Image from Associated Press

Aveek Chaudhuri, April 19, 2021

Yesterday, twelve of Europe’s biggest clubs announced that they would be forming a new league together called the European Super League. The competition would serve as competition to the Uefa Champions League tournament for these clubs. The only problem: the establishment of such a competition would signal the complete end of football for the fans.

The twelve teams involved with this breakaway league are Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid from Spain, Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Tottenham from England, and Juventus, Inter MIlan, and AC Milan from Italy. These clubs all announced on Sunday their plans for the competition, where matches would be held midweek instead of weekends and become their primary European competition.

The first chairman of this new league is none other than Real Madrid’s recently elected president, Florentino Perez. He worked with the likes of Juventus’s Andrea Agnelli and Manchester United’s Ed Woodward to make this competition a reality. And they plan on recruiting more clubs to this idea.

However, notable clubs missing from the founding clubs were Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, and Borussia Dortmund. The German clubs have come out with a public statement, published by Dortmund, clearly stating that both German giants were definitely against the idea.

The competition would follow a format similar to that of American leagues such as the NBA and NFL where the same teams continue playing each other every year without any relegation. Thus, here the same twelve teams would play each other continuously year after year, with no team ever dropping out despite their poor standing.

This new competition has gotten practically everyone in the world enraged. Uefa and FIFA have threatened extreme punishments for the clubs and players. They have come together and publicly stated that any player playing in the ESL would be banned from playing for their country in the European Championships and FIFA World Cup. And any of the teams still in the Champions League, which includes Real Madrid, Manchester City, and Chelsea, could immediately be disqualified, either rendering PSG the champions or rendering the competition as void for the season.

Additionally, the English FA, Spanish FA, and others have come out and said they are totally against the formation of such a league and any club involved would be banned from their domestic league. This would mean that previously midtable clubs and others like Leicester City, Sevilla, and Atalanta would become consistent title challengers in their respective leagues and the UCL would be dominated by Bayern Munich, PSG, and Dortmund.

Fans across the world are also rightly infuriated by this announcement because it seems that these clubs have finally made the public statement which everyone had suspected for years now: that money matters way more to the clubs than the fans. The competition would result in millions of fans no longer being able to afford to watch their favorite teams and players, loss of economic support in the countries, and a loss of the competitive nature across the countries that all fans cherish so much.

Leeds United players wearing "Football Is For The Fans" shirts before their match with Liverpool on April 19th.

Image from the Associated Press

No matter what club fans support, they have all come together to protest this destruction of football. Using their voices through platforms like social media, multiple people and even players like Ander Herrera and Mesut Ozil have spoken out against the ESL. Liverpool fans have even hung flags at Anfield protesting and there are even plans to take down their supporting flags and banners at Anfield’s famous Kop.

Even national governments are getting involved as the United Kingdom’s Boris Johnson has come out to say that they would “do everything we can” to stop the ESL from becoming a reality. Because this move would not only ruin the game for fans but would also result in millions of dollars in losses for the domestic leagues and countries themselves. Football is one of these countries’ most influential, positive economic factors and such a breakaway would destroy that.

Football was once a game of competitiveness and enjoyment. The atmospheres at stadiums were everything, with thousands of passionate fans and twenty-two passionate players on the field. But nowadays, it has become more about money. And sadly, it seems to be destroying the beautiful game.