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April 19, 2021
The Superlega is born
"Twelve prestigious European clubs today jointly announced an agreement to form a new midweek football competition, the Super League, governed by the founding clubs. Milan, Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona, Inter, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United , Real Madrid and Tottenham have joined as founding clubs. It is expected that another 3 clubs will join as founding clubs before the inaugural season, which should start as soon as possible, "reads a statement released by the clubs. "In the future, the Founding Clubs hope to start consultations with Uefa and Fifa in order to work together and cooperate to achieve the best possible results for the new League and for football as a whole - continues the note released by the clubs -.The creation of the Super League comes at a time when the global pandemic has accelerated the instability of the current economic model of European football. "" Furthermore, for several years now, the Founding Clubs have set themselves the goal of improving quality and the intensity of current European competitions throughout each season, and to create a format that allows top clubs and their players to face each other regularly. "and to create a format that allows top clubs and their players to compete regularly. "and to create a format that allows top clubs and their players to compete regularly. "
Post-pandemic football
According to the companies, the pandemic has highlighted the need for a strategic vision and a commercially sustainable approach to increase value and support for the benefit of the entire European football pyramid. In recent months, an extensive dialogue has taken place with football stakeholders regarding the future format of European competitions. The Founding Clubs believe that the measures proposed following these talks do not represent a solution to key issues, including the need to offer better quality matches and additional financial resources for the entire football pyramid.
The format
The competition format includes: 20 participating clubs including 15 Founding Clubs and a qualification mechanism for 5 other teams, which will be selected each year based on the results achieved in the previous season. Midweek matches with all participating clubs continuing to compete in their respective national leagues, preserving the traditional national match schedule that will remain the heart of inter-club competitions. Beginning in August, with the participating clubs split into two groups of ten teams, playing both home and away, and with the top three in each group automatically qualifying for the quarter-finals. The fourth and fifth classified will face each other in a round-trip match for the two remaining places available for the quarter-finals.The single-elimination format, played both at home and away, will be used to reach the one-shot final which will be played at the end of May in a neutral stadium.
Women's Super League
After the start of the men's competition, the women's competition will start as soon as possible to contribute to the development and progress of women's football. The new annual tournament will provide significantly higher economic growth and support for European football through a long-term commitment to pay no-cap solidarity contributions, which will grow in line with the league's revenues.
The forecasts of collection
These solidarity contributions will be substantially higher than those generated by the current European competition and are expected to exceed € 10 billion over the course of the clubs' initial engagement period. Furthermore, the tournament will be built on a sustainable financial basis with all Founding Clubs adhering to a spending framework. In exchange for their commitment, the Founding Clubs will receive a one-off contribution of € 3.5 billion to support their infrastructure investment plans and to offset the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.