and most storied European clubs over creating a European Super League.

According to the report, Inter, Juventus and Milan are the Serie A clubs involved, while French and German clubs like PSG, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund declined the invite to join the project.

The Premier League clubs committed to the Super League are Manchester United, City Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham. Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atlético are those in Spain and Milan, Inter and Juventus are the Serie A clubs involved.

The new competition would see 16 clubs participating as permanent members with four qualifiers from domestic competitions. The clubs would be split into two groups of 10, with the top four teams in each group qualifying for the knockout stages.

According to the report, each of the would-be permanent members of the proposed super league is being promised €350m to sign up.

Lega Serie A held an emergency meeting on Sunday morning to discuss the matter. UEFA then released a joint statementwith the leading European football associations warning all measures available will be taken to prevent the Super League from happening.

“As previously announced by FIFA and the six Federations, the clubs concerned will be banned from playing in any other competition at domestic, European or world level, and their players could be denied the opportunity to represent their national teams,” the statement reads.

The English Premier League has also released a statement to stand against the breakaway club competition.

“The Premier League condemns any proposal that attacks the principles of open competition and sporting merit which are at the heart of the domestic and European football pyramid,” the announcement reads.

“Fans of any club in England and across Europe can currently dream that their team may climb to the top and play against the best. We believe that the concept of a European Super League would destroy this dream.”

Il Corriere dello Sport had reported DAZN have been involved in talks too, but the company denied it with an official statement.

According to the New York Times, there could be a further announcement from the clubs involved in the agreement in the coming hours to confirm the will to create a European Super League.

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